Season 3 Episode 6: Feeling Left Behind After a Health Crisis

After a health crisis, there’s a part of recovery that doesn’t get spoken about enough. 

It’s not just the physical side. It’s the feeling that life keeps moving… and you’re not. 

In this episode, I talk about what it actually feels like when plans change, when you hesitate to commit, and when you’re trying to move forward but don’t fully trust your body yet. 

I also share how frustration shows up in this stage of recovery, and why it’s not something to ignore… but something to listen to. 

This episode explores: 

• The reality of plans changing during and after a health crisis 
• Why hesitation and loss of confidence in your body is so common 
• The emotional impact of feeling left behind 
• The invisible load of appointments, recovery, and ongoing care 
• Why frustration isn’t a problem… it’s a signal 
• How to start adjusting to what life looks like now 

This conversation is for anyone navigating recovery… or trying to understand why moving forward doesn’t feel as simple as it should. 

 🎙️ Referenced in this series:
Episodes in Season 3 of The Hurdle2Hope Show

💻 FREE Guide 
If you’re currently dealing with a health challenge and feeling overwhelmed, this is a simple place to start. 

When Health Challenges Feel Overwhelming
Download it here:
https://teisharose.com/overwhelmed 

 💛 Course + Coaching 
If this stage of recovery is where you feel stuck… this is exactly the work I do with women. 

Explore more here:
https://teisharose.com/thriving 

 📲 Connect:
Instagram: @hurdle2hope
Facebook: Hurdle2Hope 

If this episode resonated, follow The Hurdle2Hope® Show and share it with someone who needs to hear it. 

 If you’re feeling overwhelmed by a health challenge, download the free guide here:

 https://teisharose.com/overwhelmed/

If you’re ready for more support, explore the Thriving Through Chronic Illness course and one-on-one coaching here:

 https://teisharose.com/thriving

WHERE TO GO NEXT

If you’re navigating a health challenge, you can find support and resources at
TeishaRose.com

If you’re a professional or organisation looking to strengthen connection and resilience in your work, visit
Hurdle2Hope.com

I’d love to connect with you,
Teisha

Also, are you following @hurdle2hope on social media? I’d love to see you there.

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Transcript

Speaker: [00:00:00] Do you ever get this feeling? Life continues on around you, but you feel stuck left behind like everyone else is getting on with things, but your life has come to a standstill. This is probably the greatest frustration over the years I've experienced and probably experiencing now, and also what my coaching clients experience as well, and that's what we're gonna chat about today.

Speaker: For those of you new to the podcast, my name is Teisha Rose. I'm the host of The Hurdle2Hope® Show, and during season three, we've gone through a lot. , I've been sharing a crisis in real time, and that started with what happened when my body felt like it was shutting down. What led up to that experience and we talked about, what gets you through it, you know, the letting, out, I guess, some of the emotions and processing that and doing work on yourself as well.

Last week we talked about the role [00:01:00] of support and the right support, not any support, um, and as I've just shared today, I wanna go through what I'm going through at the moment and is that, is this feeling that life goes on without you and you're feeling left behind emotionally. That's really difficult to process and navigate, and that's what we'll be chatting about today.

 I am not sure about you, but the feeling of being left behind that starts in the crisis. So when I was in ICU. Probably more when I was in the ward, ICU was just so full on, I was just very focused on getting through that block of time. But then when I was in, um, the ward, that's when I started having to look at my diary and cancel, [00:02:00] bookings I had, it was devastating.

Before the Christmas break, I found out that I was successful in an application to be keynote, add a. Um, lunch on International Women's Day in Adelaide. And I was so excited about that, that had been sold out. I was going to go on a road trip with Andrew and I had to cancel. And that adds to your stress because living with a chronic illness, you think, oh gosh, I hope they don't think I'm lazy or don't wanna do it.

And then it adds to frustration because you think. Gosh, if it wasn't for my health, I'd be there. And this is what I've been working towards, and this was really important for my business.

