Sunglasses at the ready, I have made it back home for the holidays and I am so happy about it! Click to continue reading...
The Happy Place
Tag: waves
I spent my 29th birthday in London crying packing up my life into boxes, as a really heavy illness diagnosis was looming over my head threatening to destroy my whole life as I knew it. I put all my shit in storage and had to leave England in emergency because my body was collapsing under me and with it was coming a tsunami of physical pain. It was the scariest time of my life. By the time I got to my parents home, I could barely walk. My articulations were dislocating with any movement I was making and I had to be helped to go shower, to get dressed, to walk from the bedroom to the kitchen. Every minute of everyday for months I was in pain, day in day out. I lost everything in the first few months: my social life, my independence, my ability to see more than a day forward, my faith at having a normal life again. I spent my time going to the doctors, doing tests, waiting in rooms. My parents bless them, did everything for me:drive me to doctors, cook, help me wash my hair. I don’t think they know how amazing they are but I love them so much. In that crazy time, their lives changed too. Almost everyday of the last 365 days I spent working on getting better, stronger, healthier on beating this shit. With a whole program, determination and finding the right people to help me I learnt how to walk again, how to write again and even how to raise my arms. It’s been a rollercoaster. Turns out healing isn’t linear. I am still in pain most days but I am getting better everyday. I still have moments of doubts or fear. But overall I’m really proud of myself. So please forgive me as I celebrate turning 30 and raising my arms to hold my balloons because if I could see myself like this a year ago I think I would have cried happy tears not sad ones. Thank you to everyone who has messaged me and made me feel so special on this day and every single day before. My heart is bursting with gratitude for all the wonderful people in my life. I couldn’t have done it without you 💕 new decade start your engines, I’m grateful and ready 😘
#30thbirthday #whatalife #happybirthdaytome #gratefulthankfulblessed #arieswoman #positivevibesonly
And from witnessing this force of nature, I take it as a sign. Watch out world, a fire has been lit within me 🔥🌋🤞🏻 Nature at its finest right now in Reunion Island with the absolutely stunning eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise. .
Swipe right➡️ for a video of the most gorgeous sunrise on the ocean next to the volcanos eruption 🌞. .
In the midst of the pain and hardship and frustration of trying to build myself back up from a hardcore genetic disease, I feel like I am despite it all rising from the ashes 🔥 (pun intended). Slowly but surely, counting my blessings, taking each day, each step at a time. And most importantly being so grateful for what life has to offer especially when it’s an experience like this morning. It was worth the super early wake up call 🙌🏻 Some days it’s harder to find something to be grateful for, today is not one of those days 🌙
Take care,
M .
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#pitondelafournaise #gratefulmindset #nature_perfection #pocketofjoy #smileeveryday
Hello from a very beautiful view 💚 Are you the kind of person that scroll through Instagram and see other people’s pictures and think “shit their lives are so amazing I wish mine was too” or something along those lines ? 🙄
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It happens to me a lot too don’t worry. I guess when you look at this picture you think “WOW lucky her she’s on holiday in a beautiful place, I’m at work, I’m so jealous, I wish I could travel etc etc”. What this picture doesn’t tell you is that actually I’m not on holiday but on sick leave, back home In Reunion Island at my parents because I couldn’t take care of myself in London anymore because of Ehler Danlos Syndrome which decided to come onto me without any real foreseeing a few months ago and slowly but surely made my life harder and harder until I had to raise my hands and say “ok enough I can’t do this alone anymore”😵So I put my shit in storage and I got signed of work and I went home and then it got worse, my health deteriorated quickly and scarily, but at least I was home, in a beautiful place. And on the days where I can get out, even if I’m in pain the whole time sometimes to the point where I wish I could just lie down and put my body on pause, just for a minute of respite because I am sick of suffering all the time, I still put on a smile. I get my parents to take a picture. I pretend everything is fine and I get the damn picture. Because through everything, I still want the memories. I still want to feel like I’m living, not just surviving. I want to remember the day I went out and saw a beautiful view, regardless of what is going on. -
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, a picture is a picture. It sure doesn’t tell the whole story🤐. Don’t let yourselves be fooled, and just make your own memories. I will try and do the same too. -
✌🏻 , M
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#makeyourownmemories #pocketofjoy #dontbelievewhatyousee #livingwithchronicillness
Bonne fête à ma belle maman 😘
Merci d’être le meilleur soutien que je pourrais demander, surtout avec tout ce qui se passe en ce moment tu crois toujours en moi. Même après ce diagnostic de maladie pas facile, tu m’aides dans les bons jours et les mauvais et tu me rappelles toujours mes petites victoires pour pas que je perde espoir, tu me laves les cheveux quand je peux pas lever les bras et tu me réconfortes quand je souffre ou que je suis épuisée. Et surtout tu sais toujours quoi dire pour me remonter le moral . Je t’aime ❤️ .
