Finding your confidence in everything you do 🤍

I really wanted to write a blog about acceptance and also having confidence with a stoma. So let’s start my saying, I am no expert in wellbeing or how we look at ourselves but I’d love to share my story.

All I know is, one day something will just click. You will care less about what others think about you and more about how YOU feel. For some people this could take days and others years but at some point I hope you will accept yourself and see the positive changes your stoma has brought to your life.

Accepting my stoma

I’ve been hugely lucky in the fact that my acceptance of Wilson (my stoma) has been fairly easy for me…

One reason being, that my quality of life was so poor before that I’d got to the stage where anything was better than being in pain & going to the toilet 20-30 times a day. Also it’s allowed my body to put on weight, and made me love my body again something else I was unable to do before surgery.

But the one vital thing that’s enabled me to ‘accept’ is the people around me. I remember crying to my boyfriend before my surgery saying to him ‘if you want to leave me I’ll completely understand’ and he said ‘why would I leave you, you are still you – this doesn’t change you as a person.’ This was just the start – the support from my family and friends has been incredible, they’ve treated me as the same person but I’d probably say they now see a more confident version now – healthier and happier 🤍

These things take time but if you can surround yourself with ‘your people’ who will have your back no matter what, try to see the positives of having your stoma everyday and give your amazing body some credit – it’s been through a hell of a journey.

Love Charlotte xx

@char.crohnsftwilson