
Welcome to My MS Podcast! This space is all about reclaiming your body, mind, and life from multiple sclerosis. Today, I’m sharing my personal journey – the beginning of Season 1, Episode 1 – where I recount the story of my diagnosis and the road that unites us all: the moment you hear the words, “You have MS.”
My journey to a diagnosis
When I think back to that life-changing moment, I remember the overwhelming mix of emotions. I was in survival mode, juggling grief and the shock of hearing a diagnosis I never saw coming. My story isn’t just about symptoms—it’s about the silent alarms, the hard choices, and the overwhelming questions that flooded my mind.
I know each of us has a unique story when it comes to being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Some of us were blindsided, while others spent years trying to be heard and believed. But regardless of the journey, we all arrive at those three life-altering words: You have MS.
The moment that changed everything
My MS story starts on New Year’s Eve – a time filled with both heartbreak and unexpected news. As I was preparing for a night out with friends, I received a call from my neurologist. At that moment, I was juggling the pain of my mom being on hospice and my own internal storm. The call confirmed what I had been subconsciously fearing.
Before that day, I’d experienced subtle signs like exertion headaches during my workouts and unexplained facial pains that I dismissed as migraines. I never imagined these were the silent signals of multiple sclerosis. But as I listened to an audiobook about early MS symptoms, the description of facial jolts hit me hard. I finally recognized those electric-like shocks as my own – trigeminal neuralgia, a symptom of MS.
The diagnosis felt validating. For the first time, I had an explanation for the fatigue, brain fog, and other inexplicable symptoms that had plagued me for years. It wasn’t just about being labeled with a disease; it was about finally understanding the messages my body had been trying to send.
Navigating the uncertainty
Once the official diagnosis came through – “You have relapsing remitting MS” – a flood of “what ifs” rushed in. I questioned what would happen to my body, whether I’d have to give up yoga and exercise, or if I’d eventually need help similar to what my mom needed. That uncertainty was terrifying.
I found myself at a crossroads: either obsess over every little detail for control or become paralyzed by fear. I chose a different path. I decided to reclaim control by focusing on what I could manage. And for me, that journey started with food, my care team, and learning to manage stress.
Food: my first step toward control
Food has always been a source of healing for me. My journey into nutrition began in childhood, battling debilitating migraines. I discovered early on that the right food choices could make a significant difference in how I felt. When faced with an MS diagnosis, I naturally turned to food as something within my control, a tool to help ease symptoms like fatigue and brain fog.
I wasn’t looking for a cure, but I was searching for hope and a way to keep being me despite the diagnosis. I started asking my doctor about dietary changes, and although his response was dismissive, it only fueled my determination. I believe that small, sustainable changes like adding an extra serving of vegetables, swapping chips for fruit, or drinking one more glass of water a day can lead to big results over time.
Building my care team
Another crucial element of my journey was assembling a supportive care team. I learned early on that managing MS meant blending conventional medicine with functional approaches. While my neurologist had his shortcomings, I knew I needed to be at the top of my care team. I took charge, seeking out second opinions and finding complementary practitioners who understood the importance of a holistic approach.
My care team wasn’t just about managing symptoms, it was about empowering me to live my life on my terms, even in the face of an unpredictable disease.
Managing stress and finding faith
Stress was, and still is, one of the hardest challenges to face after an MS diagnosis. The shock of having an incurable, unpredictable disease left me feeling out of control. I vividly remember the moment when the overwhelming pressure of managing everything pushed me to re-evaluate my approach to life.
I realized that I couldn’t white-knuckle my way through MS. Instead, I began leaning more into my faith and learning to listen to my body. Embracing moments of stillness, like taking a deep breath when everything feels too much, helped me manage the constant stress. I invite you to do the same. Find one overwhelming aspect of your life, focus on a single, manageable step, and remember to breathe.
A note on personalized support
Before I wrap up today’s episode, I want to share a little plug. If you’re looking for a more personalized approach to your MS diet and lifestyle, check out my private coaching program. It includes a comprehensive assessment, personalized strategies, and lifestyle support. I only accept three new clients each month, so if you’re interested, please apply at alenebrennan.com/coach.
And another resource that helped me during my diagnosis was my Appointment Planner. You can download your copy at alenebrennan.com/planner to help you manage your doctor’s appointments with clarity and confidence.
Moving forward with hope
Now that I have the official diagnosis, I faced a flood of questions about my future. Would MS change everything? How would it affect my body, my career, and my passions? While I couldn’t control the progression of the disease, I could control my response to it.
