Clarity: Writing and teaching with Fibromyalgia

'Living with fibromyalgia has taught me compassion for myself...'

Hello, it has been ages since I wrote my blog, so I wanted to wish you all a very happy 2025. I wonder if you made any wishes or resolutions?

I tend to set intentions regularly at the new moon, however on NYE, I did pick a word to focus on this year : CLARITY.

It seems the perfect word for me; I juggle quite a few different work hats, along with being a single mum to four children (and various fur babies). Sometimes my brain is so cloudy and jumbled I don’t know where to begin - which is not useful at all for a writer!

After 7 years of being sober, yoga training and living a very healthy lifestyle, I realised that perhaps my symptoms were not just a product of a busy lifestyle, and after 18 months of various tests and seeing specialists I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

At first I was worried, my busy children’s writing workshops began to effect me physically, causing both headaches and ear sensitivity, but I found explaining to the children how loud noises effect me has worked (mostly)!

I don’t like to nag my young writers, so I reiterate that it’s their decision to join a writers club and with that comes a commitment to supporting a quiet, creative atmosphere. Giving the children agency in their behaviour seems an obvious teaching skill, however it can sometimes be overlooked. So far - so good, and I have been able to continue working at a similar pace to before. Albeit, it does completely wipe me out afterwards!

My adult writers groups are much smaller and quieter, so it didn’t really impact those sessions until one day when I literally couldn’t form a sentence. I realised I needed to open up to people about my condition, and that it isn’t a weakness, but a strength to take ownership of your own situation and fully embrace it. I think I was initially worried about appearing incapable or of ‘less value’ as a writing mentor, but now I realise that fibromyalgia doesn’t make me any less of a teacher or writer. I just have to work with what I’ve got, and knowing that in itself is a gift.

What I’ve learnt from this diagnosis is to cultivate compassion for myself;

That my story is my power - being authentic and honest is at my core …

finding clever vocabulary is really not important. Trying to be clear about ‘what I want to say’ is my focus more than ever.

My brain will do what it does ‘better’ if I take the pressure off myself to achieve and simply do my ‘thing’ from the heart. Writing, for me, is about wellbeing first and foremost. So this year I plan on writing for joy, fun and clarity! I will still send my work to agents )especially my latest children’s book) but I will take the pressure off and keep refocusing on what it means to have personal clarity and wellbeing.

I hope this encourages some of you to be honest about where you are in your life, with your writing or other purposeful doings, and to know it’s OK to be you.

We hear this statement : ‘you are enough’, so often in the media, but you really are enough. Enjoy your writing time.

Let me know below if you live with any invisible conditions and what they have taught you?♥️