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#maman #happytimes #familylove #supportsystem #chronicillness #fetedesmeres #laplusbelle #walkingtherapy #takingsmallsteps #happymemories #pocketsofjoy #lifechangingmoments #youcandoit #tipastipas
One of the things that I have learnt developing chronic pain and chronic fatigue ( despite the evident “it sucks massively”) is: as much as you can try to get outside, get some air and make tiny pockets of joy. Some days you can barely get out of bed because the pain is too intense or you just feel so tired it’s like a dementor has sucked the soul out of you. So on the days when you’re at a less pain level ( I’m not saying no pain at all because I realized not long ago that I have been in some form of pain everyday for the last 4 months), then you must do everything you can to get the fuck outside your bed/couch and try and see some world. Even if it’s for 10 mins. Even if it means you’re going to need to get into bed for the rest of the day after or the day after that because it took its toll on your body. You just have to. For your sanity. Your peace of mind. And also to make some memories during the hard times that are more than “ I felt like shit and laid down all day which made me feel even worse because I had nothing else to think about than how shit my shit is on the spectrum of shittiness” . So here’s a picture I took on a walk with my dogs. It wasn’t a long walk, but it was a good walk in the sense that well I walked ( which when your hips decide to dislocate without your command is a win in itself), felt the sun on my face, watched the views of the mountains and breathed some fresh air. Small. Pockets. Of. Joy 🌞Happy Friday 🤞🏻
#tipastipas
Hi, my name is Marine and I suffer from a hidden disability, a genetic disease called Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. There. I said it! Phew🙃 I thought I would never get to the point where I can finally openly talk about what has been going on for the last few months of my life since everything changed for me and symptoms started to appear. Partly because I was still processing what it meant after I got diagnosed , partly because I was scared of how people would start to think of me... differently. I guess you can say it’s been quite gut wrenching, mind blowing and absolutely insane to be told that you have a chronic illness that doesn’t have a proper cure, that you might be in pain for the rest of your life and that you’re going to have to change a lot of things about how you essentially live your live🤯. But you know what ? I think I’m finally accepting that this is my new reality. So here I am, tired, sick, in a lot of pain, but slowly but surely learning to be at peace. And finally ready to slowly opening up again.
I hope I learn to share more, be more honest, and shed light on what it’s like to deal with a life long diagnosis, to learn to cope with hEDS, and to slowly build your life back up when it takes a massive U turn. But for now here’s to the small steps towards recovery, in a beautiful tea tree forest, that make me happy. With 💚
M
#ehlersdanlossyndrome #takecareofyourself #pocketsofjoy
Winter outfit category is: “about to teleport in a virtual dimension a la Black Mirror, so you grab your purse in case they sell some cocktails in this matrix world”. 👾👾👾
Weirdo but make it fashion. -
#distortedreality #igerslondon #futurefashion
I miss home 🍍🌴 Please take me back 🌞 -
#picoftheday #travelspo
🇬🇧London in all its moody glory. Took this picture on top of St. Paul’s cathedral this weekend after going up 500 something steps with my friends to the very top of the dome. It was raining and windy and cold and suddenly the light came through and the clouds passed and in two minutes it was gone but boy was it beautiful. It almost felt like a divine intervention. How appropriate when standing on top of a church. Those are the kind of London days I want to remember when I’m older. -
🇫🇷Londres dans toute sa splendeur sombre. J’ai pris cette photo en haut du dôme de la cathédrale de St. Paul ce week-end après avoir monter plus de 500 marches pour arriver au sommet. Il pleuvait et il faisait froid et gris et d’un coup les nuages se sont dissipés et la lumière est apparue. Ça n’a duré que deux minutes mais que c’était beau. On aurait dit une intervention divine, c assez approprié comme comparaison quand on est tout en haut d’une cathédrale. Voilà le genre de journées londoniennes dont je veux me rappeler quand je serais plus vieille.
🇬🇧Taking pictures in a windy spot expectations VS reality. Swipe right for your Monday dose of lol. Category is Medusa realness. At least unlike me St. Paul cathedral in the background stays consistent and ready for the pictures 💁🏻♀️. -
🇫🇷Prendre des photos au vent expectations VS réalité. Swipe vers la droite si tu veux ta dose de lol du lundi. Catégorie du jour: tête de médusa. Au moins contrairement à moi la cathédrale de st Paul au fond reste constante et prête pour les photos 💁🏻♀️
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#instagramvsreallife #instagramvsreality #therealme
