I had been suffering with M.E since I was about 13-14. It was a difficult period in my life. I had changed schools from somewhere where I had loads of friends and was very popular to a school where I had no real friends and was bullied. At home my parents were splitting up. At that point I started to come down with lots of colds, and was off school about once every 2 weeks. I seemed to gradually deteriorate and while before I was a keen and quite successful sportsman, my performances slid and I became worse and worse.
I felt tired all the time, my concentration was low, I was taking more and more days off school and watching athlete after athlete over-take me and eventually after years of different blood tests I was diagnosed with CFS, or M.E.. I made it through school with okay GCSEs, and still one of the best in London at cross-country, but it kept getting worse. Eventually I gave up sport and my condition continued to deteriorate. I found it hard to sit through lessons and eventually I found it a major struggle to even walk down the road, feeling dizzy, sick and completely drained of energy - I looked and felt terrible. I couldn’t think properly, found it exceptionally difficult to interact socially, and couldn’t live a normal life at all.
Eventually I came to the point that I would do anything to get better. I had a course of Acupuncture and gave up anything that was slightly bad for me, took herbs and vitamins and minerals etc. My condition did improve, my concentration and my energy both got better and I felt I was making progress. I was able to complete my A Levels with respectable results, and got a job, managing not to have too many days off; I even saved up enough money to go to Africa. Yet I was still completely drained for the majority of time, life felt like an ongoing struggle and it didn’t feel like it would get any easier for a long time. I came down with any illness that was about and it took me ages to recover.
I went to university the next year and I improved a little at first but spent the next year feeling very drained and ill, staying in bed whenever I could. At the end of the year I started having Shiatsu, which improved my condition and gave me more energy. Things only really started to improve when I started Tai Chi; I practiced regularly, and had Shiatsu once a fortnight. My condition was improving slowly, and all in all, though I was spending a lot of money (on Echinacea, cod-liver oil, Noni juice, Revenol and Shiatsu) I wasn’t able to earn much money at all, and the problem was still there. My life was about trying to conserve as much energy as possible, before it would disappear again.
NLP
My NLP breakthrough session was around Easter time 2005, and it is only by looking back at how my life used to be that I can see how much it has changed. The changes brought about in every part of my life have been quite remarkable. In a single session my energy improved an incredible amount! Only 2 days later I did a charity walk with my family round the Isle of White (for M.E. Awareness!) walking 16 miles per day, and at the end of it I felt just a little tired. It didn’t even really cross my mind that had I attempted the same thing a week or two previously I would have been struggling after 1 or 2 miles, and would probably have been in bed for a week afterwards. As it was, I was fine and enjoyed the walk very much. Since, I have played tennis, football and been swimming for hours at a time which before would have left me completely drained for at least a week; now I feel better, energised from having exercised.
One of the biggest differences NLP made was in my concentration, which has improved so much. I noticed my grades at university improved a substantial amount after the session. Now I have more room to store knowledge and information, and it is so much easier to retrieve, which was extremely noticeable whilst writing my dissertation. I am able to read for a much longer period of time, and take more in. I deal with situations that before would have stressed me out, which means I work better, achieve more, and also that I can be more myself, more relaxed. My relationships have improved and become easier; I make friends more easily and feel a lot more relaxed and happy both around people and on my own… I also feel I am calmer and a lot happier and more peaceful.
It is hard to describe the changes that have taken place inside me, especially as things are so natural now that it is like remembering a dream of how things were before.
Previously my life, my emotions, etc. were like a ball of tangled string. Before, I was tugging at it and not really getting anywhere, usually making it worse; Tai Chi began to order it, and NLP just got me to relax and untie all the knots so that all I had to do was pull them taut and see my life change around me.
NLP helped me let go of the tensions and anxieties inhibiting my development and left me with who I really am, being the person that I wanted to be. And it continues having an effect; I am discovering things that I can do now that I never could have done before.
I cannot really tell how much money NLP saved me in treatments, therapies and nutrients, as well as money gained from being able to work. I can, however, work out that I spent over £1700 over the years on treatments, which, although they worked a little, helped a small fraction compared to learning Tai Chi and working with Simon personally. Overall, I now have the freedom to do anything I want with my life, and the health and motivation to achieve my desires (which I am now doing with the savings I have since made), be able to work, and complete university.