{"id":21630,"date":"2025-09-05T16:51:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T20:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/?p=21630"},"modified":"2026-03-16T08:37:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:37:52","slug":"fibro-chat-dec-3-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/fibro-chat-dec-3-2025","title":{"rendered":"Fibro Chat Dec 3, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_block_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough preset--module--divi-column--default\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Fibro Chat: Recognizing the International Day of Persons with Disabilities<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Date:<\/strong> December 3<br \/><strong>Theme:<\/strong> <em>\u201cInclusion and Accessibility for People Living with Fibromyalgia\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>December 3 marks the <strong>International Day of Persons with Disabilities<\/strong>, a day recognized around the world to promote understanding of disability issues and to advocate for dignity, rights, and inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>On this important day, <strong>Fibromyalgia Association Canada (FAC)<\/strong> invites you to join our <strong>Fibro Chat<\/strong> with Trudy and Lynn. This chat will be a safe and supportive space for connection, reflection, and awareness.<\/p>\n<p>Living with fibromyalgia can mean navigating invisible challenges every day, from pain and fatigue to cognitive fog and social misunderstanding. These experiences remind us that <strong>disability isn\u2019t always visible<\/strong>, but it is always valid.<\/p>\n<p>During this special Fibro Chat, Trudy and Lynn will talk about what inclusion really means for people with fibromyalgia, share personal experiences, and discuss small but powerful ways to create a more accessible and understanding world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Replay available below<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_video_0 et_pb_video et_pb_module et_flex_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_video_box\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"December Fibro Chat with Trudy and Lynn\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7yyyrk_z2e4?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n<template data-arve_cachetime=\"2026-04-21T13:35:42-04:00\" data-arve_iframe_src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7yyyrk_z2e4?feature=oembed\" data-arve_url=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7yyyrk_z2e4\" data-author_name=\"Fibromyalgia Association Canada\" data-author_url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@FibromyalgiaAssociationCanada\" data-height=\"608\" data-provider=\"youtube\" data-provider_name=\"YouTube\" data-provider_url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/\" data-thumbnail_height=\"360\" data-thumbnail_url=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/7yyyrk_z2e4\/hqdefault.jpg\" data-thumbnail_width=\"480\" data-title=\"December Fibro Chat with Trudy and Lynn\" data-type=\"video\" data-version=\"1.0\" data-width=\"1080\" class=\"arve-data\"><\/template><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"et_pb_row_1 et_pb_row et_flex_row\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column_1 et_pb_column et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et_flex_column_24_24 et_flex_column_24_24_tablet et_flex_column_24_24_phone et_flex_column_24_24_tabletWide et_flex_column_24_24_widescreen et_flex_column_24_24_ultraWide preset--module--divi-column--default\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_toggle_0 et_pb_toggle et_pb_toggle_item et_pb_toggle_close et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-toggle--default\"><h5 class=\"et_pb_toggle_title\">Transcript<\/h5><div class=\"et_pb_toggle_content clearfix et_flex_module\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transcript of December 3, 2025 Fibro Chat:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good afternoon or morning depending on where you are. Welcome to Fibromyalgia Association Canada's fibro chat with Trudy and Lynn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">December 3rd is International Day of Persons with Disabilities and today we are going to talk about the importance of acknowledging disability without letting it define you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We will explore the grieving process, how to cope and move forward and why mindset really matters in helping to reframe your life. Having a disability does not have to disable your life. The theme this year for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities is \u201cFostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My name is Trudy Flynn. I am the Chair of the Board of Directors of Fibromyalgia Association Canada or FAC. I<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional and unceded territory of indigenous peoples across Canada including First Nations, Metis and the Inuit. We honour their enduring connection to the land and are committed to fostering respectful and meaningful relationships with all indigenous communities across Canada. I acknowledge and give thanks to the land on which we live, work, and play and to the people who have cared for it. I'm speaking to you from Mi\u2019kma\u2019ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi\u2019kmaw people. In Nova Scotia, we are all treaty people. I'll now turn it over to Lynn who can introduce for herself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hello everyone. Trudy, as always, it's such a pleasure to have these discussions with you. Uh, I'm Lynn Cooper. I'm a person with lived experience with work injury and persistent pain for many, many years. I am employed with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and I serve on the poweroverpain.ca Portal development team. And within that team, I co-lead the lived experience advisory committee that is involved in reviewing and vetting resources that appear on the Power Over Pain Portal. I'm also involved in lots of research and education that has the ability to be able to improve understanding of chronic pain and health situations like fibromyalgia which I live with. You know, in our discussion today, Trudy, I really want to highlight right now and give thanks to all of the advocates and educators who over the years have brought the recognition for inclusion and acceptance of people with disabilities in our country and in our world. It takes a very long time, an awful lot of tenacity, persistence, and courage to advocate, I think, for the recognition of disabilities and helping to create programs within employment and social systems that can really help people with different types of disabilities feel included in our society and feel as though they can be, we can be productive members of society. So, thank you to all of you who have paved the way so that we are actually celebrating today the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. And by the way, I'm coming to you from southern Ontario, Kitchener specifically, and I am living on the territories of the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabeg nations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thank you, Lynn. That was really important to thank the people who've come before us because<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">without them we wouldn't even be talking about this and and I really I try to as a person with fibromyalgia as well, really stress the importance of the fact that not all disabilities can be seen and that fibromyalgia is very much an invisible disability. I don't think anyone with fibromyalgia have not experienced the whole you don't look sick.