Welcome to Unwell Zen: The Art of Living Unwell

Unwell Zen is a way of living with a mindset of acceptance of the things you cannot change and an attitude of calm perseverance of the things you can change.

Living Unwell is:

-         a quest for balance: a tightrope between sickness and health

-         a game of chance: pivoting when the unexpected happens

-         a battle for survival: moving forward under adverse circumstances

-         a lesson in humility: nonresistance to new information

-         a curation of self: keep what is highly valued while removing the clutter

When Things Go Off the Rails

In 2019, I was in the middle of a midlife crisis when I found myself having a medical crisis.

Within a year, my medical records looked like this:

1. Chronic Kidney Disease

2. Polycystic Kidney Disease

3. Anemia

4. Graves’ Disease

5. Thyroid Eye Disease

6. Kidney Transplant

7. Obesity

The last straw was the obesity diagnosis.

Getting Things Back on the Rails

Step One: I defined my values.

• I used a list of values by Steve Pavlina with over 400 values.

• I ended up with a list of 95 values.

Step One: Define Your Values

What are your values? What beliefs are important to you? What does your list of values look like?

Step Two: I grouped the values.

- I grouped the related values using color coding.

- I chose one word from the group that represented the core value.

Step Two: Group Your Values

How can you group your list of values to get to your core values?

Step Three: I ranked the values.

- With the core values identified, I ranked the values in order of importance.

Step Three: Rank Your Values

What is the order of importance of your core values? Are you living in alignment with the core values you identified?

WHO ARE YOU BECOMING?

Living unwell is living fully within your abilities despite your health circumstances.

You can choose how chronic illness impacts your life by how you adapt or resist what is happening.

Your ability to stand strong as you face adversities will allow you to build a stable foundation to stand your ground and be able to get up when you get knocked down.

It’s your life if you don’t put up a fight, who will?