I decided to take charge by focusing on the elements I could influence like nutrition, building a supportive care team, and managing stress. I’ve learned that even small steps can have a profound impact on our overall well-being. By sharing my story, I hope to give you a sense of validation and encouragement, knowing that you’re not alone in this journey.
Wrapping up
Sharing my journey hasn’t been easy, but I hope it resonates with you. We each have our unique stories, and by sharing them, we raise awareness and build a community where no one feels isolated by their diagnosis. My story is just one part of our collective experience with multiple sclerosis, and I’m honored to share it with you.
Thank you for listening to this first episode of My MS Podcast: Season 1: The Road to a Diagnosis. Let’s continue this journey together, reclaiming our bodies, minds, and lives, one step at a time.
Remember, even in the midst of uncertainty, there is hope. Welcome to our community.
Resources mentioned in this episode
- Appointment Planner for Doctor Visits – A free download to help you feel more confident and prepared for appointments.
More from me
- Follow Me on Instagram: alenebrennan.ms
- Work With Me – Want a personalized approach to managing MS? Apply for my private coaching program here.
Subscribe & Review
If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your support helps us reach more women navigating MS, so they don’t have to do it alone.
🎙️ Thanks for tuning in to My MS Podcast!
Welcome to Season 1, Episode 1 of My MS Podcast. It is so fun to think about where this podcast will lead us. I have so much in store for us, and I also want to hear from you. What requests do you have that you want to talk about and learn about? But for now, I do know where it needs to start. It's the road that unites us all, getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. We can't dive into food, mindset, exercise, and all the fun things that we're going to talk about until we talk about what brings us together. We each have our own unique stories of getting diagnosed. Some were blindsided. Others spent years trying to be heard and believed. But they all led to the same three words. You have MS.
So today we're kicking off Season One, The Road to Diagnosis. This is relevant whether you were in the process of getting diagnosed right now, or you've been living with MS for years. Because the reality is, when you're diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, you are in pure survival mode. You can't possibly process everything that's happening. Having this opportunity to revisit many of these topics, conversations, and experiences is not only valuable, it's actually healing. Many of these episodes are also great to share with your family and friends to help them better understand your world with MS. Today's episode is my personal story of the signs, symptoms, and even the silent alarms of multiple sclerosis. Now I'm sharing the details of my story because I believe in doing so. I'm helping to tell an aspect of your story as well.
Again, we each have our own unique stories, but it all does the same thing. It turns our world upside down. That is something we all have in common. In sharing our stories, we raise awareness and we realize we are not alone. And just to note, before we get started on today's episode, if you want a more personalized approach to creating your MS diet and lifestyle, check out my private coaching program. It includes a comprehensive assessment, personalized strategies, and lifestyle support. Each month, I accept only three new clients. So if you're interested, apply now at a-line-brennan. com/ coach. Okay, now on to today's episode. There are 1 million people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the US. So that makes you one in a million.
And you have a special purpose in this world that no diagnosis can take away from you. So if you are ready to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis, welcome to my MS podcast. I'm your host, Aline Brennan. Where exactly do you start when someone asks you about your diagnosis of MS? Do you start with the first symptom you experienced? Do you start with the sinking feeling when you knew something was really wrong? Or do you start the moment you finally heard the words, 'you have MS'? My MS story starts on New Year's Eve. My mom was on hospice and I was living one of the hardest years of my life. That's when the doctor called to tell me I had multiple sclerosis, something we weren't even testing for.
Now, let me back up a bit and give you more context. As I said, that December still ranks as one of the toughest months I've ever lived through. Again, my mom was on hospice and our last Christmas with her was spent rushing her to the hospital. It was gut-wrenching. The level of emotions running through my body on a daily basis was palpable. I felt like I was always just one moment away from my entire world collapsing. The only way I knew how to manage that level of pain and emotions was through exercise. It may sound silly, but that was my escape. It had always been my go-to stress reliever over the years. And now it became almost like a lifeline for me. It felt like it was the glue that was holding me together.
One thing that did work in my favor at that time was I was leading the nutrition department at a local health club and there was an amazing gym just outside my office. So I worked out there with a lot of the personal trainers, and I loved it. It was my escape. I was with good friends. There was always good music playing, often way too loud. And all those endorphins were firing from the workout. But then, I randomly started getting exertion headaches during my workout. Now, I had gotten migraines since elementary school, so I really didn't think much of them. I just thought it was the stress of everything I was going through. But something told me to book an appointment with my neurologist. So I made the appointment and she did her usual evaluation.