\u00a0 I think I want to acknowledge people with fibromyalgia who keep moving forward even though, often times, there's so much stigma and so much lack of recognition for our challenges that we face every day. So, I just want to recognize people with fibromyalgia as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thank you for that. It's really important because both you and I have lived with fibromyalgia for such a long time. And we both look pretty good today, I think. And if we were to meet someone on the street, in a store, wherever, they would not necessarily know that we are living with fibromyalgia. That carries with it, at different times, and more so for some people than others, components of\u00a0 disability that we can struggle with, like for instance fibro fog that cognitive issue that can come up on a person when you're trying to speak with someone and trying to convey an important message out there in the world, and get help for yourself when you need it. And so even for some people who may have the special disability designated sticker for their vehicle because of fibromyalgia and its impact on them, having people misunderstand their use of the specialized parking spaces. So, I've been with someone when that has happened for them and it was very uncomfortable and it. I certainly used it as an opportunity to try to provide some education about how disabilities can be invisible and you have to walk a mile in someone's shoes or a kilometer in someone's shoes in order to know what they're really going through. Does that resonate with you at all, Trudy?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It does and as you know, I have to say I like you, I'm involved in a lot of research studies that are outside of fibromyalgia. Well, I try to use those opportunities when I talk to researchers, or I'm asked to talk to students as a patient partner and convince them or talk to them about how important it is to have a person with lived experience on their research team. And I never just go there and say, \"Yes, I'm a person with lived experience.\" I use every opportunity I can to get on my soap box. And I have to admit educating people on fibromyalgia. And I did that just this week actually. I was talking to some students at Memorial University in Newfoundland and via Zoom you got to love Zoom, right? I spent most of my time convincing them that though I looked well, I never know. But you mentioned fibro fog, which is the reason I had to stop working as a nurse. And the point of fibro fog too is I can be doing something and think this is a great day and before you can snap your fingers I can't remember what I was there for or who I was talking to. So it's a very debilitating symptom of fibromyalgia. I find the fib fibro fog is embarrassing sometimes when you can't, I always use this example, I was in Staples and I was trying to buy something. It was back and I'll date myself here, it was back in the day where you had to give them your phone number, and they used that machine that went over your card. I could not remember my phone number. I was so embarrassed. There was a big lineup behind me. It was Christmas time and I couldn't remember my phone number. I just I said, \"You know what? I'll pay in cash.\" And so I paid in cash and when I went home, I was devastated. That was my one of my worst experiences and most embarrassing moments and I made sure I had an ID from that point on. I printed out my name, my address, my phone number because I just I was terrified that that was going to happen again and I was just humiliated that I couldn't remember my own phone number.\u00a0 You know, talking about having to leave work leads me to, as I said, I was a nurse and I met my nurse manager at a shopping center and she looked at me and she said, \"Why are you still off work?\" And I said, \"Well, because I'm still having problems.\" And she said, \"You look fine and we're short staffed and we need you back.\" and she went back to the floor and said there's nothing wrong with her and she just doesn't want to come back and that turned people against me. That was my social life. These were my friends. The people I worked with were my friends. I mean you work 12-hour shifts you get so they're probably the only people you see. And so they all, it was like, they all disappeared because they all thought that I was faking or malingering or whatever they called it in the day. And so you know I lost my job, I lost my friends and I started I think that really made me aware of the difficulty of living with an invisible disability. And they didn't call it that at the time, but it was you look well, therefore you have to be well. And I don't know about you, Lynn, but I didn't call myself disabled for years. As a matter of fact, it's only been probably the last five years that I've identified as having a disability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I agree with you about that. I'd like to go back. Let's pin that because I think that's an important conversation. But I I'd like to go back to your Staple\u2019s story because I think there's some things we can unpack there. So, you were sad you were humiliated and what other things did you feel there? Did you feel shame?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Did, is there, how do I word this? Were you down on yourself?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I honestly didn't, it was one of the worst episodes I'd had, so, when I was working, I worked on a geriatric floor with dementia patients, and there were times where I didn't remember, \u201dDid I give them their pills or didn't I?\u201d\u00a0 But fortunately for me, they were counted, plus, I had another nurse working with me and she could say, \"Yeah, you did give me their pills, or you didn't.\" Right? Because I couldn't count on the patient to know whether I did or not. They had dementia. So, we used to joke about that. But when I was in the Staple store, it wasn't funny. It really wasn't funny. And I was perfectly fine when I walked in that store. and walking out, I went through that process all the time. But it just hit me. I did feel shame. I felt embarrassed, humiliated. everybody was behind me waiting in the lineup. I just Yeah. I was fortunate that I had the money to pay for it because I don't even<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">know if I would have just said, \"You know what? I don\u2019t need that after all.