Hello, dear MLWT readers. I am pleased to be invited to do some guest blogging for you now and then, and it feels like it might be nice to put first things first and introduce myself properly.
To start off, here are some basics:
My name is Sarah Nuxoll. I’m 35 years old, and I live in Portland, OR with my husband and two young children. I do not have lupus, but I do have Cystic Fibrosis . Yes, I realize these are vastly different diseases, but boy can I empathize with the continual demands and detours of living with chronic illness.
What brings me here to MLWT, in a nutshell?
Well, I’m here because after 35 years I’m finally practicing letting myself enjoy life as it comes – illness and kids and all – and I’d really like to help others feel this as a possibility in their own lives.
What will I be writing about?
A number of things, I think. When we live with chronic illness, I feel it touches so many aspects of our lives, day in and day out. It’s this big picture I’d like us to be able to come to terms with, by digging a little deeper into habits of emotions and thinking that actually limit our options for enjoying our lives, usually without our even being consciously aware of them.
More specifically, I feel drawn to reach out to new parents, who may be struggling with how to find time for nurturing themselves physically and creatively in between all it takes to raise children. I’d like to contemplate the ways chronic illness touches into and is influenced by our spirituality. I am also interested in exploring a deeper mindful connection with our bodies themselves; though it is easy to feel “betrayed” by our body when we live with chronic conditions, I’d like to consider turning this attitude on its head and see how we might more consciously participate in our inner workings.
How do all these subjects come together?
In essence, what I’m really hoping to do is to help us recognize when we begin to feel frustrated with our lives – whether due to issues with our health or just life in general – and then come back to square one and ask ourselves a few simple questions: Am I taking care of myself? Am I asking for the help I need? Am I getting time to express who I am, apart from any role as patient, parent, or partner? And if not, why not? What beliefs am I carrying around that fuel this frustration, and that really aren’t serving me anymore? What do I want to do with my life, anyway?
I believe that if we can begin to see more clearly these subconscious patterns, we can turn them around to become the fire we need to consciously tell the story we want with our lives. And that, dear readers, means giving ourselves permission to creatively explore how we can organize our lifestyle to receive what we need and actually enjoy ourselves here.
How did I get interested in all this to begin with?
Up until a few years ago, I spent a lot of time feeling angry, depressed and overwhelmed with my life. My interest in beginning to sort out these subconscious habits was ignited when I met my meditation teacher, Brenda Morgan . I still work intensively with the body-mind and spiritual insights she shares for healing the way I approach life. This has brought such a positive restructuring to the way I engage my creativity and explore all aspects of my life, that I am eager to share some of these tools with you as well, flavored by my unique experience as a woman with cystic fibrosis, as a mother, and as somebody who is truly interested in helping each of us accept and embrace ourselves as we are, while having the courage to move toward healing.
Interested in chatting further? 
If you should find yourself reading one of my blog entries and something clicks that you’d like to explore further with me, I would invite you to surf over to my website, and connect with me there. I am happy to chat via email, by phone, or in person. I also welcome the chance to speak to groups of people interested in opting out of the cycle of stress and frustration in favor of exploring ways our lives can work and be enjoyable.
Thanks for listening, dear readers. I look forward to this conversation together.
Sarah
