Defeated and Grateful: Holding Duality and Living Wholly

Denise ElysaAbout Denise Elysa, Chronic Illness & Healing, Creative Writing, ME/CFS Leave a Comment

A natural result of committing to this inner work is it tends to expand one’s capacity for duality. To hold multiple things at once. To allow two seemingly opposing things to be true, simultaneously. I am sitting here this evening both devastatingly defeated and overwhelmingly grateful. I am watching as my partner modifies our home yet again to meet our …

My Body Hasn’t Always Felt Like Home

Denise ElysaAbout Denise Elysa, Chronic Illness & Healing, Creative Writing, Lived Experience Leave a Comment

I live in a body that for much of my life has not felt like home. These days I often don’t recognize it. I’d be lying if I said I never wince at its sight. It doesn’t look like the body that I worked so hard for, so many years ago. The clothing that used to feel most comfortable, no …

6 Years Ago I Celebrated Remission, Then I Crashed.

Denise ElysaAbout Denise Elysa, Lived Experience Leave a Comment

6 years ago yesterday – July 1, 2019, I gathered with friends and family to celebrate the end of my Lyme treatment (4-5 years of it at that point) and the beginning of what we thought was remission. 6 months later my life changed drastically in many ways and I experienced a series of overlapping events (about 3.5 years of …

I couldn’t have done this 6 months ago; Reflections on Lyme disease, Complex Chronic Diseases and how far I’ve come.

Denise ElysaAbout Denise Elysa, Lived Experience Leave a Comment

Barefoot on the earth, morning sun on my face, chicory and dandelion “cappuccino” in hand, bees in the flowers – all things I’m grateful for this morning.  This moment had me reflecting on the early days of my health journey when I was first diagnosed with Lyme disease and co-infections in my early 20’s. A lot of my dialogue around …