\"\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So that was back then.\u00a0 Now with all the work that everyone has done in the world related<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to bringing all the different personal disabilities that people can have. Fast forward something like that to a similar experience today where you forgot something. You didn't have it there. Mind you, you took good steps to cope with that by ensuring you had that in had something in your purse that you could reach for if you needed it. By the way, I have something like that related to passwords. So anyway, fast forward now to 2025. Do you think that with all the work that folks have done,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you might have been able to say to the person, \u201cYou might not see this, but I have a a disability that is coming forward right now. Can you just give me a moment? Or could I step away for a moment and get the information I need for you and could you take some other customers or something like that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0No.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You couldn't do that?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I couldn't do that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0I could now. I could now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I couldn't do that. And I will say that I still I don't know. if it's a flashback. but when I go, say to the Superstore and you guys call them Loblaws and I think across the rest of Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have super stores too<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okay. When you I went to the Superstore, I hadn't been shopping in so long in person, you know was after Covid, I couldn't remember how to use the pay m pay debit, you know credit card thing. sometimes what saves me is it's tap. So you just tap it, you go. That works perfect for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You don't spend more than $200 and you can tap<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That's right. I can do it. But when I was trying to figure out how to insert it and I couldn't figure it out, the lady behind me said, \"Oh, you just do it like this.\" I hate these machines. Everywhere you go, they're always different. I can never figure it out, top and bottom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t you love those people?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, but the person who was waiting for me to do it, I got a big sigh out of them. And I thought, wow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0There's your opportunity, Missy,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to Yeah, to educate<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To educate and just say, \u201cI\u2019m a person, I live with fibromyalgia and sometimes I have cognitive issues. This is a disability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh, that's actually perfect words, Lynn. That those are perfect words. Yes. Now<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to get that out my mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0I've become really well and it's to get over that initial shame or embarrassment or whatever it is. And it's all about being brave and you say it in I try anyway to say it in a anyway to say it in a very calm voice which can create that calmness for them. But I remember Trudy, you were talking. we mentioned here about the grieving process and how to cope and move forward and that type of thing. And I remember when my family doctor, it was more for me than just fibromyalgia, you see, it was the back, the whole back injury that resulted in fibro, but the back injury continued. And I<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">remember when my amazing doctor then said, \"Lynn, we have to right now we have to face some facts here and it seems as though this has become a disability for you. I didn't want to accept that.\" I said, \"No, no, no. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to do.\" and she said, \"But let's look at the facts here and let's look at the number of days you're missing at work, all the pain that you're in, all of these things. Let's move towards getting you involved; in getting this recognized for you and getting you involved in some of the government programs that can help, you until you can figure out what<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">your way through this basically. Okay. Well, I went through quite a grieving process about that. Now, that was a long time ago. I don't know because of the shift and thanks to all those folks who advocated for all of us if that would have the same feeling for people. Now, we actually should do some work on that to find out. So that would be a good project for us to do, but I just want to<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">raise it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Well, we do get a lot of emails at fact and people feel like, we have a number of people who feel like their lives are over. We get that expression all the time. Yes, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. My life is over. And so,\u00a0 I don't know if that has changed. Maybe the delivery has changed, but I had to do a lot of fighting to get by my fibromyalgia recognized as a disability. And in fact, I do not receive the disability tax credit from CRA because I can walk is what they tell me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Correct. I don't either. I don't either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And yet it's labeled a disability and it's you know lots of people get disability benefits when they're on I was receiving disability benefits and yet I did not qualify. I qualified for one but not the other and that these systems need to start working together. And I guess we need to really educate people that it is in fact a disability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More advocacy, you know, advocacy, education, it never ends. So, there's still more work to be done for sure. and the systems when they don't work together, the systems can unknowingly<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">be discriminatory and cause stigma. And when we encounter stigma enough, when we're labeled complainers, malinger, drug seekers, whatever, when people assume you would rather live on a<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a much lower amount of money below the poverty designated line for Canada, when you'd rather do that than be employed, even part-time like I am now, it, that is hard to take. So we've so much more to do. What do we, all of us who are watching, and you and I, are talking now. What do we do about<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this? How do we approach our lives? because you're saying that people who are feeling because they have fibromyalgia, because it's labeled as a disability, that their lives are over. And I guess<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I