If you have a diagnosis of CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), and you are looking to find healing, you are in the right place.

In this article, I want to give you a powerful image that will help you understand how healing takes place. So, let’s look at why healing from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is like building a house…

Understanding what CFS means

The first step in building anything is to work out what you want to build. So, we’re going to start by creating a framework to understand the illness. That understanding will help guide you to your healing path – the building process.

The US Department of Health and Human services, Office on Women’s Health, defines CFS as “a complex, chronic illness”. (Click here to view the full article from which this quote is taken).

If you search on the question, “what is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”, you will find numerous other websites offering similar definitions. I’ve picked that one out because I want to break it down and focus on the three aspects it mentions.

Chronic

In medical speak, this basically means, “this is ongoing and not likely to stop.” It can literally mean: forever.

(But, good news… I, and others, have discovered that it doesn’t always have to be this way).

Illness

Yes, this is the US Department of Health and Human services confirming that what you are experiencing is ‘real’ and physiological. You are not making this up. Nor is it a psychological illness – although there may be aspects that are psychological in nature.

(Yes, I know that may not be what you want to hear, but if you explore more articles on this website, I explain that in more depth. And, if you want to be sure you don’t miss anything important, click here to join my mailing list).

Complex

You will also hear the term “multi-systemic”. This means that CFS affects lots of different parts of your body. You might think about this simply as, “lots of stuff has gone wrong.” This is one way of looking at it.

But, when it comes to the building analogy, I think there is a more helpful way of seeing this. I prefer to say, “lots of things are functioning in ways that don’t feel good.”

So, that all gives us an idea of what we are dealing with. What it is that we are trying to build (a system for healing from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Now let’s look at how to start building.

Why healing from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is like building a house

We’ve just taken a look at what CFS means. So, how can the analogy of building a house help you with healing?

It takes time

First: it takes time to build a house. So, it will help if you can understand and remember this. There is no magic bullet here.

And I don’t mean to depress you, but I don’t believe there ever will be.

We have a lot of wonderful people campaigning for more research. We also have many great researchers carrying out amazing work, or struggling to get funding for important projects. So, yes, there has been massive underfunding of research.

But we already know a LOT about how the body “goes wrong” in CFS. And – in functional medicine at least – we have a lot of ways to “fix” these issues. So, we do have the ability to create a plan for healing CFS. It just doesn’t involve simply taking a pill. Healing is a whole process in itself.

The planning process

We have established that healing from CFS is a process, not an event. So, where do you begin? By making a plan.

So, that is what the Find My Energy website is here to help you with. You are going to begin by getting to know what is happening in your own body. Then working out the best treatments for helping to heal those elements.

Now, I wish I could say, “I have a plan you can follow.” But the truth is, every individual has a slightly different experience.

So, I do have a list of all the elements that you may need in your plan. I can also guide you in “how to” put your plan together. But I cannot say, “just do X, then Y, and Z, and you will heal.”

So, that’s why I came up with the concept of the maze. You can read more about this by clicking on this link and delving into that article when you are ready. But for now, I want to start outlining how you’re going to build your house.

Laying foundations

Every solid structure starts by laying foundations. In terms of healing from CFS, this means giving your body a supportive environment.

So, that will include things like feeding it well, learning how to pace yourself, setting yourself up for better sleep.

On their own, these things probably won’t heal you fully. But it is actually possible to experience significant improvement just from laying good foundations. (And, at the end of this article, I’ll show you how to start this step).

Building the walls and roof

Once you have the foundations in place, it’s time to start building the elements that are going to make a difference.

So, this would be following the treatments in your plan.

Now, don’t worry, your plan doesn’t have to be complete before you begin building. You aren’t going to know all of the treatments you need. This is a process of evolution. You will identify things that sound like they can help your body, then try them and see what happens.

And yes, you are most likely going to find some things that work and some that don’t seem to do very much at all.

We’ll be exploring how that works as you navigate through your maze (a.k.a., heal from CFS, or build your house).

But that idea brings me to the most important part of this analogy…

The most important reason why healing from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is like building a house

When you build a house, you layer things on top of one another. You build a solid foundation. Then, on top of that, you add rows of brickwork, doors, windows. Finally, you put a roof on top.

This is a process, and it isn’t finished until you have added the final roof tile.

Instead of continuing to trust the plan and build more, you take out the foundations and get rid of them…How well will your house survive, do you think?

Katie Dean

The biggest mistake people make

Now, if you don’t understand why healing from CFS is like building a house, your healing attempts will likely fail because of this one common mistake.

Imagine this scenario…

You build the foundations, following the architectural plan. Then you step back and look at your work and think, “well that isn’t a house!” You imagine you’ve gone wrong. And, instead of continuing to trust the plan and build more, you take out the foundations and get rid of them.

Then you try building a wall.

How well will your house survive, do you think? A wall on top of rocky ground may not last!

Or think about this scenario…

You pause when you’re halfway through the building process, step back and look. All you can see is a series of walls, doors and windows. This structure isn’t going to provide you with shelter! In fact, it doesn’t quite look like the house you had in mind.

So, again, instead of following the plan and continuing to build, you dismantle the wall. Where are you going to put your roof?

How does that relate to healing from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

That analogy is what many people do: try a treatment, (lay a foundation), then pause and assess. When they discover it hasn’t healed them, they stop and remove the treatment (foundation stone).

Instead, they need to be continuing and adding in the next thing WITHOUT removing the first treatment.

Now, I’m not saying it is never appropriate to stop a treatment. Of course that isn’t true. Some treatments are only meant to be short-term, so they naturally come to an end. And yes, some treatments won’t give your body what it requires. So, you shouldn’t continue to spend time and money on them.

Although, bear in mind, it can sometimes be the “right thing” at the “wrong time”. Rather like trying to build your roof before you have completed the wall.

But, with things like cleaning up your sleep routine or diet, you do not want to stop. No, they may not have “healed” your CFS, but they are providing critical support. So, removing them is rather like taking out a row of bricks. If you keep doing that, your house is never going to get built!

Where do you go from here?

It’s all very well to understand the idea, but where do you start with your plan? Well, if you want to lay some strong foundations, you can start by using some of the tools I have in this Self-Help section.

If you already have good foundations in place and you are ready to move on and start identifying treatments, or even actually taking steps to heal, then follow this link to find out more about how Bio Energetic Healing can help you.

And, if you aren’t ready to pursue that path yet, the blog category, Treatment for chronic fatigue, documents various treatments that are available elsewhere.