Can Entrepreneurs with Chronic Illness Find Peace Amidst Life's Shifts?

Oftentimes when you're living with multiple chronic illnesses, and that's just one aspect of our life, right? I'm also a wife. I'm a daughter. I'm a sister. I'm a volunteer. I'm a fur mom to 3 pets that I love and sometimes want to throw out the window, but I don't. I'm friends with other people. So many different kinds of things. What I've learned is that you do what you can. You set your expectation and you stay in the now. You plan for what you can plan for, but you stay in the now and do what you can.

Welcome to Crafted to Thrive, the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses myself, I figured out the surprisingly the only simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that aligns with your health and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive.

Hello and welcome back to She's Crafted to Thrive. I am so excited to be on this solo cast with you. It's been a minute. I think we've had at least 4 or 5 episodes that have come out and I haven't done a solo cast. I haven't done a solo, just me. And there's lots of reasons for that. I think I hinted at it in a solo podcast episode that I recorded earlier about 2 or 3 months ago. Transition. We're at that time of year. We're about to be in 2024. Can you believe that? That's like insane talk to be that close to 2024 and Literally, I'm recording this on November 21st and we have moved. I'm recording this in a completely different place. We've sold our house, which happened really fast, way more quickly than we expected. Between moving, between food poisoning, traveling for some training for business coaching, finishing my research paper for my aromatherapy certification, straining a quad muscle so that I'm in physical therapy, having some new weird-ish symptoms show up with my life, with all my chronic illnesses, and downsizing. I did mention we didn't just move, we downsized, and I didn't really think about it as downsizing until we moved. And if you're watching the video, you obviously see the whirlwind of things that are happening around me. But some positive things that have happened is that I've still continued to show up in the best way that I can. I've leaned into my strengths. I've leveraged asking for help and honoring when too much is too much, prioritizing self-care, family care, and really leaning into what it might— and it is— looking like now, being very intentional, being like, this is where we are now. This is not forever. But today, this is what it is. And this is huge for me. And I was thinking about this recently of how this really affected me and how it affects the way I work with my clients and the way that I coach them. And it's something that I've had to be really intentional about because it was such a difficult challenge for me. So what am I talking about? Well, I remember once telling a good friend, and she probably doesn't even remember this, but I remember once telling a good friend when things were going really well that I never really felt like I could enjoy it because, because I was always waiting for the next shoe to drop. Like I was always waiting for the horrible thing. Like I was always anticipating, right? And this season of life has been interesting. What's this transition? This new— where my body is right now has been interesting. And it had me thinking about that instance with a friend back in the day. And I will never forget what she told me. And she's like, we can plan for the things that we can plan for. We're like, we can plan for some of the what-ifs, we can plan and be intentional about those plans. But we must choose to be intentional of being present and enjoying what we have right now. And we can't really embrace that if we're constantly looking for the other shoe to drop. And when she said that to me, it was during a time in my life where literally that's what I always felt like. I was always looking for the next shoe to drop. And I quote unquote never felt surprised surprised. I never really felt surprised when it dropped because I was expecting it. I was looking for it, and I was looking for it, but I also wasn't planning for it. This, like, it's a weird thing, like, when you're looking for the what-ifs and you're, you're afraid, you're scared, you kind of might have history, right? Especially if you live multiple chronic illnesses like myself, you have history of knowing that there are things that are likely going to happen but all you do is ruminate, think about them, but you don't actually plan for them. So in my life and in my coaching, I've kind of planned for those things. It, it went from just thinking about how horrible those things could be and as if I wouldn't have any control over those things to now I plan for them, but I also know and acknowledge that I can't plan for every what-if scenario. And so does it really serve me to plan for whatever random fear that I have if it's not even real, like, likely it's going to happen? And even if it is and I've set up what I can, what is the point of not enjoying what I have currently? And so for years I have worked on this very intentional way of thinking of I've done what I could, I've planned for what I planned for, and what's happening right now, good or bad, it is. It is present. It is good or bad. That's it. There's no blaming me. There's no blaming what I could have done. No, like, focusing on, well, I should have did this. I should have did that better. Obviously, there's room for improvement. But it was never— it was more of like witnessing versus judging those different