Shownotes
Please excuse this short interruption to our regular schedule! This week is Facial Paralysis Awareness Week (yep, there’s a week for everything!) so I thought I would share my personal journey with Bell’s Palsy and how it affected me both personally and with my business.
I developed Bell’s Palsy in 2021 shortly after the birth of my baby girl. Having already had Bell’s Palsy when I was just 10 I knew exactly what it was when it hit, but thought it would go away just as quickly… it didn’t!
I’m one of 5% of people who suffer from Bell’s Palsy that it doesn’t go away for – lucky me!
It has affected me physically, but mostly mentally. In today’s episode I’m pulling back the curtains on what life was really like with a newborn and a half paralysed face and how I’ve grown my confidence back over the last 2 years.
Don’t worry, I’ll be back with more eCommerce marketing tips next week!
Episode Highlights
- How it started [01:13]
- Validating thoughts and Feelings [08:40]
- Side Effects of Bell’s Palsy [10:55]
- Treatment [12:30]
- Coming terms with Bell’s Palsy [21:24]
Hi Karyn, thanks for sharing. I had Bell’s Palsy a few years ago and it was a toughie to cope with. I was fortunate that it slowly went away. The hardest part was strangers’ reactions when they were talking to me. I salute your bravery and strength of character in pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and getting on with it.
Thanks so much Jacqueline. Yes it’s funny how people don’t know how to react to you when you look different. I was very insecure about that for a long time. I remember one day early on I was in a shop for one of my first outings and this lady I knew got right up in my face and said “oh, its that bad” and then in her next breath asked why I hadn’t come back to the gym yet!
Now I don’t even mention it, but always happy to talk about it if someone asks.