And then at the end of the appointment, she suggested that we get an MRI since I hadn't gotten one in a while. So I took the script, scheduled the MRI, got the preauthorization, all the different things. And the day of the appointment, I told my family I was going to a happy hour with friends because I was not about to tell them that anything was going on with my health in the midst of what was going on with mom. And the reality was, it was just a routine scan anyway. So I just told them I was going off to happy hour. I went and I got the MRI. And I didn't think twice about the results. I really didn't. I had so many MRIs over the years because of migraines.
And my neurologist was also so matter-of-fact about ordering the MRI. It really seemed like she was just following routine protocol; she was checking off the boxes. Well, by the time New Year's Eve rolled around, my mom was stable in the hospital and my dad was with her. So I decided to meet up with a few friends for real this time. And as I was getting ready in my room, I got a call from a blocked number. I figured it had to be my dad calling from the hospital, right? It was my neurologist. 'Hi, Eileen.' I just wanted to let you know that we got the results of your MRI, and the radiologist thinks that it's multiple sclerosis. I'm not totally convinced, but we need to do some more tests. What? I didn't even know what MS was, if I'm being honest. And I think it was so outrageous of a concept to me at that time. My brain just literally shut the idea down.
So, I finished getting ready for my night out, and acted like nothing happened. I didn't tell anybody. But I did know that I needed to do the follow-up tests. I almost did them out of, not out of spite, but just really like, no, we're doing these tests because I need to prove that I don't have MS. This is outrageous. This is not happening. So I scheduled the follow-up appointments. We all know how many appointments it takes to get an MS diagnosis, right? Well, I did all the tests and they all came back inconclusive. This is a total side note, but I am still shocked to this day that there is no single test that can definitively say: if someone has MS or not. How is that possible? How is that possible?
There's no single test that can say, 'yes, you definitely have MS' or 'no, you do not.' I like definitive answers. And the fact that they couldn't give me one about MS was really irritating. That's a whole nother tangent for a whole nother episode though. So at this point, I decided to hold off on any more doctor's appointments. I didn't have any big MS symptoms, or at least I didn't think I did. But my mom was dying. And I wanted to spend the time with her. So that's what I did. Almost immediately after she passed, there was something inside of me again that pushed me back into those appointments. More appointments, more co-pays, more pre-authorizations, more calls to the insurance company, more time away from work, time away from life, time away from my family.
We know how much this can be a full-time job. So I did another round of MRIs, a spinal tap, and I met with a new neurologist, this one who actually specializes in MS. Again, I like definitive answers. It felt like he was going to be able to give me that. Now waiting for these results. That was tough. I was in the thick of grief trying to picture life without mom. So now having to think about life without mom and possibly a life with MS. That was a tough one to swallow. I needed to do something in the waiting, so I'm the type of person, again, I like information. I like definitive solutions, I guess. I don't know. So I started looking into MS. I wanted to understand what it was.
I started researching online, and that's not a road that we always need to go down. You end up seeing all of the scary worst-case scenarios. That's not helping anything. Then I started listening to a book about MS. I didn't have to face any images like I did when I did my online research. I would just hit play while I was driving. So one day, I'm listening to the author's early experiences with MS when she starts describing these facial pains. She talked about these like electric jolts that went on the side of her face. They came in waves and they got worse when she was stressed. That's when it hit me; that is when I knew I had MS. Tears started streaming down my face. I knew exactly what she was talking about.
I felt those same pains. For years. Out of the blue. It was like being zapped with electricity directly into the side of my face. I never mentioned them to my doctor because they would disappear. Just as quickly as they came. I brushed them off as some weird side effect of migraines. But now? Now, they had a name: trigeminal neuralgia. I thought, all right, Aline. This is it. You have multiple sclerosis. You're going to figure this out. So at this point, I told my dad and my sister what was going on and they came with me to the appointment. The neurologist went through the MRIs, the spinal tap, and then he started asking a whole series of questions. Do you ever experience fatigue, brain fog, urinary frequency, urinary urgency, heat intolerance?
The list went on. And with each one, my heart sank deeper and deeper. Because the answer was yes, yes, and yes. Then he very matter-of-factly announced, 'You have relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.' Just like that, there it was, a conclusive diagnosis. No hesitation like my initial doctor. This one specializes in MS. He knew. All the months of uncertainty led to this moment. The one sentence that changed my life: 'You have MS.' And as odd as it sounds, the first thing that really hit me was his question about heat intolerance. Is MS why I really felt so weak? After a hot yoga class, I always felt so weak and like inexplainably exhausted after a hot yoga class. And I loved hot yoga. It was something that my mom and I did together.
