Do You Feel Sexy?

I don’t know about you but I don’t think IBS is SEXY. Quite the contrary. The way IBS makes you feel is not conducive to a positive belief in your own sex appeal. You have bathroom problems that sometimes occur…often. You don’t have much energy. When you don’t feel good, you really don’t want to go that extra mile to make yourself look real nice, do ya? I have found this to be one of the more challenging psychological barriers to my wellness since being diagnosed with IBS. Is there a way around it? Not sure, but I’m working on it. I would like to share some of my thoughts about our natural sexual being while dealing with the IBS problem. I hope you haven’t given up, because I haven’t. I WANT TO FEEL SEXY AGAIN :-).

Find your beauty

Sexuality is a very natural and important part of our overall wellness. When someone becomes ill, in any number of ways, not just IBS, that sexual aspect of our lives seems to disappear. During certain periods of our lives, this is completely natural and probably necessary. We have to tend to our illness first. We need to find a baseline wellness before we can consider ‘the sexy’. Once we do find our baseline happy and we are ready to re-discover our sexuality, what is the proper approach to take? I got my first piece of wisdom from a friend I saw from High School the other day. We were talking for a while and he laughed and said that I had helped him with his confidence with women a long time ago. I chuckled and asked just exactly how I had achieved this feat. He said that I told him that if he believed, truly believed that he was attractive…then he was. That was it, I thought. It’s about our own perception of ourselves, not what others think of us. Let’s be honest, how often do others really get to know us and also, how many of these 'others' do we REALLY want to be with. It’s about our self-confidence, self-perception and self-esteem. What made you feel attractive in the past? I realize the toll IBS takes on the way you look at yourself, but the fact of the matter is that you are still the same person you were when you did feel SEXY. It’s just about finding that person again. IBS is something that we have to deal with, but it certainly shouldn’t dictate how we perceive ourselves as individual personalities, souls and the beautiful thing that God created. We are all beautiful in our own way. Find your beauty and run with it.

Get your sexy back

Now once you find your inner sexy again, it is important to separate the sexy from the IBS. Put a big, friggin’ wall between the two. There are things we all need to do to keep ourselves well with IBS. Keep doing those things, but there is a place in your life where you can feel good about yourself. We will all have days where we don’t feel attractive to the opposite or same sex or both, depending on how you go about things. This is life. I do know that I think that it is important aspect of my life that I want back. I am sure that many of you out there feel the same way. Do the things that make you feel good about yourself. Get a massage, buy some new fragrance, candles, incense, bottle of…uh…water? You get my point. Don’t let IBS steal your sexy. I’m desperately trying to take mine back.