Looking at all the options in the Members Area can be overwhelming and lead to analysis paralysis, so I’ve created a roadmap to help you navigate through the programme and pick the right path for where you are in your chronic illness journey right now.
I like to look at the chronic illness experience as a cycle with four seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Depending on where you are in your chronic illness journey, the seasons of your cycle might change frequently with recurring ups and downs, or they might be more steady and somewhat predictable.
The latter is what you’ll be working towards throughout this programme.
When you view your chronic illness as a cycle, it reframes the thinking that flaring is somehow punishment for ‘bad behaviour’ and means you’re starting from square one all over again.
It allows you to see it as a phase that will pass, a call to listen and hear what your body is telling you, and presents the opportunity for you to ask what it is your body needs.
Similarly, it reframes your summer as being a reward for ‘good behaviour’ that you need to make the most of, and instead allows you to lean into looking at how you can live in alignment during the more active and energetic phase of your cycle, in a way that wont catapult you into a flare.
This roadmap is based on the wisdom that the chronic illness cycle offers us. Although there are no hard and fast rules about which pillar in the YCIA members area belongs to which season - you do what feels best to you at any given time - each pillar does align to some seasons more than others. If you’re looking for guidance about where to start, this roadmap is your answer.