times of my life. And if you guys hear in the background is the dryers, because the dryer is definitely going on. We're also preparing for going out of town. Yeah, the house is still a mess and we have a house sitter and a pet sitter coming, and so I'm trying to get as much done as I can. So bear with the sounds. This is not going to be the best audio quality, but you are going to get the goods. Okay, so here we are. With that in mind, last year, 2024, I felt like I was in the most, like, the best physical place I could have been. I have been doing Pilates consistently, pretty much. I would have my off days or off weeks sometimes, but I would go right back to it. And I traveled this year in May to Brooklyn all by myself. It was amazing. I hadn't done something like that since I was like 20. And I had made the intention for 2023 to be something that we— me and also my husband, we would do more. We would experience more. I would experience more. Because I was no longer always waiting for the shoe to drop. Like, I have planned for what I can plan for. This is something that I help my clients with. I call, like, the what-if plan. We plan for what we can imagine up in our brain to the most degree that's based on actual real things. We're not imagining things that have never happened, OK? So we're really planning on the fact that if you live with multiple chronic illnesses, you will have days where you will not feel good. That is just a given. You will have new symptoms at times. That's a given for most of us. You will have times where things are— you don't know, they're very random symptoms or new things you don't have and have never experienced. But you know, as a cycle of events, that usually is how your body works. It works in cycles. Like for me, my cycle seems to be every year or 2 years where I am dealing with something new, right? And so we use that knowledge in what I call the what-if plan to create the space you need to have the capacity in your life and your business to still take action without feeling like you are taking a break or completely putting it down and starting quote unquote all over again. So that's something I teach my clients, and that's basically literally what I've done for myself. And so this year started out pretty good. The first half-ish of the year, I feel like I was doing really well. And then I messed my quad up doing probably something in Pilates or something else. Who knows? I'm now in physical therapy 1 to 2 times a week. I'm not in Pilates right now. I miss Pilates so much, you guys. I miss it so much. I traveled recently by myself again. And actually ended up in the hospital because of some food poisoning. And my husband had to come, quote unquote, save me, take me to the hospital because I was so dehydrated. I've had some weird, like, physical energy and other things going on, some other symptoms that are just more challenging. Then we up and decided to sell our house, move, downsize. We thought we would move into another house, buy another house. We thought we would at least move into a rental of a home, like that was an actual house. And that didn't end up the way we thought it would. And so now we're in this 2-bedroom— it is a gorgeous 2-bedroom apartment. We're very thankful for it. We love the location. We love the deck. We hired one of my friends to be our interior designer. We're just having fun with it. My husband started a new job. So lots of literal big life upheaval transitions, right? And I have still been able to find the cadence to show up for my business, show up for my clients. You guys have pretty much gotten an episode still pretty consistently. I've still been investing in myself. Like I mentioned at the top of this podcast, I am just finished submitting my aromatherapy paper and research paper as well as other things to get my official aromatherapy certification. I took and am currently taking an aroma psychology class that I'm really enjoying, just kind of a little behind, but I'm okay with that. And I've been really leaning into just giving myself space to do what I can when I can today or in this hour. Or in this day, right? And I'm sharing all of this is because oftentimes when you're living with multiple chronic illnesses— and that's just one aspect of our life, right? I'm also a wife, I'm a daughter, I'm a sister, I'm a volunteer, I'm a fur mom to 3 pets that I love and sometimes want to throw out the window, but I don't. I'm friends with other people. So many different kinds of things. And what I've learned is that you do what you can. You set your expectation and you stay in the now. You plan for what you can plan for, but you stay in the now and do what you can, right? And so transitions are like— if you ask any therapist, I'm talking to my therapist, it's like the 3 biggest things that can be the most stressful is moving, changing jobs, and health. And I literally have experienced all of that in the last 6 months, back to back to back. And I feel like the reason why I've been able to stay pretty persistently consistent in what I do and when I do what I do is because I'm not ruminating about the what-ifs that I really don't have control over or that I can't really plan for. And this is such an important skill to have in your personal life or in your business. You never know what things are going to come up. There are some things you do know, but there are some things you could not have even like saw coming your way. And if you are the person that can't enjoy what's happening that's good now, will you ever enjoy what is good than, right? Like, even though it has been crazy