Diane Carole Therapies

My life changed in 1998, I was newly wed, bringing up a family, working full-time, extremely active, always busy and on the go when suddenly I began to feel fatigued all the time and no matter how much sleep I got I was still tired but it wasn’t a normal tired, I still can’t explain this fully, the only way I can describe it was an exhaustion, all of the time, it was relentless.  I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, on paper I had it all but emotionally, mentally and physically I felt so unwell, I was tired (exhausted), irritable, lacked motivation, felt sick, dizzy and sore.  I continued to work although this became more and more difficult as time went on, I ended up having to take time off and was continually visiting my doctor looking for answers.  Eventually my work life went from working full-time to part-time until around a year later I had to give my job up altogether, it was just too much for me and eventually I was diagnosed with having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, it was called ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) at that time and before that had been called Yuppy Flu.

The years that followed this were very difficult and I became reclusive, spending most of my time “resting”, I had no energy to do anything, I was awful company, preferring to be on my own because silence helped me, some days were worse than others and on really bad days I couldn’t read, watch telly, listen to noise, I was full of pain, felt nauseous and dizzy and just totally drained, there were even times when I literally crawled to go to the bathroom as I felt so unwell. I remember when I was going through this, thinking, things have got to get better I’m only in my twenties I also wondered what had caused this?, how can I go from being a fun loving energetic person to having no energy to do anything. To this day, I still don’t know what had caused it, I was having a lot of problems with my teeth just before it began and had lots of antibiotics, was it this ? I had Chicken Pox a couple of years before that, could it of been this? I had when through some large traumatic experiences a couple of years before that, could it of been this?  Im not sure I will ever get to the bottom of it was that caused my body to shut down like this but I do now think it was a combination of things and Im a great believer things happen for a reason and looking back now I have learned so much from this.

One thing I remember clearly was there would be days when I felt ok and had some energy and I would be so excited that I would go on a cleaning frenzy or out walking,  I just felt so excited to have this energy and automatically thought “I must be getting better” and I would inevitably do too much and next day or two days later I would suffer for it and be back in bed but I can’t tell you how good those days felt when I actually had some energy and was able to do things again and feel semi normal.  Ironically I did this time and time again with the same results but the feeling of having some energy felt too great not to do anything.  I did learn later on that a lot of things had to change and I had to build things ups gradually.

I was really unwell like this for years and in 2003, I went for a Reiki treatment, I had tried numerous things over the years with not much success.  This Reiki treatment was a life changing moment for me, one I will never forget.  I went to the lady for the treatment and she explained what Reiki was, I had never heard of it before but had been drawn to get it, I lay on the bed and she began the treatment, not long into the treatment some unusual things started happening and she gave me the number of her Reiki Master and said she thought I would benefit from talking to her.

I phoned her Reiki Master and when talking to the Reiki Master she thought it would be beneficial for me to learn Reiki so I signed up to her next class a few weeks later.  Getting to that class was massive for me, I had to drive there and this was something I rarely did anymore because of the ME and I had lost my confidence but I got there and I have to say was extremely delighted with myself at that time.  When I arrived at the class no-one but the teacher was there and I ended up with a one to one class, which I was extremely grateful for as I had lost all my confidence and was really shy when talking to people.  Everyone else had turned up the day before and she realised she had forget to tell me the change of date when I didn’t turn up.  I think it was the universes’s way of looking out for me and I ended up getting a Reiki Treatment, Reading and Reiki Attunement and was now on the path to self healing.  (During that reading she told me my Gran read tea leaves and that I could do it too, I thought she was crazy at the time but found out my Gran did do that and now I read Tarot Cards and Energies for a living).

I had a lot of life changing experiences doing my Reiki One, I did my 21 days self-healing and learned my Reiki Two 6 weeks later and did the 21 days self-healing for that level. I can honestly say that Reiki changed my life and changed how I looked at things and sent me on a path of healing and self discovery.  I have lots of stories now about Reiki and I could talk about it all day but I will leave those stories maybe for another blog. 

After I learned Reiki One and Two I began to feel better but it was still a long process to getting where I am today and I still had lots to learn and had many setbacks over the years.  I went to night school the following year to learn Anatomy & Physiology so that I could learn Massage the following year, at both those classes I never spoke to anyone because I was so shy, anyone who knows me now will find that hard to believe. I was learning various treatments as I knew this was what I wanted to do, I wanted to be able to help others, every year after that I learned new treatments and I knew one day I would be working with them but in the meantime I still had a lot to learn and a lot of healing to do.