But it would totally wipe me out for days afterwards. Everyone kept saying it was just a hydration issue, but I tried everything. I drank a gallon of water. I would drink coconut water. I even drank pickle juice. It wasn't hydration. It was MS. And now I had the diagnosis to prove it. In a weird way, as I know many of you listening can identify, it felt validating to finally have an explanation for all of the random symptoms and experiences. I'd experienced over the years, I thought back to all of the urology appointments I went to over the years. I thought back to the facial pains. And brain fog. Now there was a real term for it because it is real. The fatigue. Oh, the fatigue. It wasn't laziness.
I immediately thought back to the time that I was so fatigued. I could barely get out of bed. Four weeks. It didn't make any sense. Now it did. But I remember at the time going to a specialist in New York City to try to get answers of what was happening to my body. And at the end of the appointment, I burst into tears because the idea of having to walk to the train station was so overwhelming. I wasn't lazy. I wasn't crazy. I had MS. I know I'm not alone in this experience. We have the date that we were diagnosed with MS, but then we have the memories, all of the memories of all of the symptoms we experienced for years prior to our diagnosis. It really hit me how hard I had been on myself over those years.
Did you know that a quarter of people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases were initially labeled as hypochondriacs. A quarter of people who are ultimately diagnosed with an autoimmune disease were initially labeled as hypochondriacs. It makes perfect sense. Now, it all made sense. Guys, I actually want to pause here for a second because I want to point out that one of the things that really helped me in those never-ending appointments was being fully prepared for my appointments. Because it's so easy to go into an appointment, especially one that you've waited for weeks and months. And you have all of these questions and then you step in and you feel like your brain is just scattered or you're overwhelmed. And the 15 minutes goes by so quickly. And then you walk out, and you're like, 'I've been waiting for this appointment again for weeks or months.' And I'm walking away just as confused with no further clarity or answers than when I went in. It is crushing. I know that feeling because I experienced it firsthand. And one of the things that I did to change that,
so I actually created an appointment planner. I am a very organized person. So I created an appointment planner and I want to share it with you. So I created a copy that you can actually download at alinebrennan. com/ backslash planner. Go check it out, download a copy, fill it out so that at your next appointment, you feel more confident to get the answers that you want.
Okay, so back to our conversation here. I had my official diagnosis. Now what? The flood of what ifs came rushing in. What's going to happen to my body? Will I have to quit teaching yoga? Will I have to quit working out? Will I end up in a wheelchair? Will someone have to take care of me like we did my mom? That last one really hurt. And it still stings to say it to this day. A wave of guilt washed over me. For years, we had been living in six-month and then three-month increments. Between my mom's scans, was I dragging my family right back into the medical system like that? MS is so unpredictable. I didn't know what to expect.
It was as if my body turned into a stranger the minute I heard those words, 'You have MS.' I didn't know what it was about to do, and I felt like I couldn't trust it anymore. It felt like it was betraying me. Now, at this point, I know many of us can find ourselves going down one of two roads. We either hyper-focus, obsess over the things that we can control in our life, because we want a sense of control at any cost. We're constantly on edge because fear has taken over. Or we find ourselves paralyzed by the lack of control. And we feel stuck, like we're in this thick mud that's preventing us from taking even the smallest step forward. Either way, you don't know how or where to start to put your life back together.
Or should I say, how to start putting a new life together, one that now includes multiple sclerosis. My mind? My mind went straight to food. I had been studying nutrition for all of these years and food had helped me so much with managing migraines. There had to be something I could do with food. So I asked my doctor. And we all know how that conversation goes. I asked what about my diet? Is there anything that will help? Eat whatever you want, he said. It won't make a difference. My blood. Boiled. I fired back. I'm a nutritionist and I know that food changes how I feel in my body. I am not a confrontational person, just side note. That is not my style, but he hit something inside of me that just irritated me to the core.
He said, well, it's certainly not going to hurt you. I'm just going to say it's not a cure. It's not going to cure you. He didn't get it. He didn't understand what I was asking or what I was doing. And to be fair, I didn't fully understand at that moment what I was doing or what I was asking either. Because on the surface, yeah, I was asking about food. But what I really was asking for? Was something I could control. Everything, everything felt out of my control. I just lost my mom. And now you're telling me I have an incurable disease? I wasn't searching for a cure. I was searching for hope, for control, for a way to keep being me despite MS. And for me, that started with food.
