The other day, I was on an interview where I was being asked about different aspects of my life. I’d vaguely mentioned that I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease as a kid, and that this disease eventually became so severe that I needed to have over 6 feet of intestines removed. The interviewer then told me how much they appreciated me sharing this, as they could only imagine how deeply personal and vulnerable it was.
This caused me to pause. In this moment I realized just how much I would love for conversations like this to happen often, openly, and honestly, instead of feeling like the things that make us unique are stories that need to be tucked away.
While sharing the fact that I have Crohn’s definitely would have felt super vulnerable for me years ago (as I NEVER used to talk about it), now, this just feels like LIFE.
We are the most beautiful souls having a human experience, and it’s one that isn’t always easy.
The perfection that lives on much of social media is not real life. This is exactly why my husband, Mike, and I started The Mike & Kris Show. On our show we’re talking all about the challenging, beautiful, fun, exciting, painful (and everything in between) experiences in life.
I believe that every single person has a story to share, and the more that we are willing to talk about the hard things and how we overcome them, the less alone others will feel, and the easier their journeys will be.
Over the past couple of weeks Mike has been sharing his journey of overcoming a very serious opiate addiction. This was the absolute darkest times in our lives, as at the same time that Mike was battling addiction, I was also experiencing my own major health challenges.
This story was not an easy one for Mike to share, but as he’s witnessed, opening up about it has also set him free. This is what releasing our pain can do (when we’re ready), and this is why we aim to lead by example, to empower you to take back control of what you can, and to surrender the rest. I believe surrendering to be the opposite of giving up.
Addiction and mental health issues have a HUGE stigma around them in our society, and it’s time to change the conversation.
While I’ve dealt with plenty of anxiety and depression myself in the past, I also used to have my own judgments about addiction, until my husband’s experience with it cracked me wide open. Living through this gave me an entirely different view on just about everything in life.
I now understand that it’s not about how far we fall. It’s about how quickly we can catch ourselves, and how high we’re willing to rise.
While Mike and I could have let all of the challenges that we’ve experienced harden us, we choose to instead lead with compassion, and turn them into something that can help create much needed change in our world. Our stories have the power to heal.
You can watch/listen to both parts of Mike’s journey of overcoming an opiate addiction below.
Now, more than ever before, our world could use an extra dose of kindness. You never know just how much a simple smile or wave (even from a distance) can change another person’s entire day.