mean that's huge because that is self, that way of thinking the way of\u00a0 approaching it, can be manifested through our interaction with systems and others who don't understand what we're going through but we also can have be self-stigmatized to believe all this nonsense and unhelpful thinking. How do we help our peers who have fibromyalgia to know they don't have to be disempowered? So, I'm saying right now, we don't have to be disempowered. we can utilize,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">well let me rewind here. I do have disability associated with living with fibromyalgia and the back injury. I don't think about that every day though, because over time I've been able to put<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">coping strategies, learn them, put them into my daily plan, and I've been able to go<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">forward. So, I don't think of myself every day as disabled. But when I do come up against it,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">well, I'm challenged a bit sometimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah, I think education is huge. And you know, something when I started with the group that helped establish FAC, my whole thought was, if we can help one person, that's one person, right? So I<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">look at it as if we can help and educate one person, I consider that a success. So, but I have learned so I I have a daughter who was diagnosed the same time I was. So, she was 8 years old and I never wanted it to affect her life to the degree that she felt disabled. So I didn't want her to feel disabled. So I always put on a smiling face and carried on. Right. BuyI learned through that process of being her advocate, because that was difficult at eight. Xhe couldn't go to school. I had to I didn't have to, but I homeschooled her,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I had to fight the school system because homeschooling wasn't a thing at that time in Nova Scotia. It was a huge battle. So, I'm really good at fighting other people's battles, but what I learned at this time was mindset matters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so if you your mindset? Describe what that means.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I always try to convince myself and her that we could still do what we did before just in modification and we had to learn how to self-manage and pace and things like that. And so over a few years actually so she left school in grade six and she went back in grade nine because it's just like you, you say you're working part-time now, right? But there was a period you couldn't do that.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So it's like having the ability to feel like your condition doesn't define you. That I think that helps people keep going and mindset does matter because I had Covid this summer and I was so angry that I had Covid because it was five years and I wear a mask everywhere I go. So the person I got the CO from didn't and I was so angry that I couldn't get over my Covid because I was too angry to let<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">myself heal. And so that mindset, I've only recognized it as I'm coming out the other end, but that mindset kept me sick. So, if I had just said, we all make mistakes and I have it, so I'll just deal with it and get back on my feet, carry on. But I think I prevented my own recovery by being so angry. And I must say that if I'm going to have a bad fibromyalgia day it's because I'm either angry or stressed, those negative emotions, right? And that can cause me to crash faster than anything else. So that's why I say mindset matters because I have recognized in myself and my daughter has made sure I recognize it. I have signs all over my bedroom walls here saying keep smiling because it's a beautiful<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">thing. there's so much in this life to smile about and all sorts of mindset matters kinds of little things because and I look at them and I smile and I think okay I can start moving back but it really makes a difference. If you go into it with the my life is over I think you can convince yourself and maybe it is right I think it's that your life isn't over your life has just changed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having a disability and recognizing that disability doesn't mean your life is over. Having fibromyalgia, recognizing you have it, also doesn't mean your life is over. It means often both of those things for me, mean I have to think my way around tasks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes I do what I can. I didn't just throw up my hands and say I can't do anything. I had to think smarter, organize, and learn that prioritizing, pacing, and planning, those that triple threat right there, that's what gets me through every day. I had to learn that, practice it, really think about what's my priority. If I can do two things, what are they? If I can do one thing, what is it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then forgive myself if right now, I'm not able to do anything else physically. But you never know. Your fibro shifts and changes within a day. So later on, I might be able to. But it's not giving up and asking people to do things for you that you can do yourself in measured amounts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now having said that, there are times where I grieved my independence, where I was needing assistance at different times and I still do. Back in the day I grieved it. I thought I was less than. I was buying into society's mindset about having a disability, that you are less than, and we are not, folks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, I had to work through that. I talked with a social worker about it, to be very honest, and her help was so valuable to me. It helped me to recognize my personal power. And part of my personal power, Trudy, was recognizing when once in a while I needed to ask for help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so, I do what I can, and when I need to ask for help, I ask for help. And my family and friends, after all this time, know that if Lynn's asking for help, then she really needs it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, you know, mindset does matter, that we work to do the things that we can and celebrate our accomplishments, be kind to ourselves through it all, and use the word disability as it serves us to move through the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That's my perspective. It's not necessarily other peoples. So please don't be offended, folks, if it isn't your perspective. This is what works for me there. Everybody's going to find what works for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I find that there was a period of time when I was first diagnosed that I let my disability\u2014which I didn't recognize as a disability then, because I don't think the world recognized it as a disability then but I let it disable