Start Before You’re Ready: Creating A Fibro Life You Love
Release Date: 04/08/2025
Fibromyalgia Podcast®
*Trigger Warning: This episode contains content about suicide* “Getting well can be expensive. Too often, the things that help us most are the things insurance won’t cover.” – Tami Stackelhouse For too many of us living with fibromyalgia, our quality of life and access to care depend on what we can afford, not what we actually need. Coaching, acupuncture, mobility aids, functional testing, and even travelling to see the right doctor often aren’t covered by insurance. That gap leaves countless people stuck, unable to move forward on their healing journey simply because of finances....
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Welcome to episode 03 of our special Be a Coach Series. In this series, I answer questions about our Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® class and what it takes to be a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®. In episode one of the series, I explained what a Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® is and what a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® is. Episode two of the series was all about who makes a good coach and who is better suited to be an advisor. I also covered what you need and don’t need to become a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®. In this episode, we’re taking a deeper look at why someone would want to...
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“Self-care is the beginning of a path to hope.” - Micky Beaton When life feels chaotic, self-care is usually the first thing to go (if it was even there in the first place). But for those of us living with fibromyalgia, that’s when you need it the most. Deprioritizing the practices and tools that help you feel your best will lead to fibro flares, more pain, and less energy, making it even harder to keep up. Self-care doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. It doesn’t have to be treating yourself to something extravagant. At the core, self-care is about...
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Welcome to episode 02 of our special Be a Coach Series. In this series, I answer questions about our Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® class and what it takes to be a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®. I cover all the basics… the who, what, when, where, why, and even the how. Don’t understand what a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® or Adviser is? No problem. Just pop on over to episode one of the series because that is exactly what we covered in that episode. In this episode, I’m covering the who. Who makes a good coach? Who makes a good Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®? Who makes a good...
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There aren't enough stories out there of people who have fibromyalgia and who have found ways to feel better. Many of our doctors tell us there’s nothing we can do, and it’s not uncommon to hear about how terrible life with fibromyalgia is. But while it can be debilitating, it’s not a life sentence. There’s always something else you can try to manage your fibromyalgia symptoms. Life adjustments will have to be made, but feeling better is absolutely possible, and all of our students have experienced this for themselves. After taking the Certified Fibromyalgia Advisor® program,...
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As a master Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®, author, and fibro podcaster, the questions I’m asked more than any others are: How do I get better? How do I improve my Fibromyalgia so I can get back to living the life I want to live? While those sound like simple questions, they do not have simple answers. We all have similar symptoms, what helps you feel better may not be the thing that helps me feel better. We all have to find our own magic formula for what makes us feel best. I know from personal experience just how overwhelming it can be to find that formula on your own. That’s why I...
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“It’s never too late for your second spring.” - Angi McClure Have you ever felt like you were losing your physical independence because of your fibromyalgia? Maybe you struggle with tasks like climbing stairs, carrying groceries, or getting up off the floor? For many of us living with fibromyalgia, even simple daily tasks can feel draining. Strengthening your resilience is the key to adapting through life’s seasons. The good news is that, no matter what age or stage of your life you're in, there are gentle, practical, and sustainable ways to reconnect with your body, build resilience,...
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“Listening to your body is one of the key things you need to do to make everything else work.” Over the past ten years of teaching people about fibromyalgia, Tami has seen certain issues repeatedly come up that get in the way of the healing journey. Last week, during our Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® training class, a student raised an important question about how we identify these issues when we have a client who isn’t improving as we would like them to. The more you learn about fibromyalgia, the more aware you are of tools that could help you and why your symptoms may not be...
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In this special bonus episode, Tami is sharing a recent guest appearance she made on the To Your Health podcast hosted by Esther Avant. Esther is a health industry veteran with 20 years of experience, passionately helping people stop starting over so they can build the consistency and confidence to create the kind of life they want — starting with their health. Through her work, Esther shares practical tools and new ways of thinking to help audiences focus on what matters, lean on those who can help, and take compassionate ownership of the process. With the To Your Health podcast, Esther...
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“It’s pretty amazing how much stress, emotion, memory, and trauma the pelvic bowl itself holds.” - Dr. Desiree Cassell Pelvic floor health is important to all of us. We all have a pelvic floor, and pelvic floor dysfunction can contribute to everything from incontinence and painful sex, which you might expect, but also knee, back, and hip pain, and even TMJ. This dysfunction can stem from many different types of triggers, and the signs are not always obvious. Seeking out a specialized pelvic floor PT who is trauma-informed and understands the importance of an internal assessment can be...
info_outline“Waiting until you feel better to start working on your health is like waiting until you're in shape to start exercising.”
Have you ever wanted your life or your health to change, but at the same time, you weren't ready to change? Whether it feels like it’s going to be too hard, that you need to prepare more first, or you’re just not ready to give up something you enjoy, oftentimes our brain tries to protect us by putting up this resistance.
Tami has been there - and she’s still there in some areas of her life! In today’s episode, Tami is sharing her struggles with making necessary changes in her life and her strategies for creating a fibro life you love. She’s talking about struggling with the desire to change while feeling resistance, the pivotal moment when Tami realized that waiting to feel better actually holds back your health, the flawed logic behind feeling "not that sick" or "too sick" to start making changes, starting with small steps and being willing to make mistakes, the necessity of actively engaging in health improvement, how our natural resistance to change protects us, understanding your Fibromyalgia Wellness Style℠, the conflict between wanting change and the reluctance to put in the necessary work, the stages of change model, moving through the stages of pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, and action, creating sustainable changes that you can maintain over time, the potential for relapse and common triggers, why we prefer to coach our clients for a full calendar year, Tami’s experience with relapse and lessons learned, the difference between taking action and maintaining changes, aiming for continuous improvements in your health and well-being, starting before you’re ready, immediate actions you can take, strategies for starting when you don’t feel ready, recognizing feelings and habits before making changes, recognizing that building new habits takes practice and patience, how a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach® can help, and more.
You can't wait until you're well before you start to work on your health. You just have to start.
Note: This episode is not meant to be medical advice. Every person and every situation is unique. The information you learn in this episode should be shared and discussed with your own healthcare providers.
To learn more about the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes.
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Ready to take back control of your life and health? Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Certified Fibromyalgia Coach®.