It was within my control and I knew it could help me feel better, even if it couldn't cure me. Now we'll dive into all of the details of food and diet in future episodes. But I wanted to point this out here because maybe Just maybe this rings true for you too. Maybe you're looking for something that's within your control too. We all get to choose where we go in moments like this, but I want to share with you what I chose. Not to suggest that it's the right thing or that it's the only thing, but for me, it made a world of difference, not only in that moment, but in all of the years that have followed living with MS. So for me, I chose to focus on three things.
The first, as I mentioned, was food. I actually didn't look at food as being an alternative to medicine, if I'm being honest, which I know may sound silly because I'm a nutritionist. I just, I don't know, I didn't look at it as an either or. I really looked at it as something that I knew would help me feel better in my body, especially with all the possible symptoms of MS. I didn't look at it from a cure perspective, but I knew with every cell in my body that it would help me feel better on a day-to-day basis, specifically with the fatigue and the brain fog. And as I was processing this diagnosis, those were the things that stood out to me the most because those were the things that stood out as preventing me from doing what I want to do on a day-to-day basis.
These are the things that can be influenced by food. That was my frame of thinking. It wasn't until later that I realized. that food actually did have the potential to influence the progression or lack thereof of MS. That came with time. But like I said in the beginning, I was just looking for something I could control. And start changing the minute I walked out of that office. And that was food. And again, we'll definitely talk more about the details of this. But while we're on the topic, I want to make sure that I remind you that you don't need to do a complete overhaul to get results. That is one option and will likely get you the fastest results. But if it's not sustainable, it doesn't matter. Most people do best starting small.
So maybe you ask yourself right now, What is one thing you can do starting today? That will help you improve your diet. Can you add one more serving of vegetables to your dinner plate? Can you have fruit instead of snacking on chips? Can you have one more glass of water a day? Big results have beginnings as small as this. So don't underestimate them. Don't put the pressure on yourself that you have to do a complete overhaul on your diet. Again, that is one approach. And yes, it can get you some of the fastest results, but if it's not sustainable, it doesn't matter. Start small and build from there. From my coaching experience, those are the individuals that have the most long-term success. And that's what we're looking for when we're living with a long-term illness.
Okay. So the next area that I focused on was my care team. And I probably shouldn't say these in like a numbered order because it wasn't necessarily sequential like that. One of the things that I was very intentional with focusing on was developing a well-qualified and well-rounded care team. I was introduced to functional medicine long before it was a thing. I remember as a kid, going to an herbalist, a chiropractor, a Reiki master, and so many more of these, what I viewed as weird people. In an effort to help me manage migraines. And they were really helpful. So it did open up my eyes. To another side of medicine and of healing outside of conventional medicine, but it was never viewed in conflict with it.
It was always presented to me from a kid as another tool to help us manage our health. So I just always had the mindset of embracing conventional and again, it wasn't called functional medicine growing up, but that's, I mean, essentially what it was. And it's now been termed that now. So I always embraced conventional and functional medicine. Like when I was in the throes of a migraine, I embrace conventional medicine to the fullest. I still to this day have not found a single natural remedy to break a debilitating migraine. There are things that can help cut the edge of it; but to break an active, full-blown debilitating migraine, I don't know any natural remedies for that. However, food helped me reduce the frequency and the intensity of migraines.
So, they helped me to get fewer migraines. And when I would get them, I wouldn't get them as intensely. If you know anything about migraines, the fewer you get, the less likely you are to get another one. So, I really saw this balance between both sides of medicine. Food can help me prevent; medicine can help me when I'm in an active migraine. So the idea of building this bridge between conventional and functional medicine was always the norm for me. And I was really grateful for that. So I figured that's how I would approach MS as well. Everything is always determined on a case-by-case basis though. It's not putting the stake in the ground of saying, 'I only follow conventional medicine' and 'I only follow functional medicine'.
We can choose the best of both worlds on a case-by-case basis. But that does require a good care team. At the top of that care team was me, not my doctor. He might know the best about MS. But I knew my body the best. So I needed somebody that would work with me. Now, because a diagnosis is such a whirlwind. We don't always have the time, energy, and clarity to get good second and third opinions. And if I'm being honest, my neurologist had an awful bedside manner. He actually had a pretty strong reputation for how bad his bedside manner was. But I also knew he was the best from a clinical perspective. So I settled for him at the time, being that I was just starting off on this journey.