me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can remember that after I had the realization I could not go back to work and my coworkers stopped calling me and my friends, not just coworkers, I let that disable me and I spent probably two months hardly getting out of bed in the morning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think maybe it was part of my grieving process. And then I got to the stage that my daughter needed me and I thought I need to get over myself and start working my way back, and I did work my way back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But it's not easy. And I want to recognize though that the life I'm living right now, I would not be living if I hadn't been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. And I like the life I'm living right now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, it's just that you have to shift directions. And there's often things in life that cause any of us to have to shift directions. The death of a partner or something like that, and you're perfectly healthy, but you still have to shift directions. And so, we're no different than that. We just have to shift directions sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you can't do this job, maybe you can do that job. So, there's different ways of looking at it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That's right. And so, I wouldn't be part of FAC. I wouldn't be one of the founding members. And I love the people I've met through my fibromyalgia, including you, Lynn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, it's not\u2014you just have to look at it as maybe a reset in your life and reframing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I began to realize that there's part of Lynn inside here, wherever it is, whatever you want to call it, there's a part that cannot be impacted by the persistent pain that I live with, the impacts of fibro, the impacts of the neuropathic pain, or what people say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There's a part of me that at all times is protected somehow, and people can call that whatever they want. I'm not going to define it any more than that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And whenever I get bombarded by the world, an insensitive person, a system, or something that's happened that makes me feel disheartened or that doesn't recognize the challenge that I'm experiencing right now with whatever disability related to fibro and my back injury might come forward, that part now I recognize - you can't touch me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then it helps me to bring forward whatever courage I need, to do whatever it is I need to do at that time. Might be walk away, might be advocate for myself, might be educate\u2014whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you know one time I was traveling for a work-related kind of thing and I had a smaller suitcase that I was checking and I had to pay for that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I let the people know who would be covering the cost of my flight that I would need to check this luggage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, I travel with a smaller piece of luggage because if I ever have to lift that and I have to do it myself, I need to be able to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So putting it up, taking it off the carousel, or putting it in to check it at the airport\u2014there isn't necessarily somebody around who will help you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, I had an instance where they couldn't understand why the person paying for my flight couldn't understand why I would need to check a bag and pay the $30 or whatever it was.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And they said, \u201cWell, why can't you carry it on, Lynn?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I said, \u201cA person who carries on a piece of luggage needs to be responsible for taking that luggage into the aircraft, picking it up, and lifting it up into the upper bin. I have a disability that I'm not able to do that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And they went, \u201cCouldn't you just ask somebody?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I said, \u201cHere's my chance. I was injured in a preventable accident because I had to hold something heavy to keep it from crushing my feet. I am never going to ask a stranger to lift something of mine over their head in case, and by chance\u00a0 they became injured and have a disability like me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And my coworker said, \u201cOh, I never really thought of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I said, \u201cOn top of that, for me it would be the potential embarrassment in the world having to explain why I needed help and everybody around me hearing it. You do have personal pride and you do want to be self-sufficient.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So that is my example of explaining once only, and I was never asked again why Lynn do we need to pay for you to check your bag.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes. That's right. And the thing is you shouldn't even have had to do that as a person with lived experience. They know you have some kind of condition. You shouldn't have to explain what that condition is, you know.\u00a0 But I find myself constantly educating, you know. So I've had people question my whether I seriously do have fibromyalgia. Even people here, you know, because we're talking, because we're doing things, they actually will say, \"Well, that's nice for you. you obviously don't have fibromyalgia. And I'm like, actually I do. Like all our board, all our members, they have fibromyalgia. It's almost like they say it in such an insulting way, you know? Well, obviously if you can do that, you don't have fibromyalgia, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or they'll say your pain isn't as bad as mine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I laughed one day Lynn, we were doing construction. It seems like in this house we are always doing construction of some sort or another. The next day I was walking down the hall and into the kitchen and my husband was really struggling because he was so sore and his muscles hurt. He says \u201coh my goodness, do you feel as bad as I feel? \u00a0 I hesitated. I looked at him and I said, \"I have fibromyalgia. I feel like this every day.\u201d\u00a0 If you're looking for sympathy you picked the wrong person. He looked at me and he said \u201cseriously, like you seriously feel like this every day?