hard right now, there are things that I have just been really enjoying, which is just my pace, enjoying the fact that I have the tools to take care of myself. I have my spiritual routine. I have my, my husband who's been going through it as well but has still been there. And we're still giving it our best in this world of the things we're going through. I'm thankful for the friends that have reached out and helped us. I am thankful for all of the work that I've done mindset-wise and physical-wise that I don't feel like I can't ever get back or get to a new version of me physically because I've done it before. And so I'm good with where I'm at, right? I'm content. I'm at peace. Can you say that? I'm also at peace where things are in my business. Could I be pushing more? Could I be, you know, trying to do all the things? Yes, I could. But what I'm focusing on right now when it comes to my business is investing my energy and my, my capacity and the strengths that I have, that I have learned, that I continue to retool because I choose to. And that's where I want my energy to live. I don't want my energy to live in what's coming next. How horrible is this going to be? How come I'm not like 2022 Nikita Williams? Like, why couldn't I— why can't I hike in Michigan this year? I definitely can't. We're going on a cruise. And I was telling my husband, we had planned this, we almost canceled it, but I consistently kept with the thought, we have to keep things that we have decided we're going to to do no matter what's going to happen for our own sanity and joy. Right. And so I'm so thankful we are. Is this cruise going to look way different than I thought it was going to look like when I was in a different physical place? Absolutely. But now I have literally been journaling and like retooling my brain. What am I going to look forward to? Some of the things I was going to do was what, a lot more physical in nature.. But now I'm thinking about the other places that I'm going to be having joy and finding fun, and that isn't necessarily the things that I will be able to do this time around. And these are choices you have to give yourself permission to lean into. And you also have to remember that living with chronic illness is a journey. We're not getting to a destination. There are going to be ebbs and flows. This is again the reason why I believe chronic illness warriors are the best business owners. We've had to learned that money is not coming in all of the time at the same rate, at the same level, but we have built a sustainable business so that we can continue to grow it. It's the same thing in our lives with chronic illness. You have to build a sustainable mindset in life. You have to be in the skill set or developing the skill set of a sustainable way of living that still includes joy, Even during the hardest times of your life, physically and emotionally and mentally, you still have to find the skill for that. Because why would you go on? Why would you keep going? It would be so much harder to do that. You have other things that you're looking forward to, and in order to get to those places you want to go, you have to find peace and joy and contentment in the now. And you can only do that if you have the capacity and room for it. The negative thoughts that we have, the negative things that we experience, way heavier than the positive things. And so during this time, I've been really focusing on daily gratitude, daily appreciation, daily reflection and meditation on what I'm proud of, what I have accomplished till now, what my clients are accomplishing, what they're doing, what they're giving themselves permission to do. All without really judging, being a witness of those things and being a witness of what those things are and maybe realizing, oh, I need to add such and such. I need to do such and such more. And that's OK. But when you're in transitions of life and circumstances, do not over-obsess or overthink the what-ifs. Especially the ones that you really don't have control over. You really can't even see them coming when they come. Give yourself permission to be okay with that. So I'm sharing that with you because as we go into 2024, we don't know what's, what's coming ahead of us. We don't know what crazy world things are going to be happening. We don't know what our neighbors are going to be like. We don't know. But we do know we have control of what we do and whatever comes our way. So why not now work on the personality and the skills and the mindset that will help you endure, that will help you find joy, that will help you keep calm in those times? And I recommend that some of those thoughts are things that definitely deepen your spiritual routine, your spiritual life. That is so important. There is so much more beyond right now, so much that we have to look forward to, so much we get to learn. About things and understanding that there is a greater purpose to all of the craziness that we see in this world. Secondly, you want to find places to forgive yourself. Forgive yourself and learn from those past things. Learn from those places. Give yourself some grace. Forgive others. Find patience. Be more loving and kind. Be more generous, even if you feel like you have nothing to give. All of those things bring about more peace and calmness and kindness. You know, there is an interesting thing that I hear sometimes, especially from my chronic illness warrior clients, which is like, I have to be in a hurry to get to where I'm going. Like, now is like the— like the time. Like, now is right now. I have to do it right now. And I get it.

