Day 22 incredible progress

Hello everyone!

I haven't had time to post anything lately because something really great happened: the novel I had kept in my computer and left there when I fell very ill. Well, about that novel, oh my god!

I self-published it on amazon.fr and within two days it was in the top ten of the "humour" category and after a week it was n°4. It has been in the top 100 for the past four days (all categories mixed together) and I am so happy. I received a lot of compliments from readers who say I write wonderfully and this is so rewarding since my self-confidence was so low.

Now, the drawback of this: I have put it in the kindle 2015 contest and this is stressing me like mad! Of course, I knew it but I needed to put in this contest, what if I win? Well, if I win, it will be translated into English and sold on amazon.uk and amazon.com. This is a wonderful adventure but I am so afraid it can stop just like it began, in a wink. So I am fearful.

The other extraordinary thing is that my partner took me to a lake 45 mns away from home. I took my swim suit, thinking I wouldn't swim unless our puppy dog went in the water and couldn't swim back to the shore. But when I arrived there, I just couldn't resist (I used to be a long distance swimmer and especially enjoyed swimming in open water). The lake I am telling you about is a lake where swimming is forbidden as there is no surveillance crew and some tree trunks here and there. Exactly my type of swimming environment.

In a nutshell: the puppy didn't like the water but I couldn't resist and put my swim suit on and went in the water. I thought I would just sit in it and enjoy being in the water again but I thought: let's try a few strokes, just like Dr Sarno says, and try to ignore the pain. So I started swimming, further and further, I felt pain in my shoulder where I have had a so-called frozen shoulder for 2 years but ignored it and continued. Then I stopped and cried sooo much, I couldn't help it. Prior to this swim, I thought it would take me months to swim again and that swimming again with ease would cost me hard work but no, I swam just the way I used to.

Yesterday we went back there and this time I swam more, maybe for 30 mns on and off and felt absolutely no pain in my left shoulder.

Today, I experience very intense left leg pain (which is where the pain started and is really the worst pain one can imagine). I am trying to ignore it, I haven't taken any pain killer at all for 2 weeks and refuse to do so as it would do the job my brain is expecting but this is really hard.

So in a nutshell: the launch of the book acted as a kind of super boost on my mind which resulted on an improvement of my physical well being.
If you have any tips or thoughts to share with me, please do so. Anyone would have told me 10 days ago about what's happened in the last 10 days, I would called this person a kind naïve/crazy type of person.

I encourage anyone reading this to resume physical activity, I was reluctant to do so but this so wonderful when you realize that everything the program says is true.

One more thing that really drove me up the wall. I was talking with a friend who is a teacher like me and I was telling him that I was planning to take a well deserved sick leave and he said to me "but you should go to school even if this is a new school, a tough school with tough kids in it, it will be good for your mental health to work, if you take a sick leave you will cut yourself from the working world plus you will become a burden on the French social security system". Wow, what a blow! And this is coming from someone whom I thought was understanding of my health issues. I was flabbergasted and I told him "would you tell someone who has cancer to continue working for God's sake?" and he replied "no, but what you have has nothing to do with cancer, come on, pull yourself together". The conversation went sour and I tried to remain calm but I was mad at that guy. Who are these people who think they know better than us what is good or bad for us????

I think of you guys a lot, it gives me strenght to know that we are so many across the world to go through the same crap but after the crap comes the sun ;-)
Wishing you the best. I will try to keep you posted more.

Mina

 

Well done! You have inspired me to try and publish my book on Amazon too - I have left it on the computer - waiting!
Really it doesn't matter if you win the competition - you have already won by 1. Writing a book. 2. Publishing a book. 3. Being successful and having people enjoy your book. 4. Overcoming your TMS to be able to do 1-3!! So pat yourself on the back and don't worry about the competition.
Other people will drive you mad about understanding TMS. Only some people get it. Some people get it - but don't think it applies to them. Other people will think you are deluded.
Well you are not - they are - but there is no way of getting people to understand - they have to come to it of their own choice. So just take a deep breath and ignore any stupid/ignorant/thoughtless comments. It is upsetting and sometimes can feel a little isolating, but really it is better just to let them get on with their lives and you get on with yours. There are so many other facets to life apart from TMS - you may get on with people so well in other areas - just steer clear of TMS/health etc.
I rarely mention it or talk to many people about it now. After the first rush of enthusiasm when I assumed everyone would be so surprised that I had got better and would want to apply the principles to their own lives - I realised that most folk thought I was mad/deluded/stupid. So now I explain the outline if asked but only get into deep conversations if people show a genuine interest. I have sent links to Dr Sarno videos and books to all my email contacts and I made up stickers which I put in public places in the hope that those who need the info will find it. Other than that I get on with having a mostly pain-free and wonderful life!