In 2005, I was feeling much better, I still had “good” days and “bad” days but I was learning how to manage ME and was slowly getting there, I began looking for a job and got an interview for a local shop, I went for a job at the till but for some reason I got a job as a salesperson, selling bathrooms and kitchens, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this as I still lacking confidence in a big way but again the universe knew better and put this in my path to help my confidence grow.  I did enjoy this job but two years later took a different job that was two days a week doing accounts.  At the same time I was learning more about managing my health and a new holistic way to live and was desperate to start a business doing it but didn’t know how I was going to get there, then  in 2009, I got made redundant and this was the start of Tranquility.

Tranquility was my business, I had a log cabin built in my back garden and started doing all the treatments I had learned, Reiki, Massage, Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Tarot Readings along with other things and over time trained to be a Reiki Teacher and began teaching my passion. As each year went by, I learned more and more about my health and got better and better and grew more and more in confidence. In 2018 I expanded and opened up Tranquility Holistic Centre, I loved this place and learned so much and grew so much as a person meeting many wonderful people.

In 2022, I closed up the Holistic Centre and have taken some time out to travel and learn more. It is now January 2023 and I want to share what my life is like now and some of the things I have achieved over the years.

I am a true believer that we have to look after ourselves mind, body and soul and when we can do this and start being true to ourselves we can make massive changes to our lives.  I now have boundless energy, I have walked the Northumberland Coastal Route, I have ran two seperate 10k runs both times within an hour (I cried after this remembering how years ago I struggled to even walk) I have achieved tough mudder, I go swimming, cycling, running, walking, dancing, yoga and the gym. Until last year I worked full-time providing treatments and classes, I also took care of the business side of the shop.

CFS/ME never goes away but you can learn to manage it. I  have learned to manage it so that I can lead a balanced and fulfilling life.  Watching what I put into my body, my mind and my soul, I have made lots of changes over the years but do feel amazing now and couldn’t go back to how I was in 1998, I am truly grateful for everything that I have learned and I am still learning but I want to help as many people as I can.

I took a few months off when I closed the business as I could see my life was getting out of balance and I never ever want to feel as bad as I did all those years ago.  I have since faced another fear in the last few months and that was my fear of Zoom, I knew moving forward and  still be able to do some travelling I had to put my business on-line and over the last few months I  have done just that, I have trained as a Hypnotherapist, I give Reiki Treatments, Readings, Guided Meditation Classes and teach Reiki on Zoom, I have also started running online workshops on how to Manifest and “The Authentic You” Mind, Body and Soul, teaching what I have learned over the years and helping people to make changes so they can live life feeling better, I have a lot more courses and workshops in the pipeline and I can honestly say I Love Zoom now and it feels like I’m in the room with everyone when working on it.  Somethings never seem to amaze me and the way energy works is one of them, people have said when they get a Reiki treatment it feels like I’m in the room, I love this as this is how I feel.

Reiki was my first step in recovery and all these years later I am still very passionate about it.  I have witnessed many times how it has changed people’s lives, for the better. Reiki opened my soul to a new way of thinking, it has taken many years to get to where I am now and I have to maintain all the things that I have learned and bring them into each day. I do not allow myself to become out of balance as best I can but I’m not perfect and sometimes this happens but very quickly I feel the onset of the symptoms again and I quickly up my practise  of self care. Here are some of the things I do to manage  ME – I keep my mindset positive, I do not allow negativity to creep in, I am grateful for everything and practise gratitude daily, I live in the moment, as much as I can, letting go of the past, letting go of worries about the future, I eat healthily and have cut lots of food groups from my diet over the years and I drink lots of water. I listen to my intuition at all times and I’m true to myself, I get outdoors lots and exercise, I make sure I get enough sleep, I meditate daily, journal and read and I set goals and plans giving me lots to look forward to.

I hope my story can help others.

If you have any questions please email me on info@dianecarole.online I am happy to help.

My business name has changed as I felt it was time to be me rather than hiding under a business name and not showing who I truly was, 25 years on from ME, I love life, I am passionate about my work and I live life to the full. My new business name is Diane Carole Therapies.

www.dianecaroletherapies.co.uk

Thank you for reading.