\u201d and I'm said yes I do. So, you know, and I mean, I have had 30 years living with him with fibromyalgia and it was like it just clicked, but it took 30 years for it to click, right? The thing is because it's an invisible disability. And I think that's our\u2026. you know people never question someone in a wheelchair or even uses a cane or uses a walker, they obviously just register there's something wrong with them right or something they have, and that's a wrong term too because there's nothing wrong with them. They just have a disability. Anyway, it's\u00a0 that whole disbelief, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And my family, I had members of my family that never believed that we had fibromyalgia. In fact, some of them told us we need to see a psychiatrist. And especially Natasha, they were kind of mean to Natasha, saying she should see a psychiatrist, right? And I, for a while, you know they make you feel small right and for a while I kind of tolerated that and then I got to the stage of just saying you know what toxicity is not something I need in my life so I just walked away. I mean, yeah, it's even family. I just couldn't handle the whole there's nothing wrong with you. Like, you're just looking for attention, from my brothers and you know, so I just didn't, have anything to do with them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. People are in our lives for a reason, a season, and a lifetime and we really need people to surround ourselves with people who are going to let us be us. People who are going to help us when we need help and not do things for us when we don't and be there to help us sort through some of the tough issues of when we're feeling down, when we're feeling when we're grieving certain things. Cuz you know, the grieving process just doesn't happen during the beginning of these things. As life comes along, as things in our lives change, have you noticed there can be a circumstance where you grieve? I had this happen last week, I was and just for a split second only and then I moved on, you know, I was surrounded, I was at the chronic pain network, huge meeting from folks across Canada. I was seeing the trainees and I worked with them for an entire day on a hackathon project and I was hearing about the beginnings of their careers and then I was talking with colleagues who are seasoned scientists and clinicians and mentors and I just for a moment, Trudy, there was the twinge that the back injury and the fibro took me away from what I thought was going to be my life's trajectory. And Dr. Cooper didn't happen because of all the issues with the persistent pain and the fibro and there was a twinge there of grieving and fortunately for me I was in the presence of a peer and she, I guess she saw a look come across my face and she said Lynn what's going on and I said, I'm thinking about what wasn't.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then I thought but think about what is and the work that I have done and moving forward. And that's what I do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So even if you have a moment like all of a sudden this just happened now, it's okay because I'm with you and you understand and we just find ways to move forward and not be disabled by the label disability. We can use it to our advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, Lynn, I want to say that I've done a lot of work with you and we and I want you to know that you've probably helped more people doing what you're doing than you may have any other way. So, it's like we've been sort of led down a path, right? And yeah, it's like you have to let yourself accept that this was the right choice, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I don't know about you, but I know how strong an advocate you are. But self advocating, I do a much better job of advocating for other people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I was at this Memorial University student thing, I was advocating for those of us with fibromyalgia. I wasn't advocating for myself because I don't do a very good job of advocating for myself. And but self advocacy and advocating, it's exhausting. It's exhausting work, but I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And so, I hope you feel that way, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, mostly I do. You just have those twinges once in a while, and that's okay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah. I find that when I go into the hospital, I have those twinges that, you know, I could still be working if I, you know, even if I was working a couple days a week, I could still be working, right? But then I look at them and they're understaffed and they're overworked and I'm thinking no, maybe I'm good. When Covid first began all the nurses and doctors got so sick and so many of them developed Long Covid, in some ways I was almost thankful that I wasn't in that position.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, you know, it it's yeah, it's you know, I've had people question because, you know, I am a runner. I I'm not even going to say was a runner, even though I haven't run in a while. I haven't run since I had the COVID vaccine. I had such a strong reaction to that. I've never been able to get back running. But, interestingly, the other day, my daughter and I were walking the dog and I said, \"My dream is to do this.\" She said, \"No, no, it's not your dream. You need to make it your goal because dreams, you can dream about being an astronaut and you're not going to be an astronaut. So, you should make it your goal.\" You see, and that's another case of words and mindset matters, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I think with people, I've had people when I was running saying there's no possible way you have fibromyalgia if you can do this. Like you shouldn't be able to do this because you should be in so much pain, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I said to them one day, I'm in pain if I run and I'm in pain if I don't. So, I might as well go out there and enjoy myself. And for that little bit of time that and I don't run from here to I run 30 seconds, walk 30 seconds, run 30 seconds. So, I cannot run straight out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But that little bit of time that I'm running, as I'm able to train and expand how long I run up to maybe a minute or two, that period of time, I don't have any pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, if I had the energy to just keep running through my life, but that in those moments, I don't have pain. And then, of course, when I stop running, I have pain. But I had it before I started. So, what's the difference, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I get to enjoy those little tiny moments of being pain free.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because you when we say we have a good day, that doesn't mean we don't have pain. It just means we're having a better day than what we normally have.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Totally because when I think about today.\u00a0 You know, when I think about today, I reviewed a manuscript this morning. It is so good. The work that was done in that research project is going to give me all kinds of, once it's published, is going to give me all kinds of data that I can use to advocate for injured workers. Check. What a good day. I read and I contributed to that manuscript and I worked on that project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I recorded fibro chats with Trudy. Check.