A Letter to My Fatigued Future Reader

Teaching systems, not protocols, for complex chronic illness

Who Is My Ideal Reader?

She is probably me from ten years ago.

I remember desperately searching for someone like me — a success story. There were a few out there: someone figured out this or that and wrote a book or created a website. But these people were teaching protocols, and their protocols didn't work for me. In fact some of them (especially some reckless thyroid protocols) have nearly killed me. There wasn't much to learn beyond their specific methods. The main thing I learnt was that following protocols in my condition was both difficult and dangerous.

But there was something important outside of the sincere but misguided interpretation of personal experiences in these books and online stories: hope amidst a hopeless diagnosis. That is probably the most crucial thing that will determine the outcome of your journey. Without finding at least a handful of people who had made it through, I probably wouldn't have survived what I had to endure. So if nothing else than at least take that from me: I was a complete trainwreck at one point. And I got better. And so can you - but you have to believe in that.

You Are My Reader If...

You refuse to give up hope. Despite all the suffering and bleakness, you believe in your own happy ending. You don't spend your limited energy in social media groups more interested in bemoaning misery than seeking solutions. Validation is helpful in the beginning, but eventually you must decide: will you spend your precious energy complaining or solution-seeking? I found the latter much better for mental health. There's a reason screenwriters are told that good protagonists should be active, not passive, participants in their own story.

And what if you don’t? If nothing else than please at least take this from me: I was a complete trainwreck at one point. And I got better. And so can you - but you have to believe in that.

You're my reader if you’re a self-learner who's been at this long enough to pick up medical jargon. You don't want to be defined by labels or identify strictly as "a patient with X disease." You see yourself as a uniquely broken system and can find similarities across different groups without feeling like you fully belong to any of them. You’ve picked up a lot of medical jargon on your journey and you may even read article abstracts on pubmed and feel like you mostly understand what they mean but you may lack the solid structural foundation of biomedical science that someone who studied it formally would have.

You're disillusioned with allopathic Western medicine but feel overwhelmed by alternative approaches (everything from vitamins to colonics). You're curious about radically different medical systems but remain appropriately skeptical or confused.

You don't like following medical protocols — because I find protocols useless. Body-brain balance is like walking a tightrope: you balance the pole as you go, not according to detailed instructions from the previous tightrope walker. I believe in teaching systems, not protocols.

You have a complex inner terrain that you like to observe and understand. You know how to navigate by your own stars and build your own mental maps.

Your Demographics (Likely)

Perhaps you are a very smart and independent woman, like myself, someone who synthesizes across disciplines — anything from functional medicine to yoga. You're ready to believe everything and nothing at the same time.

Or you might be a man who is strongly rational but broken down enough to search for a softer, more holistic approach to the body. Spiritual meditation groups feel too alien, but you're ready to believe in something.

Most importantly: You are my reader if something deep inside hinted that you should be. Because if you don't have good inner intuition, my teaching probably isn't meant for you.

And I’m glad to meet you.

Auryn Lie

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