And I knew that, yeah, I probably will find somebody different in the future. But in this moment, I need somebody who has clinical expertise that is way out of my scope from an MS perspective. And he filled that gap. So he was helping me from a clinical perspective. And then I started to build out the complementary services, the complementary care team that would support me not only with my current health, but my future health. Again, that's a whole nother topic that we're going to be diving much more into about how you actually build your care team. Who needs to be on it? How do you ensure that communication is effectively sent across all the different practices? So we'll dive deeper into that.
But that was something that I knew I really needed to be intentional about as I was starting this journey with MS. And this last one, and maybe this one is appropriate to be last because it's the one that I wanted to face the least. It's the one that I wanted to avoid at all costs, but I knew I couldn't. Stress. Oh stress. I knew things had to change. I remember sitting with my neurologist, hearing about MS and thinking, 'I need to make some major changes in my life.' There is too much on the line now, like my brain. I literally had to protect my brain. Now I was and still am a very determined person, and determined to do everything that I possibly could to keep this disease from progressing.
But just as my head was swirling and starting to obsess over all the things I would do, I realized how tight my chest and my body were. Typical me, ready to plow right through this with all of my might and strength. Now, that determination has served me really well over the years. It has been my greatest strength at times. But it is also my greatest weakness. This type A overachiever personality and mindset had its advantages, but it wasn't sustainable. It created so much stress. So many unrealistic expectations, and ultimately led me to ignoring the whispers and eventually the sirens from my body. I had to take a different approach in life. I couldn't white knuckle my way through MS.
We've all had those moments of desperately trying to grab the steering wheel in life; I felt like I was always white-knuckling my way through life. Now, I like feeling in control, not in a sense of power, but in a sense of finding comfort in a predictable outcome. I wanna know that if I do this, then I will get this outcome. That feels good. That feels reassuring. And now, life handed me an incurable, unpredictable disease. God really has a sense of humor, doesn't he? But he also uses everything in our life. Nothing is wasted. And my diagnosis was no exception. This was a tug of war between me wanting control and me also desperately wanting to be comforted and assured. It ultimately prompted me to start leaning more into my faith, a lot more into my faith.
It became the seed that grew my faith into something that finally felt real and so personal to me. It was the one thing that felt solid and could really bring me comfort. Now, I know we all have our own personal journeys with faith and spiritual practices, but I genuinely believe that in moments of uncertainty and chaos, finding strength in something bigger than you allows you to take the pressure off of yourself to release the expectations that this is all on you to figure out. I had to start listening to my body more. We live in a world where we are constantly pushing ourselves to do more, be more, finish faster. I had to unlearn that pace of the world and find my own rhythm. And I invite you to start doing the same.
What if MS was our greatest teacher to pause and be present? Not always 10 steps ahead. Right now, I want you to think of one thing that feels overwhelming to you and is maybe causing you a lot of stress. It could be a project, a relationship, anything. What's the one thing that just consumes your mind and your thoughts the most? Now, what is your one next step in addressing it? Not what's step number two, five, and 10. What is your first step, the one step towards addressing it? Can you give yourself permission just to focus on that? Can you let go even if temporarily of all of the other steps that come after it? It's something that I work on to this very day.
Because even though I chose to focus on it years ago, When I was diagnosed with MS, it is still a daily effort. And if I'm being honest, it probably always will be a daily effort. This is part of my lifelong work. And then, of course, the breath. Oh, the breath has helped so much from a stress perspective. A deep breath is always an easy way for me to interrupt the stress in my life and that palpable stress that I mentioned before running through my body. So let's take this opportunity to take a breath together, because why not? Wherever you are, if it's appropriate to close your eyes or take a soft gaze onto the floor, do it. Otherwise, just take a deep breath in. And exhale it out.
Let's do that two more times because that felt really good. Deep breath in, fill the lungs, fill the belly. Exhale that out. I always like to think about exhaling out longer than you think you can. That really shifts your body into a state of relaxation. Let's take this last breath together here. Deep breath in. Full breath out. Exhale it all out. Okay, my friends, this feels like a really nice place to wrap up this story here. It's certainly a story I never thought I would be telling. But I hope you found it helpful. We each have our own unique stories. They shape us, they teach us, and they connect us. And I hope that's what sharing my story did for us today. Well, my friend, we've reached the end of this episode. Pick one lesson from today's discussion and put it into action now. It's time to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis. And for more resources, events and programs, head over to alinebrennan.com. See you on the next episode of my MS Podcast.
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