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I'm going to be working on another project with Ontario Tech University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I'm spending time with my best friend Pat. Check.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I'm going to get some Christmas shopping done. And then I'm going to relax.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, things that bring me joy and all of these things that I've talked<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">about, yes, reviewing a manuscript that is so well written and gives me<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">information I can use down the road from a project is important to me, brings<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">me joy. All of those things matter and it\u201ds part and not once during this entire day except during our discussion here am I thinking about me being disabled because I don't feel as though there's nothing I can do in my life. I don't use that connotation of disability. I am a person with disabilities<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that come forward and impact me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Again, others may not agree with what I'm saying. I respect you and please respect me because this is how I get through my days and that's what we have to do to carry on in our lives. Please respect me too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think that's why gratitude journals are good or just journals in general and I'm not a journaler and<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I'd like to be a journaler, so you know I need to slow down and take that moment to start writing journals but I want to approach my journal with what did I do today made me happy or what do I have to be grateful for because I don't want a journal that tells me that this is a bad day ,this sucked this, was bad, you know, all the negativity. I want a journal. And this is back to the mindset matters. I want a journal and I want to think about just what you just did, what you just said. I want to think about the checks of my day. What can I look at before I go to bed and say, \"This was a pretty good day. I accomplished this, this, and this.\" And even if I accomplish one thing, yes, that's okay because tomorrow maybe I'll feel better and I'll accomplish more than one thing. It's just we have to learn to live within, so today FAC is\u00a0 posting the 12 R\u2019s of Christmas. So today's R is \u201cReality\u201d.\u00a0 I I have to live within my reality. And that's what we have to learn to do. We have to accept where we are in life and live the very best life we can live within the reality of having a disability like\u00a0 fibromyalgia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I always push a little at the boundaries. You know me. I always I look for new opportunities, ways that I can change. So, I love those 12 R\u2019s, I'm so proud of you and the FAC board, &amp; your education folks for doing things like this. You'll never know how that matters to people. It gives people permission to accept where they're at and to look and think about where they're going, you know, moving forward. So, oh, by the way, I want to tell you I also walked my I walked two kilometers so far today and I didn't push myself hard because I'll tell you why. Because on Monday I had a real old fibro day where I felt like I was a toaster and I'd been unplugged and the fatigue was just insane. Honestly, I made my bed on Monday and I kind of made my list for what I was going to do for the rest of the week, but not much else got accomplished. But at least I totally okay.\u00a0 I certainly I didn't walk on Monday and my body missed it, but the energy levels weren't there. But what I did do is I planned how to get myself back moving on Tuesday if it was possible and it was and then more today and now I am going right through.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, I wasn't laughing because you didn't feel well. I was laughing at your expression. I would have to use that a toaster, unplugged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That can happen to you in the middle of your day. It happened yesterday. So yesterday was only Tuesday and I don't know what I was doing and I kind of went, \"Oh, I just don't have any energy right now. I need to sit down.\"\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it happens so fast. Like you can be working on that manuscript or writing something and just like that just like that you're unplugged. It's like somebody just flicks a switch and the power went off, right?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You know, what I did years ago was I have my everyday coping strategies that I use, the pacing, prioritizing, pacing, planning to start with. Those are just the cognitive organizing things, but stretching, walking, eating, fueling my body, well, all of those things. But I have the tucked in a drawer my tough day coping strategies. So, those are that that's a list of things to remind me because my brain probably isn't working very well of what I can do. So, resting for a certain period of time, maybe doing some stretching exercise like just light movement, even shoulder rolls to try and release where tension might be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being kind to myself is on that list because so often, you know, we can be cross with ourselves. To what end does that serve? Except to make us feel worse than we already do. And why? You wouldn't do that to a friend. So why would we do it? So right on that list is be kind to myself. So, I have a drawer right here in my desk and that list sits in there. I can pull that out from using um uh a heating pad on my shoulders where I can carry a lot of pain and stress to using cold pack sometimes. So, you know, sitting down, making a cup of tea, calling a friend, something like that. I used that list on two days ago to help me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn, those are great ideas. I remember one time, Lynn, having a a flare and I was really bad and I was laying on the couch and I said to my family, \"Can you remember how I got out of this the last time?\" Because I don't have a clue, but they didn\u2019t. \u00a0 I determined at the time that I would have just what you're talking about like my own personal flare kit because first thing to go in a flare it seems is the brain. It was during a period of time where I had very few flare-ups so from one to the other could be months, right? I I wouldn't remember what I did. I remember I got out of this. So, what did I do? But you know something\u00a0 I agree with you. Sometimes you just have to stop and take a little bit of time to yourself, and what I've done since I had Covid or maybe I was doing it actually before I had Covid I started asking myself, if I've been involved in a project for two years and I don't see any value I have added to that project then I say I think I'm going to\u00a0 withdraw or pull back from the project.