MY STORY
Struggling with fatigue or burnout? I can absolutely relate. Here’s my story, from fatigue to freedom.
When did it all start?
It all began in my 20s.
My body crashed.
I had pushed myself to the limits and ignored the warning signs. I was in denial, I thought I would be fine. I just needed some rest over the weekend or so I thought.
That turned into months in bed and took years to recover. Back then it was known as ‘yuppie flu’.
I felt completely lost, lonely and out of control. My body had let me down, or so I thought. Life certainly felt like it was crumbling down around me and it was so unfair. I was newly married and had to go back and live with my parents for a few months as I could not look after myself.
Just before I crashed, I was working as a physiotherapist, undertaking a post grad course, rowing and training five times a week had a full social life and played tennis.
“Pacing”? That never came into my vocabulary. “No” never came into my vocabulary and I wanted to please and help everyone.
I did slowly recover, then crashed again 30 years later – back in bed staring at the ceiling . However this time I was determined to understand what was going on and what I could do to recover.
The biq question was why, why me?
As a perfectionist and an achiever, I always pushed myself whether that was at work or in sport or my social life. I was always in the flight or flight response and had never allowed my body time to rest and repair. “Pacing”? That never came into my vocabulary. “No” never came into my vocabulary and I wanted to please and help everyone. I did not understand the power the mind had on the body and the impact this could have.
As a physiotherapist and lecturer in anatomy and physiology I understood how the body worked but had never appreciated the mind body connection. My gut health had been compromised due to a variety of reasons and I had glandular fever as a teenager which would have further impacted my immune system. I could go on but I hope you get the picture that it is never just one thing that impacts you but often a whole series of events over time .
Does any of this resonate with you?
I did not appreciate the power of the mind on the body and had spent too much time in my head not in my body.
How did I recover?
I had to go on a journey of discovery. I needed a road map to navigate my way through what felt like a busy overwhelming city with lots of exits. Which one to take… or did I need to go down all of them?
To be honest it felt like navigating through lots of dead ends, U-turns and roundabouts – full of frustrations, anger, disbelief. Would I ever navigate my way out of the “exhausted city” or was I stuck in it forever? I felt like I was in a maze of streets that had no exit.
However, over time I started to make my own road map. I gathered information and started implementing all that I was finding out bit by bit. It was a slow journey full of tears, overwhelm, loneliness but despite all this I always believed I would find an exit out if I just kept searching for the answers.
I felt like I was in a maze of streets that had no exit. But over time I started to make my own road map.
Those answers came slowly and from some surprising sources. In summary: I had to learn how to pace myself, say no and ask for help.
I had to learn how to navigate my way out of the fight and flight response and into the rest and repair response to allow my body to heal. I had to reconnect mind and body, start meditations and learn to listen to my body. I had a nutritionist who helped me to restore my gut health and ended up becoming a naturopathic nutritionist myself.
I completed a programme with the ‘natural success’ looking at how to connect to your true self and what that means for you. It was very powerful and way out of my comfort zone but helped me so much. I wrote my book From Fatigue to Freedom thanks to this course.
The icing on the cake was finding One of many® helping women with burnout get out of ‘superwoman’ and ‘overwhelm’. It helped me in so many ways but I learnt to truly love myself again. This took time and patience but my goodness was it worth it! I then became a coach with the One of many® through the ICF, so I could use all the tools I had learnt to help others.
The list of how I recovered goes on but I hope you get the picture that you need to go down a few exits to recover and not just one.
You can listen to my podcast with Amy Rowlinson where I discuss my journey and book.
Focus on Why: From Fatigue to Freedom with Charlotte Jones
Hosted by Amy Rowlinson: “From being bedridden to bouncing back to full health, the stages of recovery from chronic fatigue and Long COVID were really slow and difficult for Charlotte Jones. The first step of her healing was experienced on a sunny day in her parents’ garden where out in nature she breathed in hope. Taking on board the many lessons of rest, repair and resilience, Charlotte not only felt believed by others that her illness was real, she believed she could heal. With this self-awareness, gratitude and an appreciation for all the small things in life, these powerful habits took Charlotte on an incredible healing journey from fatigue to freedom.”
