An Open Letter to My Tribe… AIP Resetters and Mentorship Crew

An open letter to my tribe – a temporary change in direction

Instead of a post or recipe on a diet or lifestyle aspect of the Autoimmune Protocol, something a smidge different today…

As you may be aware, I’ve recently celebrated a fairly big birthday. I turned 50 in October. As part of my half-century festivities, David took me to New York. A wonderful time was had. I was spoiled rotten.

Now that I am back home, a lot of people have been asking me about my birthday trip highlights. My favourite bits, if you like.

To be honest, the entire trip was special.

But, when it comes to standout days, It’s pretty difficult to go past my #bloodyfabulous Mentorship Monday meet up, and the incredibly thoughtful efforts of my wider AIP crew.

Today, I want to take the opportunity to give the AIP community a MASSIVE shout out. Because you’re AWESOME.

The backstory

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
― Marcel Proust

I talk a lot about this AIP community of ours and how it is so special and it is particularly relevant for me today. I’m completely sincere about this feeling.

When I first began my health caper all those moons ago, I had no idea that I would encounter a whole world of incredibly kind and generous and accepting new connections from around the globe. Women (and a few men) who understood the challenges of navigating life with a shitty health issue. It was the most wonderful unexpected side benefit of this health adventure.

My particular flavour of chronic illness is Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS). It’s a painful affliction, for sure. But for me, the worst thing about having HS was that it made me hide away. I made myself smaller because I was ashamed of my skin affliction. The last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to myself.

Hard to believe, really. Especially given I now host weekly live videos over on my Facebook page.

The past 6 years have been quite the pilgrimage…

Of course, as your AIP Mentor and Coach who works to help people to navigate this wild and sometimes wacky world of building and AIP way of life, it’s inevitable that I meet and build relationships with fellow AIPers – both individually and in groups.

• I facilitate AIP Reset – my 30-day program to help you (re)find your AIP groove when you’ve strayed from your protocol.
• I have a truly #bloodyfabulous membership group – AIP Mentorship. It’s a close-knit crew of women from around the world who share and support and build each other up as they each work on their respective health capers. Frankly, it’s a special place.
• I continue to mentor a small number of one-on-one clients in personalising their AIP way of life

Here’s the thing, though – most of my business is online. I live in Sydney and I have clients around the world.

Up until recently, I had only actually met a handful in real life…

Which is why it was so lovely when some of my crew decided they wanted to head to New York and meet me on my recent trip. Mentorship Monday was born. I spent a seriously fantabulous day with AIPers from Sydney, Texas, London, Seattle, Washington DC and New York.

And boy did they go to town in making our inaugural meet up memorable. Well over a month later and I’m still coming down from the high of connecting with fellow AIPers who gave me ALL the feels.

If you’re interested in understanding just how special the day was, one of my #bloodyfabulous crew recorded this video for prosperity:

Can you see why I was so bowled over? – And this is just a teeny-tiny snippet of the scarcely-credible-because-it-was-so-great day we had together – all culminating in a truly unforgettable evening at Hearth Restaurant on the lower east side, complete with not one, but two 3-course AIP-elimination friendly meal options.

The open letter

I want to ensure that every single member of my AIP crew know how much they mean to me. Hence this open letter… You know who you are!

And, if your eye-sight is as dodgy as mine – well, here’s the letter in a more legible font:

To my #bloodyfabulous AIP Mentorship crew, past AIP Resetters and fellow AIP community peeps,

A GIANT and slightly overwhelmed thank you to each and every one of you from me. The incredibly thoughtful handwritten cards, notes and handmade gifts you have sent me for my birthday literally made me cry. You are, each of you, special snowflakes. I am so grateful to know you. I genuinely love our community of wonderful women.

And, my GORGEOUS earrings. I absolutely love them. I send each and every a VERY big cuddle for your generosity.

As has been mentioned (more than once, now!) – it is difficult to render me speechless, but you managed it when Tish, your master instigator, presented me with my birthday offering from you all on our Mentorship Monday meet up in New York. A thousand thank yous for making me feel so very special. It is a memory I will treasure.

The inaugural Mentorship Monday Meet-Up showed me exactly how #bloodyfabulous our group is. It was a magical day. Friendships and connections were further cemented by having the opportunity to meet some of you in real life – and, I look forward to doing this with more of you – hopefully in the not too far off future.

Lots of special sauce cuddles from me to you.

Jxx

My takeaway

No matter your flavour of chronic illness, it has the capacity to isolate you – both socially and emotionally.

There is profound power in connecting with people who lift you up.

Finding your support system; your tribe of fellow AIPers who get your stuff – this can play a transformative role in your health caper.

If you’re looking for fellow AIPers to connect with, why not come and join my Friday morning ‘chicken’ over on my Facebook page. Each Friday at sunrise, I host a Facebook Live where we talk about a particular aspect of the AIP framework. It’s informal and free and we’d love to see you!