\u00a0 I've started being more selective about what I do because I don't spend enough time with my family, which gives me pleasure. So, I think sometimes it's about reassessing, right? Reassessing what you're doing in life and deciding where are your priorities and I think that makes difference. It does it reduces stress, right?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I like your idea of the two years. We have to be generous because in the research world and moving and knowledge mobilization for things like fi fibromyalgia changing health systems getting that recognized two years is but a drop in the bucket. I mean, we've been at this for 20, 30 years, and we're starting to see the needle move, and it's honestly thanks to organizations like FAC, the former Canadian Pain Coalition, which I was involved with, Power Over Pain, which has the page on fibro and other helpful resources for people. Pain Canada for instance, being able to go there and find information like honestly and all the work that the folks with disabilities, the advocates have been doing. because it is no longer in my opinion, it's no longer shameful to say or self-denigrating to say that you have a disability whether it's a physical disability, emotional or psychological mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That's right. Lynn, you and I both live through a time where because we've had fibromyalgia so long that when I used to tell people I had fibromyalgia, they had no idea what that was. We've come a long way from that because if I tell people now, I have fibromyalgia, at least they know what I'm talking about. I think I think the everyday people recognize what fibromyalgia is. So when I'm advocating, I often and when we're doing the illumination campaign, I often get emails back saying, \"Yes, I'll take part. My mother has this. Yes, I'll take part. My aunt has this.\" I think the everyday person, I mean, after all, there's over two million of us in Canada, but I think the everyday person recognizes it. And I think doctors have less recognition than the everyday person does because the everyday person usually has come across somebody with fibromyalgia whereas a doctor may not have and so it would be strange if they hadn't. Well yeah with over two million of us but well but there are still people contacting us about their inability to get diagnosed. And so that's a lot of advocacy work too on behalf of organizations and it's wonderful to be recognized by Pain Canada and Power Over Pain and different places because that makes our condition it's not just real. We all know it's real, but it it makes our condition more acceptable. You don't have to go into big explanations about what it involves because people are starting to realize what it involves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So yes, and the more we talk about it, the more that we as individuals find our personal power and ask for help and identify that we have a disability, at the time when we need the help, then that helps to increase awareness of the fact that there are people standing in front of you who don't look like they are in pain, that they have fatigue issues, that they have the myriad of different issues that you can with fibromyalgia, that there are people in front of you who need a little bit of help. And if you're able to give assistance that can help you to feel better. If somebody asks me for help, I'm delighted to help them and for the most part, people are. I'm height challenged. So, for me, trying to get something from the top shelf in the grocery store, sometimes I will just find someone who's taller than me and I'll say, you know, I I'm what I need is a little further back on the shelf. People been taking from the front. Would you be okay to help me with that? And they go, \"Oh, yeah, for sure.\" So, if we're trying to get through a door that doesn't have a mechanism that you can press and we know that door is heavy, it's okay to ask for help and at that time say, \"I have could you help me? I have a disability. I'm not able to open this door.\" Yes. So that it improves awareness. We can all become ambassadors for all of this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research shows that by volunteering and helping people, you help yourself.\u00a0 You do because think about how good you feel when you're helping someone. When I worked and we'll wrap this up because before I lose my voice totally. When I worked on a dementia floor, I used to think of all those people that were on the floor, patients who were on the floor, I used to think of them as my mom and dad, and so I was treating them the way I wanted my parents treated if they ever ended up in that situation. And it used to surprise me that not all nurses felt that way. And so, one day I asked them, \"You must have been born in a cabbage patch because you must not have parents. So they would stop and think about it and say, \"Well, I never thought of that.\" It's how you view life, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can help each other so much and in giving you receive. Think about the relief that you can give the other person or sharing our kindness by doing for another, how that makes them feel because how does it make you feel when someone helps you with kindness rather than with those other emotions that I don't even want to talk about. We have been at this longer than an hour, you realize. And so, everybody's going to have to watch a little bit longer video, I think. But again, it's been such a pleasure. And I'm really looking forward to if your viewers contact and give suggestions for possible future fibro chats.\u00a0 I tell you through the portal, the fibro chats are all a buzz. We have them we have them advertised on the portal and the team the portal team is really excited the fact that we do these Trudy and that we're sharing what it's like to live with fibromyalgia and some of the issues that we face and some of the ways that we move our lives forward through changing our thinking and our actions to support ourselves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trudy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, for purely selfish reasons, I like getting together with you, Lynn. Take care and thank you everyone for watching this or and we'll see you all in the new year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lynn<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes. And to those who are watching it right away, happy holidays everybody.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WATCH THE REPLAY &#8211; For International Day of Persons with Disabilities the Fibro Chat with Trudy and Lynn will talk about the importance of acknowledging disability without letting it define you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[90,287],"tags":[61,62],"class_list":["post-21630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-past-events","category-sociable","tag-past-events","tag-replay","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fibrocanada.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}