Welcome to the Phoenix Helix podcast dedicated to autoimmune resilience. Today, I have a mindset minisode for you, so let's dive right in.

Thank you. Hey friends. So today's episode is all about self-limiting beliefs. And you may wonder what those are.

When our mind convinces us something is impossible before we've even tried, that's a self-limiting belief.

And it's very common for autoimmune disease to trigger them.

If you Google your diagnosis, you'll find scary visions of the future.

Symptoms dramatically change our lives, sometimes taking away activities we used to love,

and with the flare-based unpredictable nature of autoimmunity, life becomes more uncertain,

and it's hard to make peace with that.

The truth is, the human brain feels safer with certainty.

So when it's possible you might fail, your brain may convince you not to try.

So the problem is that this keeps your life smaller than it needs to be, not only cutting you

off from failure, but also cutting you off from success. We don't need perfect health to live a

fuller life.

We can expand our skills, activities, accomplishments, and relationships, and we can start with small steps.

We may not be able to do everything, but we can do some things.

And the key to overcoming self-limiting beliefs is to focus on progress and possibilities,

not perfection. Life isn't an all-or-nothing game. So let me give you an example of what a

self-limiting belief might be for me and that has popped into my head occasionally during

autoimmune flares. When my mind tells me I can't hike, that's a self-limiting belief.

There have been times that's been true.

I have rheumatoid arthritis and a common place for flares to occur is my feet.

And when my feet are in pain and even walking is challenging, hiking might feel like

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