But the reality was I was in hospital. I had no idea how long this. Episode would be, and I didn't wanna let people down and not give them enough time to plan ahead. So yeah, phone calls had to be made. And of course everyone [00:03:00] was so lovely about it. They knew, you know, I've been in ICU, so I wasn't making up anything.

But that's where the frustration starts because you think if it wasn't for my health, I'd be packing my bags and planning a trip. Um, and that was not to be.

So not only are you having to cancel plans, but then there's this hesitation of making new plans because you think, I don't know, I've lost faith in my body. I don't know what I'll be like when I get out of hospital. Don't know how long my recovery will be, and that becomes frustrating as well.

In relation to work, I was thinking, okay, if I book another keynote or another workshop that I'm doing at the moment, what happens if my bowel is not right? I can't do that. Or if a friend wants to catch up or us planning a holiday, dunno, can I do that? Not sure what my body's gonna be [00:04:00] like. And then you think, oh, at the moment I'm lying in a hospital bed and exhausted just getting out to go to the toilet.

Um, what were my energy like later on? So all of these things run through your head. What I've decided to do this time, 'cause this is what I used to do when I was in rehab and recovering for MS relapses is okay. Stop, you know, stop all of this worrying about what might be, and really focus on my healing and thinking, okay, instead of being frustrated that life as I thought it would be over the next couple of months, that's not gonna happen, but that's okay let's focus on my healing. And hopefully by that, by doing that, I'll be able to recover and get back to the life I wanna lead.

 But again, that's not to minimize the frustration. I was actually doing some coaching this last week, and [00:05:00] that's what we talked about. You know, it's okay to be frustrated. It's not fair. It's not fair that the plans I had, all the hard work I put into what I was wanting to do the first quarter of this year, frustrating that none of that could come to fruition.

 At this stage, it's really frustrating because you're spending a lot of time indoors where I am, and you know by yourself. You wanna go out, you wanna. Pop out and go out for dinner, or you wanna catch up with a friend and have a coffee, although I don't drink coffee, but you know, you wanna go off to a cafe and catch up with a friend.

But I can't do that at the moment.

And for many of us, I think. We worry that others think that's lack of motivation, but it's not. You know, I'm so motivated to getting well, but unfortunately getting well means stopping and focusing on myself and on [00:06:00] my emotional healing, but also physical healing

So there's this constant tension we have to deal with, dealing with the frustration of what has happened and how that's impacted our life over the last month or two. Then there's a frustration of wanting to move forward, wanting to get on with things, wanting to resume your life, not being able to do that.

And it becomes frustrating. It becomes upsetting, especially when you are constantly reminded of what you've lost.

Then there's the invisible load that people don't notice or see.

Because although I'm stopping, it's a very busy time. You know, I have so many medical appointments and I was saying to Andrew last night, the mental load of coordinating three conditions is, [00:07:00] it's a lot to cope with.

. There's lots of appointments. You know, I've got an appointment now with a gastroenterologist. I've then got, I had an appointment over the last couple of weeks with my neurologist talking about the impact, what I've been through with colitis and septic shock with MS In a couple of weeks I'm seeing my oncologist.

Um, so coordinating that blood test for that. Um, then I'm having physio appointments, having speech therapy, so it's a lot. But that's what my energy needs to be channeled to at the moment, because without that, I won't get better.

So it's funny, life feels full, but it's not necessarily filled with what I want it to be filled with.

 But if this bit is skipped then healing won't happen, so I can't sit there being frustrated by it. I've got to [00:08:00] engage with it all because my focus needs to be on these appointments or else my gut won't get better, my legs won't get better Ms wise, and we don't want that cancer coming back.

 Okay, so at the beginning I talked about the frustration of life continuing on without you and watching that happen. Being frustrated that the plans you had for, you know, the weeks that have been or the weeks that are coming, they have to change. But I think the frustration goes deeper than that because the frustration is that I can't continue on with my life as it was.

So each time a massive health challenge or crisis happens, then life as you know, it changes. So although lying in hospitals thinking, no, I can't be doing A, B, and C, A, B and C [00:09:00] might be able to be part of my future, we're not sure. And that's what we either continue on the path that we assumed would be ours, or we need to pivot.

