Know Thyself.

A while ago I blogged about six healthy habits to develop for living your best life with fibromyalgia. Know Thyself is the first habit you will need to develop. I also wrote about these habits in my book, (Co-author, Karen Anderson) The Shadow Boxers: Fighting Fibromyalgia Your Personal Journal I want to discuss all of these habits a bit more in-depth. Today, I will start with Know Thyself.

As a Reminder:


This is the first habit to develop once you have learned you have fibromyalgia. You must learn what it is and how to define it. It is hard enough for you to understand! How do we expect our loved ones to understand it? Learn everything you can about your diagnosis and know how to explain it in your own way. Use your own words.

During this time you are also learning to grieve for the old you. You have been diagnosed with a chronic disease, things as you knew them are gone. Life as you know it is done. But you will find your way. You will find a purpose and find the joy in life again, but first, you must grieve. For without the grief process, you will have a very difficult time recognizing your new potential.

Acceptance is a key factor in fully developing the habit of Know Thyself. You must accept where you are at, this doesn’t have anything to do with giving up or surrendering your hopes for better health. Nothing to do with it! It is learning about this new you, what you can do and what you can no longer do. There will be certain limitations but limitless possibilities! You must figure out where these possibilities lie as you begin your journey with Fibromyalgia. You must deconstruct your life in order to reconstruct it. A life that absolutely can be lived well with fibromyalgia.

Know Thyself



  1. Knowing thyself as a patient can be so difficult, especially when faced with having to fight what I think is “medical idealism” where those who practice medicine know just the ideal situation and solution and have difficulty thinking outside the box and accepting/understanding the patient with chronic or rare diseases. How do they accept that when I say I can feel PEs here, here, and here that I’m not out of my mind but just very aware of myself when their logic dictates that there aren’t “feeling nerves” in the lungs?! Brilliant advice.

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  2. You never cease to wow me. Truly. You have such tremendous grace and strength, and I am perpetually in awe of the good you share. You are wonderful darling friend. As always this is a beautiful post.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank YOU. I have followed these steps at different times, when life hit turbulence. I’m glad you see that, yes, they are workable habits whenever you need to apply them. I’ve tried some very unhealthy ways to cope, that only made me stagnant. Appreciate your kind and thoughtful comments!!! ~Kim

      Liked by 1 person

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