Today’s “Move@bility’s friend” is someone very special, to me, since I’ve been knowing her for her whole life, being her my “little cousin”. Cristiana is 23i, has many dreams and a strong desire to find a balance, even though it’s tricky, between the obstacle represented and her desire to go beyond it and confidently look ahead. I’ll let Cristiana directly share her own story with you.
Two years ago, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease which prevents you from having a clear vision of your life and threatens your self-confidence. However, it didn’t represent, to me, the perfect alibi to passively escape from a 20 years old girl’s life: on the contrary, it enabled me, thanks to yoga (that, now, has become my job), to adopt an healthier life style and train myself to have a positive mindset, being able to find a balance in the tricky coexistence between my will to go on with my path and reach my goals and the limit imposed by the disease. Furthermore, positive mental attitude, over time, enabled me to look at my disease not as an obstacle, but, rather, as a tool which goes with me throughout my evolution path.
Through my short testimony, I want to show that, if you find the strength to reach the balance- that can also be present in a disease condition- a self-healing mechanism will be set in motion as well. To do that, a strong willpower is needed, fed its turn by a continuous energy flow. Inside human beings, there’s an unlimited and enormous potential, not just physical, but also, and above all, mental. But we often experience a state of disheartenment and frustration which leads us to hit bottom. It’s only when we experience it that we become able to tap into that potential, to succeed resurfacing, since mankind evolution is always two-stage. Not just human beings, but nature has in itself the power to regenerate: as a matter of fact, what animates the whole world is the self-healing power, strictly connected to willpower, that implies a way to face events, both positive and negative.
In my case, this willpower- that, at the beginning, I wasn’t aware to have- has always been present in my daily relationship with the disease: sometimes, it has been my anchor, sometimes a real drive to react, some other times it has risen up against me to attract on itself more attention. We must always keep in our mind that we don’t have to fight against our disease, or to suppress it, but rather guide and support it. Sickness makes our relationship with ourselves sincere, showing the dark sides we often want to ignore. Health, meanwhile, isn’t a goal to reach, but a process, which can be influenced by a positive state of mind.
I thank Cristiana from the bottom of my heart for having shared her testimony about the way she has succeeded finding inside herself the resources to face with courage and positivity multiple sclerosis. Of course, willpower isn’t always enough to heal (after all, who would like to stay sick, if he could choose?). Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that getting used to adopt a positive attitude “despite it” helps living better and, meanwhile, facing with more energy also the additional challenges which, daily, mark the path of those who, beyond the “standard luggage”, have to face life with an “extra” one: disability, whatever its kind or cause is.
If you, like Cristiana, want to share your own story with Move@bility’s friends, send it via e-mail (you can find the e-mail address on “Contact me“ page) or, if you prefer social media, through a private message on Move@bility Facebook page.