 

Hi, Mina. Congrats on the book. I'm a published author but have had to self-publish my newest books with CreateSpace.
I love it, but need to do more marketing. See my books at CreateSpace eStore and type in Walter Oleksy.

I have no idea how to market my books on Facebook or Twitter so any suggestions would be great.

And congrats on the exercise and swimming. You're doing what is the best and just keep going.

Why not take the sick leave, and use it to write another book or promote the one that is starting to get attention?

Jo, it's great that you're spreading the word of Sarno and TMS.

 

Well, thank you Walt and Jo, you're two great pals.
I don't do any marketing, people say it is remarkable (some tell me in private messages that it is too well written for kindle readers so I guess this is why I feel feraful.
Yes, sure, that is exactly what I am planning to do: enjoying my sick leave to write the sequel.
I shouldn't feel so bad when meeting people's lack of understanding but it hurts.
Jo, self-publish your book, you never know ;-)

 

Congratulations on the success of publishing your new book, Mina!! That must have been so exciting and satisfying!

I'm also really pleased to hear about the swimming and your fantastic progress in TMS recovery. I too have found that doing physical exercise really helps me. One of my fears I have overcome is driving, as I started driving for the first time in over two years this year. These small milestones are really meaningful!!

I'm sorry to hear about the rude comments from your teacher friend! Argh! That would make me really angry and disappointed. I've found that many people have very little understanding of TMS or chronic illness in general. I have learned to surround myself with people who are understanding and empathetic, over time.

 

Thanks Laudisco,

The point is that this friend of mine was very empathic and was encouraging me to take a break from school but that was before I put the novel on amazon.
He saw it was a hit and I guess he became jealous (he says he wants to write too but never does anything). 70% of French teachers dream to leave the national
education system, this is huge, I read it in an article published last week which was based on a poll. So teachers are your friends as long as you stay a teacher
but if you push yourself to get out of the rut you are in, then they wish you good luck but a lot of them secretly hope you are going to fail because THEY don't have
the guts to do it.

This is the problem with human nature in general but maybe more specifically in this job which has become a hell of a job over time.

Regarding your fear of driving, I think you have made huge progress too and yes, practising a sport is very good but I had stopped swimming because doctors kept
telling me that I had swum too much and that extensive swimming had triggered fibromyalgia. Honestly, when I overcome TMS completely, I will write a book about my
story to let the French people know and doctors too all the things I have learnt thanks to Dr Sarno and the wiki programme.

 

I think fear of driving is a very common thing today. I used to like driving but not anymore because of all the motorists texting and doing so many other things while driving. They're dangerous, causing accidents. Now when I drive I practice deep breathing and just try to stay cool. I select routes that are the least driven even if it takes longer.

 

hello Mina

I am so happy for you that your life has taken such a positive turn since you started the TMS approach and that you are re-discovering the things that you like to do. You diserve it! It's now time to enjoy some time for yourself after having pushed yourself for years. Indeed, a lot of people are envious of eachother and your colleague is most definitely one of them. Don't bother, you KNOW what is best for YOU.
I will definitely read your book once I have read all of my other TMS books still on the shelve to read. I'm really curious to read it afterall those good comments!
Evelyn B.

 

Hi lovely Evelyn,
Thanks for your support, I hope the programm is helping you too, let me know about it.
The kindle contest started today and my sales have raised incredibly, I know I will get bad reviews from envious writers and I know each bad review is going to hit me
hard. I have great support here at home but anxiety increases with the increase of sales, I am now n°57 in the top 100 all categories mixed, this is going to trigger much
jealousy from other writers who participate too and I know they ask friends to post some horrible reviews on a book hoping it will blow it away.
So, what can I do, well, just wait and see how things move, my partner says this is a good experience for me in order to work on my emotions and my difficulty at
handling criticism...I don't know if he's right.
I will keep you posted.
Mina

 

I just wanted to offer my congratulations on your novel! Well done! Enjoy that sense of accomplishment and do not worry what others think!

 

Thanks Abuglet, I try but it's hard, I see my sales doubling from one day to another and pain increases as I fear a violent backlash from other writers who are in the
contest. I absolutely have to keep up with the progamm in order to fight this away but I spend hours on social media and, of course, amazon...but I will return to the programm and
continue tomorrow, this has to be a priority over the rest.