We need to think, okay, I'm sitting here feeling frustrated. What can I do differently so I can gradually return to life, even if that life is different to what I expected? And fortunately, that's what Ms taught me. Cancer taught me. So this time I was very quick to do that.

That's why I did this podcast. I thought, okay, I can still keep using my mind, keep doing things for my business and really share what this experience is like. I kept doing some coaching from the ward. I told the nurses, ah, just give me an hour. And they're like, they couldn't work out what I was doing. And lucky I was [00:10:00] in isolation so I could shut the door and no one would disturb me.

But that meant instead of being absolutely frustrated that everything had come to a standstill, I pivoted and I took two weeks off, but I still, in the month I was in hospital, had a couple of coaching sessions and that made me feel emotionally, mentally, so much better.

And it's made me think, okay, you know, at the moment, maybe for the next three months, the reality of standing in the room doing a keynote talk, worrying about my, my bathroom movements, um, maybe that's not part of the next three months. That's okay. We can book some of those events for six months time, we can do some workshops virtually.

So there's lots of things you can still do , but it's making adjustments for how I am [00:11:00] now.

So if I do a podcast episode I had been doing in season two, lots of interviews with people, but that takes so much time preparing for that. Doing the interviews, editing the interviews. So I thought, no. Let's adjust my expectations this time and let's do some episodes initially from the recliner in my hospital room.

 What I also wanna share is don't suppress or ignore the frustration use this as a guide.

This means things have to be slightly changed. Means that you, you know, sit with that emotion. Think, what am I really frustrated about? Is it because I'm frustrated that it's not fair that others are getting on with their life and you are not, but then bring it back to you and think, okay, what is it in my life that I feel [00:12:00] so frustrated about missing out on? And then think, okay, if those things aren't possible in the next few months, what do I need to do to change 'em a little bit? Adjust them a little bit or pivot and focus on something else. So yes, express that emotion, but then it's all about managing that and working out how you can still feel like you are still creating momentum, still moving forward in your life.

And this is what I talk about, why it's so important to use our mindset when we are navigating through things like a health crisis because there's so much we can do to reframe things instead of just feeling stuck and unsure how to move forward.

Because the uncertainty is going to be there. The reality that you have to change plans. [00:13:00] That's gonna happen.

Trying to work out what your new norm is, that's gonna happen, but navigating through that is possible.

I keep saying, you know, I don't celebrate having ms. Certainly not, or dealing with the whole diagnosis of stage four breast cancer, but I've had to draw on that so much in getting through the last couple of months, and I don't know why, you know, this experience has happened to me because. I get it. I get when people say it's unfair because that's how I'm feeling sometimes.

It's so unfair. I have to deal with three massive health challenges. But I also think, and what's added dimension to my coaching and the course Thriving Through Chronic Illness is I get it. [00:14:00] I get the frustration of feeling left behind. I get it. I'm feeling that at the moment, but I also know that you can do so much to get through these moments, and it's all about changing your mindset.

It's not about being positive all the time because I'm not. I let the frustration out. I acknowledge the frustration, but I use that to motivate me to change, to motivate me, to pivot, and to do things differently, and that's what I'm, why I do what I do, because I know it's helped me so much at the moment and I wanted to help you as well.

If you are living with a chronic illness, please visit TeishaRose.com. On it there's a free guide that will help you get through the stress of a health challenge. Also, there's details of the course Thriving Through [00:15:00] Chronic Illness In it, I've shared The Hurdle2Hope® Roadmap.

That is my guide. That's everything I do and everything I share with others in that course. And then there's also information about coaching, and that's what I'm really focused on doing at the moment because I wanna share and support others going through what I'm going through.

 hope you have a great week as I'm recording this. I've got one more sleep and I'm back to Daisy Hill. I left two months ago thinking I might be in hospital for a night, and finally I'm getting to go home. Enjoy your week and I'll look forward to chatting soon. Bye. 

​[00:16:00]