I get it.

But sometimes when we're in that energy, we miss so much of the right now. Does that make sense? Like, we miss so much of the process of the things that we need in order to enjoy the right now or to even get to the future. So don't be in such a hurry to get to living right now that you miss living right now, if that makes sense, right? Find the little things that matter. Say yes to the things that matter. Say no to the rushing it. Right. I truly believe, and even more so, that going slow to go fast is the best way to run your business, the best way to run your life when you're living with chronic illness. It gives you a place to be intentional. And even during this season that I'm in right now, I feel like the fact that I'm giving myself permission to lean into the not perfectness or the not as physical as I would like to be. It's because I gave myself permission to do that even in the times where I was at a better physical place and I saw how much I could do and I'm still seeing how much I can do by honoring that same intention. So when there's transitions happening in life, I recommend you be way more intentional. With how you view what's happening in life. And as you go and look and reflect on 2023, witness whether or not you could have been more intentional. Witness whether or not going into 2024, you'd like to be more kind to yourself and to those around you, to your business, to your clients. Where can you give yourself that permission to be that person of intention and investing in you and investing in your strengths. I'm currently offering a very special offer because it's made me think about things a little differently going through this transition. And I had every intention of starting a group program. I know I had mentioned it before, but I decided not to right now because it's not in the season for me right now. I felt like I was kind of rushing it. And when I got intentional about my thoughts and where I was going with my business, I realized I'm not quite there yet to do that again. However, it made room for something even cooler. So if you've been thinking about working with me and 6 months feels too much for you, I now have an offer where you can work with me one-to-one for 3 months for $1,900. Super simple, easy. You get 3 calls with me. You also get an opportunity to be in our monthly training, which is all about marketing, sales, and mindset. And we'll be having guests in to talk about some of those topics, but I will be mostly training. We'll do some coaching together. You actually get to meet some of my private clients if you would like to. You'll have private one-on-one access to me. As well as resource vault and our community channel. So you get the one-on-one with aspects of community, and I'm so excited about that for 3 months. And it's really just to give you like a taste and see how powerful coaching can be for you, or give you just the kick in the booty or the, the, the plan and the support and accountability to get to what you want. And the other thing I'm super excited about is that this includes 5 hours a month. So a total of 15 hours of virtual assistant support. So not only are you getting one-on-one coaching, you're getting implementation done with and for you through a virtual assistant. And I've added that into my current— this current offer to test it out. It may be there for a few months or a year, it may not. So if that's something you're interested in, go to the show notes to check in. And my, my guess to you, or my, my gift to you, is to lean into giving yourself permission to allow the transitions to happen and to be intentional about being okay with them and being okay with the growth that will happen and being okay of not knowing what the what-ifs are, but being okay with being very intentional about who you are becoming and being during that season. All right, y'all, I may or may not have another solo episode coming up soon. You may have a few weeks where there isn't an episode, only because we're going into that winter months, and we may be taking a couple, a week breaks. But there's so many episodes. This is episode 150, which is crazy. I feel like we were just celebrating 100, the 100th episode. But so much is to come in 2024, and I will do another episode to update you on that. So if you're listening, stay tuned, re-listen, catch up with anything. If you're interested in working with me one-on-one, I have a few slots available, so reach out in my DMs or hit the show notes and check out the link to book a call free to create a plan for you and your business so that you can create $100,000 with ease living with chronic illness despite the transitions going on in your life. And I look forward to supporting you.

That's a wrap, y'all. Thanks for tuning in to Crafted to Thrive, the podcast that helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at craftedtothrive.com for this episode's show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram @thrive_with_nikita for more tips and behind the scenes and more. Tag me to share what what you loved about this episode, and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.