This is usu­ally one of the first stages of dis­ease. For me, this was most of my teen years. Being in pain all the time, and there­fore hav­ing to limit my social activ­i­ties, I was the vic­tim. In the poor me stage we feel like no one under­stands what we are going through. It is hard to have com­pas­sion for oth­ers as we are in pain and only see the world from our per­spec­tive. When one is going through the poor me stage it is hard to con­nect with others.

This is just a stage! Every event in our life changes the next moment for­ever. You can­not know this effect, you just have to trust that it is for the bet­ter of everyone.

Your life has great plans for you; this may be the gift that trans­forms your per­spec­tive on the world. Your job is to take what life gives you and turn it into some­thing great.

There is no need to blame your­self or any­one else. These destruc­tive thoughts only add stress on our bod­ies and our dis­ease, cre­at­ing a spi­ral down. We all have chal­lenges in life. Every­one does. Some have health chal­lenges, oth­ers have rela­tion­ship, or career, or finan­cial challenges.

First we need to accept this stage and see it for what it is. We can­not deny our feel­ings, but look at our­selves clearly. Real­ize that we may be bit­ter about our past; be bit­ter towards oth­ers which just mir­rors back to us.

Today is a new day. You decide how to look at it, let it go and jump for­ward. Find some­one online who needs some sup­port and make your­self find the words to encour­age them. You may think it is the time for you to get the sup­port, but first, give it to some­one else, then go find some­one to share sup­port back to you.

Now that I have come out the other side of this stage, I am grate­ful for what I have gone through. Until we have gone through our own expe­ri­ence, we are unable to under­stand enough to help another through theirs.

Sheri

[Editor’s note: Sheri’s writ­ings are spread out over time so they’re not strictly a follow-on from the pre­vi­ous writ­ing. I’m sure you will find them most inter­est­ing and, hope­fully, find her expe­ri­ences and pos­i­tive mes­sages help­ful. Below are links to Sheri’s per­sonal jour­ney expe­ri­ence writ­ings and thoughts. You can also access these links from the side menu, or the “About Me” menu on the top-right of the page. ]

• About Me — My “Pull Through” Jour­ney — Introductions
• Con­trol­ling Crohn’s Dis­ease? Anorexia worked! Until it didn’t.
• Accept­ing the Hos­pi­tal ~ No other choice left.
• Trans­fer­ring Closer to Home
• Yes­ter­day I Cried ~ With an agenda.
• It’s OK to Cry
• My Pre­scrip­tion Drug Addic­tion — Good or Bad?
• [Cur­rent Page] Leav­ing the Poor Me Stage
• My Jour­ney of Pulling Through — Final Thoughts