Sometimes I find it hard to manage my patient's expectation, about their healing journey. We all suffer in many levels, mentally, emotionally or physically and we are all seeking relief. Fast. We want to get better, all of us. And we want to get better, fast.
We visit the GP and we get a prescription for our debilitating migraines, our irregular periods, our back pains, or our anxiety and depression. We get promised that the medicines will work, fast and we will be free from our suffering once and for all! But is this true? Are we really going to be completely free from our sufferings, or is it that our symptoms could be temporarily better?
We visit the doctors because they are the experts and they prescribe us a medicine for our complaint and that should work right? But does it actually work?
I hear so many times from patients when they come to see me as their last port of call , that they have already been to the GP, to the consultant and then to another specialist and that they keep taking their prescribed medication and nothing has changed. A patient told me once about their eczema, "if this (homeopathy) doesn't work I don't know what I am going to do with myself, I am desperate".
They arrive to the clinic sometimes though, having the expectation that homeopathic treatment will give them the magic cure, fast! They want relief and they want it now. Well, don't we all?
Don't we all want to be in a continuous state of ease, bliss, happiness ,with nothing weighing us upon our shoulders? Isn't that a lovely image? An easy life, no suffering, no struggle, no pain. How far from the truth is that though? Is life ever easy?
We live in a fast world where everything moves so fast, in a world that we are all struggling to catch up. Information, technology, transportation, everything moves so quickly and we are always trying to catch up with new technological advances, the news, the change, the fast pace of everyday life. I am thinking that I find this deeply concerning, unnatural and unhealthy, as I am writing these lines that will travel in the speed of light through fiberoptic cables, straight to your computer screen!
We start a diet and want to lose our weight easy, fast. We are looking for short cuts. "Loose 1000kg with this new diet" ! "Join this and this club for FAST results!"
But in reality, when did this EVER work? We join a gym and we expect to become Olympian weight lifters after a month's subscription. We go for one run and we think that with a month's training we can be marathon runners and join Mo Farah in one of his runs. Of course we don't, so we give up, what's the point anyway, right? It is not working.
We buy fast, processed foods, it's cheap, easy, fast and delicious but how good is it for us? Does the fake food really nourishes, heals us? Or we just try to ease our hunger, fast , with no effort at all? We have to put in the work, that's the only way, there are no shortcuts to health.
Patients sometimes expect to come with chronic problems, with a condition that they have had for all their lives and they expect with one or two sessions to be cured. Unfortunately, or may I say fortunately it doesn't work this way. I wish I had a magic wand and I could wave it in front of everybody that is suffering and I could make them all so much better. What joy! I would be a very rich woman and there would be no suffering in the world! Utopia.
Healing, real healing, takes a lot of effort and a lot of time and investment from both sides. The patient/sufferer has to be committed and the therapist has to be committed to it as well. Personally, I invest a lot of money, time and effort in my professional development, research and studies, to always be the best I can be for my patients. It takes two to make this happen and it doesn't happen overnight; not with one magic pill . It is difficult, it is tiring, sometimes it can be gut wrenching, yes! But it is so worth while. Because the long game will give you a new sense of self, the best version of your self, will set you free from your sufferings, happier within, stronger, freer and fulfilled.
I can testify as a patient that I have gone through lots of ups and downs during my personal homeopathic journey and I still do. My daughter, who had some anxiety issues and was biting her nails until they bled, got so much better with homeopathic treatment that lasted years and years. We had lots of sessions, trying to find the root cause of her troubles. I look back now, and I see the journey we went through, with so many ups and downs, but with consistent homeopathic treatment, with lots of support form my part and lots of support and guidance from our homeopath. She did not only stop biting her nails, but she flourished to become a happy, content and vibrant young woman. (See post below:)
When a new patient comes to me for help, whatever they are going through with, I always talk to them about their expectations and the long game. I don't want to offer easy and fast solutions. That would be a lie and it would be unfair both to me and to my client. I will turn down patients, who just want to come once and expect that they will get magically cured from all their symptoms, just because they have heard that homeopathy works. Yes, it absolutely does, but it takes time, commitment and investment from all parts for it to work, sometimes slower, sometimes faster. It does work, always; but it's a long game. What I do say to my fellow sufferers is, that I will stay committed to their healing journey and I will hold their hand when they need me to, guiding them and supporting them all the way. To walk together the long path of healing.
Best healing wishes,
