Just firstly want to say that thank you doesn’t even cover it for having me part of the incredible weekend! You and your family are a powerhouse and so inspirational.
To try and articulate how the weekend impacted me is hard, but I’ll try! As you know, due to my TSW I’ve had a mad year and coming home from Thailand has been a challenge and a half, navigating my old life with its new rules dictated by my skin had got me in a dark place mentally and honestly I didn’t realise how much I’d isolated myself until coming to your home for the weekend! It was confronting in the best way possible to be out of my ‘safe space’ that I’d created for my skin to be ok, and suddenly out of control of the people I saw, the food I ate and the environment I was in.
The first evening I was almost crippled with social anxiety that I haven’t felt since I was a teenager, it was then that I realised how I was living was not healthy. Relaxing into the weekend the next morning with smaller groups and connecting with Alice and others in the Juicing workshop made me feel like myself again and was such a relief, I’d be longing for that sense of community that just ‘get it’ since leaving thailand and the clinic full of patients with the same condition as me.
My state of mind on Friday compared to leaving your home on Monday was completely night & day. Hearing such vulnerable stories being shared with people that were not long ago strangers was so powerful and really gave me the kick up the arse to stop letting my condition make my life limited and my vision for the future small. I can’t tell you how grateful I am, what you’ve created can only be described as pure magic and I can’t wait to be back and hopefully be able to share my story one day!
Courtney