Let's go down the rabbit hole...
So, blogging.
Something completely new to me. I'm sat here, cup of tea steaming next to me, the wind absolutely battering the window, and it’s Easter Sunday, so there’s a bunch of kids laughing outside. I’ve just finished tidying up all my records for the last year, just in time for the new tax year tomorrow (small win!) but that little tickle in the back of my mind, the one telling me to start a blog about my experiences as a hypnotherapist creeped up. I decided to just go for it, even though I'm not really sure where to start (or if anyone actually cares).
So as all cliche's go, let's start at the beginning.
My name is Dee and I'm an online hypnotherapist. I've said that so often lately due to attending so many networking events that it almost feels like my full name now. You spend months working on a 'sticky message' as they call it, something that tells the person you're speaking to exactly who you are and what you do, and you practise it so often, over and over, that you begin to feel a bit mad.
‘My name is Dee and I'm an online hypnotherapist at DLM Hypnotherapy. I help women 30+ with health & medical anxiety feel calmer and more in control, especially around appointments, diagnoses, treatment, and operations’.
Not bad huh?
Well, I hope not. It took me forever to get there. Working and re-working, trying to limit it to enough characters to fit it on an Instagram bio. Yep, that's the point I'm at in my life. Instagram dictating how I sell myself.
It's funny, because I came to this profession originally to help people. But during a networking session recently, a fellow attendee spoke about how they don't believe that anyone does anything altruistically. That we're all inherently selfish and out for ourselves, no matter what we try to tell the world.
I'll admit, I bristled there.
You see, like everybody in this capitalist merry-go-round, I want to make a living. I want to be self sufficient and financially stable. Not least because I have a disability, so I'm very aware of my limitations. I want to provide for myself and make day to day life a little bit easier. I want to be able to buy some nice things, go out to dinner occasionally, maybe even take a holiday and not worry about how I'm going to afford my bills.
But I wouldn't be here if I didn't care about others. You see, I have Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. I have other health issues I won't go into, but suffice to say, I know exactly how hard it is to navigate the medical system as a woman. I spent years fighting to be believed. Doubting myself, believing the medical professionals when they told me it was all in my head. Having to take my male partner to appointments in order to finally be believed and get a diagnosis, having them look at him when they should've been talking to me.
I know the anxiety that builds from these experiences. Even when you're finally validated, the fear doesn't just go away. You've spent so long fighting that your brain anticipates it. The idea of talking to a medical professional, or attending an appointment or receiving treatment/ having an operation just screams DANGER. How can you trust and reassure your body when you've been told for so long that you're too young, too overweight, just exaggerating, spending too long on google?
Even after my diagnosis, things didn’t get any easier. I tried medication but it just wasn't helping, the side effects were harder to manage than the pain. I read every book I could find, scrolled through websites, forums and subreddits, trying everything I could, desperately seeking answers. The pain got so bad that I had to take a long term sickness absence from work, and I truly felt like my life was being destroyed by this condition.
But in true me fashion, I didn’t stop trying. I used that absence to keep experimenting. Things helped in small ways. Meditation. Mindfulness. Shiatsu. Diet. Light exercise. Breathwork. Yoga. But it was only when I tried Hypnotherapy that the biggest change occurred. Slowly, I felt my life coming back. The pain began to ease till it became manageable, I felt lighter, less brain foggy. I could feel my confidence returning, and I started to have energy again. But I also knew I couldn't go back to my old life working in an office, constantly defending myself to Managers and HR, jumping through all their hoops only to have my flexible working requests denied. I knew I had to work for myself going forward so I could actually maintain the hard won progress I'd made.
So, I took a terrifying leap and became a hypnotherapist. And now I specialise in helping women similar to me. Because although I may not be entirely altruistic like that person said, I don't want ANYONE to go through the fear, the self-doubt, the anxiety that I did. I spent years in that spiral, years that I can’t get back, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
I want to boost women up, to give them their confidence back, to release the ties of anxiety that hold them down. I want them to go into appointments and operations feeling calm, to be able to speak to medical professionals and advocate for themselves without fear. I want women to have control of their lives, and it genuinely brings me so much joy when I see a client surpass all their hopes and expectations. I’ll fully admit, there’s been times when I’ve cried with happiness after finishing up a session, that’s how powerful this work is for me.
But I feel like I've rambled on far longer than I meant to.
And in true selfish fashion, I’m going to put my website below. I’m not going to get all salesy because that’s not what the blog is for, but if anything resonated or if you know someone struggling, feel free to check it out or pass it on. I’ve also included my Instagram, because I do try to post often (though my inner self still hasn’t adjusted wholly to social media and selling myself!)
I honestly don’t know how often I’ll write in this blog, it’s all very new to me so we’ll see how it’s received. For all I know, I’ve given you all the worst impression of myself and made a huge mistake, but hey, we all live and learn right?
Until next time then!
All the best always,
Dee.
Click here for my Website
And here for my Instagram
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