When you have IBS, there’s a lot of mind chatter that comes right along with the frustrating physical symptoms. In my life, a lot of this mental back and forth was very negative and unhelpful.
While you can’t instantaneously control your IBS symptoms or get better immediately, you can learn how to be an ally to yourself in the process.
You can learn how to listen to your symptoms without become emotionally overwhelmed by them, in the name of healing.
This distance and empathy combination that you embed in your life will work towards healing your IBS as it calms your nervous system and your gut.
Today, we’ll discuss how approaching your IBS in this way will serve you in multiple ways.
Find the full transcript for this episode and other resources and HealingHerIBS/ 7.
Mean Girls and IBS
If you are experiencing IBS the way I did at the beginning, you are experiencing a lot of mean girls in your head. Mean girls that come in different flavors of mean.
Some of them attempt to make you feel embarrassed of your IBS symptoms.
Some of them are cruel in a judgmental way and try to make you feel guilty for your IBS or try to make you feel like you’ve done something wrong in your life that caused this pain. This was a huge one for me.
Sometimes the mean girls are controlling and pushy and force you into a life that is much more limited that you truly want.
They keep you inside your house instead of going out. They keep you eating too little or eating too much in a desperate or rebellious state of mind.
These mean voices are all voices I had in my head as I was struggling and lacked basic information around what it meant to have IBS.
I blamed myself, I put pressure on myself to fix it right away and I had a lot of horrible thoughts coming from these parts of me.
What do your mean girl voices say to you? Are they there and if they are-are you aware of their presence?
I understand now that those mean parts were truly trying to protect me and get me to pay attention to something that needed attention in my life. But they took up too much space!
As time went on, these voices changed as I learned how to relax more and how to accept what was happening in my life. They never completely went away, but now I’m more able to recognize them for what they are.
This was a pivotal turning point in my healing process.
Being Kind with IBS
You may think if you befriend yourself in an undesirable circumstance, you are somehow validating that experience. You are saying that it’s okay.
You think if you are kind to yourself while suffering with IBS, you are not motivating yourself to change or to get better. You are somehow accepting something you should reject.
This is a natural first reaction, but it’s also important not to stay in this space for too long.
Judging, shaming, and controlling yourself, treating yourself badly-those things won’t help heal your IBS. Most of the time, mean girls only motivate you for so long.
Your brain and your gut are connected. If you brain and heart are stressed, so is your body and your gut.
The more stress and judgement you send yourself, the slower your healing will be.
This emotional work around approaching your IBS is often discounted and in my opinion is one of the reasons why IBS is such a tricky syndrome to fix.
It’s often not known what caused you illness or what exactly can heal it. But factoring in how you can nurture yourself is a vital component to getting better.
Not only does it aid in healing, it makes the entire process more enjoyable and bearable.
Since no one can say how long it will take to heal your IBS or if you will heal 100%, it’s vital to get comfortable where you are at, while you also take steps to change and learn.
As you approach your next week, consider how you can:
- Catch yourself during mean girl thoughts and attempt to interrupt them quickly.
- Take time to manage your symptoms as calmly and kindly as possible- for instance, taking a warm bath if that helps you.
- Set up a daily and weekly routine that supports your health, healing and joy.
Once you can start implementing these strategies into your life, your IBS will begin to shift. This is not an overnight change.
It is however the kind of change that can make a huge difference long-term if you are able to consistently approach your healing in this way, shifting your mentality towards kindness little by little.
I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and thank you again for listening to Healing Her IBS.