Joanne Smith describes how "you're doing great" felt like an insult when she was struggling with chronic pain and long-term symptoms. She felt she was failing despite her hard work. Years later, after moving from despair to hope, she realized the encouragement was actually true.
really helpful for me personally when I realized that I thought that because I'd been going through symptoms and pain for so, so many years, I thought, I'm failing. I'm not getting better. I'm doing everything I can. I'm working so hard. And if someone would have turned around and said, Jo, you're a hero, I would have probably just wanted to— I wouldn't have done this, but I may have wanted to do some harm because I just would have been angry. It wouldn't have gone down well. So please don't be offended by the title of tonight's session, but I do know how it feels to be on the other side when you're in deep despair. If people are telling you that you're doing well, you're doing well, you're doing well, you're doing really well, you're the best case outcome. I got told all sorts, and it just I allowed it to make me angry, and it didn't need to do, because actually I'm now on the, over the other side of the fence, and I'm like, oh my God, they were right, that is actually true.
