Rise Above the FireMy journey / Since 2004
They saw the day I danced.
“On the days I couldn’t move, I needed understanding. I was still the same person on both days.”
Tracy LeClear
Author & life coach
In 2004, shortly after I woke up during a minor surgical procedure, I began experiencing pain I could hardly put into words.
My body had already endured so much. I was also carrying years of mental and emotional turmoil from abusive relationships that began early in my life. Much of that hurt came from people who were supposed to be my refuge—the people with whom I should have felt safe.
I slept for hours, yet still felt exhausted. Burning sensations moved through different parts of my body. The only way I knew to describe it was that my body felt like it was on fire. I reached for ice packs, desperate to cool the burning.
I went from doctor to doctor while also facing serious health problems, including my digestive system shutting down, a pulmonary embolism, and a stroke. I was also diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. There was so much happening that it was difficult to make sense of what my body was going through.
Then came a word I had never heard before: fibromyalgia. Having a name for the pain brought some comfort. It didn’t change what I was feeling, but it gave me a way to begin explaining it.
What I didn’t realize was that I would now have to explain it to people who had never heard of it either. Some couldn’t understand how I could dance one day and then spend the next three days laid up, barely able to move.
They saw the moment I could dance. They didn’t always see what came afterward. Both were part of my life. My joy was real, and so was my pain.
Along the way, writing and creating have given me ways to express myself and pursue what matters to me. Rise Above the Fire grows from that lived experience—and from my wish to help others feel heard as they build their own way forward.