There’s No Such Thing as Luck
Before I started doing cryotherapy, I was a teacher. Oh how I loved that job with every fiber of my being. My coworkers were some of the best and my students were so damn precious they often made me cry tears of joy. So, it was a very sad day when I had to turn in my resignation due to my health issues relating to Lupus.
The previous year, I was given that diagnosis and it was a living hell. The joint pain I had was unbearable. My hips bothered me so bad at times I couldn’t walk. When I could walk, it was with a limp, like an 80-year-old woman. One time, my hip locked while I was carrying laundry down my stairs causing me to fall all the way down resulting in a fractured foot. Other side effects of this obnoxious disease were hair loss, blood in my urine, hives and rashes, wheezing, blurred vision, respiratory issues, weakness, vomiting, unexplained fevers, loss of hand strength, and a few others. When I have a flare up, which is what it’s called when all these side effects show up, my body completely shuts down and often times landed me in the hospital. One year, I was hospitalized 6 times due to my flare ups which ultimately resulted in pneumonia.
Since Lupus is a somewhat rare disease, it was very challenging to diagnose. I had every test done imaginable: thyroid checks, MRIs, blood draws, ultrasounds, X-rays, more blood draws, etc. Nothing. They couldn’t ever find anything. At one point, a doctor told me I needed to go see a psychiatrist. So, I waited until I had another flare and went back into the clinic. I sat in the waiting room just so they had to look at me. I had a 102 fever, a clump of my hair in my hand, hives all over my face and arms, and cup full of my bloody urine. I didn’t have an appointment scheduled but when my doctor came out into the waiting room and saw me, they opened up a spot. I remember thinking to myself, do you think I’m crazy now?!
After that day, I finally got a referral to Rheumatology in Bismarck and got my diagnosis. They put me on meds and they helped my symptoms immediately. I also changed my diet to avoid gluten and sugar which also helped, but I am just not as good about that as I should be because bread is so damn good.
After all those trials and tribulations with my health, I was finally feeling better, but I still had my days. The flare ups were fewer and far between, but they still happened and when they do, it knocks me on my ass. Rest is something that is very important for autoimmune issues, and I need a lot of it.
Obviously, my health caused me to miss quite a bit of work and I was so grateful that the school I worked for was so understanding about it, but I still felt tremendous guilt. I loved my job and I hated that I couldn’t do it to the best of my ability anymore due to my health. So, as sad as it made me, I had to leave.
My lupus is what got me into the world of cryotherapy. It is the only thing, to this day, that causes me not to limp anymore. It also provides extreme relief for my hives on my body and rash on my face. It has truly changed my life and I wanted to help other people with it too. Enter, Midwest Cryo & Wellness, my beautiful business that I built from scratch. I am so proud of this little baby and feel so lucky to have it. However, I don’t really believe in luck.
When my business started to take off, I had a lot of people tell me, “Wow! You’re so lucky!” I realized, however, through many late nights and lots of hard work, that it actually had nothing to do with luck. Don’t get me wrong. I am extremely grateful, and I thank God for my blessings every day, but I don’t really think it had anything to do with just being lucky. My entire journey led me here. My health issues and frustration with it led me down a rabbit hole of desperation. I was desperate for relief from my pain, and I was willing to do anything. I remember even jokingly telling my sister that if someone told me eating Styrofoam would stop my pain I would do it. Luckily, as of now, there is no scientific evidence of Styrofoam healing Lupus, so I don’t need to take that route just yet.
Of course, I, too, have fallen victim to the “they’re so lucky” ideology. I have looked at someone before and thought man they are just so lucky. That must be nice. But I didn’t always know their back story. I didn’t know their trial and tribulations that led them to that point. Sometimes, I think it is just easier to say someone just got lucky instead of admitting that no, they probably worked their ass off for that. It wasn’t until I started my own business where I realized luck actually has nothing to do with it.
No one gets anywhere solely on luck. It takes hard work, grit, patience, a tremendous amount of belief in yourself, and also the acceptance that you might fail. It takes you waking up early every morning and fighting another day. It takes learning from your mistakes and finding new ways to improve things. I truly believe that every choice we make leads us down our paths. Even the choices that suck and hurt us, still get you on a path. It is just up to you, not luck, which path you choose to be on, and yes it will require some work.
Hard work is an incredible thing. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment. It makes you feel proud. So, when good things start happening, like opening a business, you start seeing your hard work pay off. The same goes for trying to lose weight. When you put in the work in the kitchen and the gym, your hard work starts to pay off resulting in losing weight.
Hard work is what gets people where they want to go. And it’s funny, the harder I worked, the “luckier” I got.
So, start putting in some hard work on your dreams, goals, plans, etc. Whatever it is that you want changed in your life, start working hard at it. Then, see how “lucky” you can get!!
Happy trails,
Em
