S1 E8: Navigating Life With Lupus, Self Care and Wellness Practices with Victoria Gibbs
In this episode I speak with Victoria Gibbs, @whatgibbs. Victoria is a Dartmouth College graduate, a former financier turned health and wellness entrepreneur, she is also a full time yoga athlete, instructor, model, influencer, digital content creator, and lupus warrior.
Summary
In the episode of "On the Outside", host Taylor Rae interviews Victoria Gibbs, a Dartmouth College graduate and former finance expert turned health and wellness entrepreneur. Victoria discusses her transition from ballet to yoga, her journey to becoming a full-time yoga instructor, model influencer, and digital content creator, and her experiences as a Lupus Warrior. She shares her personal health journey, including her diagnosis with Lupus nephritis and open heart surgery due to a Lupus complication. Victoria emphasizes the importance of rest, hydration, a balanced diet, and setting boundaries for managing her autoimmune disease, and advises those with chronic conditions to find peace with their situation and learn from it.
Key Moments
Introduction, Victoria Gibbs (00:00:06 - 00:02:00)
Victoria Gibbs, a Dartmouth College graduate and former finance expert turned health and wellness entrepreneur, discusses her transition from ballet to yoga, her journey to becoming a full-time yoga instructor, model influencer, and digital content creator, and her experiences as a Lupus Warrior.Lupus Diagnosis, Health Journey, Self Care (00:02:00 - 00:15:00)
Victoria shares her personal health journey, including her diagnosis with Lupus nephritis and open heart surgery due to a Lupus complication. She emphasizes the importance of rest, hydration, a balanced diet, and setting boundaries for managing her autoimmune disease.Ballet, Inclusivity (00:15:30 - 00:45:00)
Victoria discusses the challenges she faced growing up as one of the few black children in her school and later in the ballet world. She also talks about the inclusivity she found in the yoga community and how it helped her overcome mental barriers.
Transcription
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Hello. Hello. Welcome back. It is your host Taylor Ray. And this is another episode of on the outside. Welcome back friends. After a short break of one week between last episode and today's episode. I am feeling so ready to share another podcast with you guys. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that my sweet and wonderful puppy rollie. I mean, he's over a year old.
I feel like he's not technically a puppy anymore. But to me, he always is, he was sick last week. Plus my husband Richard was in Dubai for work for a week and honestly, just, I couldn't get out the podcast. I couldn't get out the podcast. I was feeling overwhelmed. My mom came to help me because truly, my brain exploding. I was missing class. It was, it was honestly, it was a hot mess but Rollie as well, Richard is back and the podcast is back on schedule to finish out season one strong.
So today I'm bringing you a conversation with a friend and an icon. As always, Victoria Gibbs. Victoria began practicing yoga 10 years ago and from the first time that she stepped onto her mat her passion was evident. Victoria is a Dartmouth College graduate, a former finance expert turned health and wellness entrepreneur. She is also a full time yoga athlete instructor, model influencer, digital content creator and Lupus Warrior.
Victoria genuinely believes in the mind body benefits of yoga and has found that it has helped her to overcome mental and emotional struggles and supports her in maintaining optimal physical health while managing Lupus. Today, she lives to share her journey through teaching education and content.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Let's start it out as we always do by hearing about a time where Victoria felt like she was an outsider or the first time I felt like an outsider was growing up as a little girl in Princeton.
Victoria Gibbs
being the only blocker, I think there were three of us at the time, actually, in a school of 200 was very challenging. It was hard to fit in, in certain regards. I did everything to make sure that I did fit in and there were just pivotal moments in my childhood where teachers were rude and disrespectful. I wasn't allowed to attend sleepovers and, you know, just those moments really kind of shape the person that you kind of grew up to be a little bit.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
They just leave these lasting impressions on your mind and they, they stick with you throughout your life. And for me, at least they've stuck with me. And so, growing up like that was, you know, of course, great in certain respects, but also very challenging too.
Let's get into our conversation. Hi, Victoria. Welcome.
Also I always call you Victoria. But isn't your name? Krysten?
Victoria Gibbs
Yes, Krysten with a Y is my first name and Victoria is my middle name.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
But you always go by Victoria.
Victoria Gibbs
Always a couple months after birth, my parents made the shift and they're like, no, it's a Victoria.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman, Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
So they just started calling me Victoria after knowing Victoria for a few years, it was only a few weeks before our interview that I actually found out her name was Kristen, which I thought was pretty funny.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
We went on to learn more about Victoria.
Victoria Gibbs
I am a youthful 38. I grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. I danced classical ballet growing up, which has always been kind of my love and initially just fed my soul in so many ways and of course, led to my overall passion for movement as a whole. I live in Manhattan. Not always, I only moved here about two years ago despite living so close by, I did the commuter thing for a while.
I live with my brother who I adore, we're best friends. So that's always nice to come home to someone and just kinda catch up on life. Yeah. And I just really over the last couple of years dove into health and wellness due to my own health experiences. And so that has truly become my passion project. And over time, I became a Yogi. I used to do competitive yoga years ago.
And I guess now it's about 10 years that I've been practicing yoga. And I just think that it has totally transformed my life and has helped me navigate life every single day. And so I'm single, I'm here loving New York life. I love traveling. I love fashion and of course fitness, health and wellness.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
So, yeah, I asked Victoria about her background in finance and how she navigated stressful work while having such a calm and cool disposition. If you've ever met Victoria, she is truly one of the most soothing people I have ever met. I actually used to take daily meditation classes with Victoria for over a year when we both worked at the same fitness mirror company. I would turn on the mirror.
I would sit down on my little bolster and I would have my daily meditations to her soothing voice. But whether she is leading a yoga class or meditation or just having a conversation with you over a macha because I believe she's a macha girl. She is truly just such a soothing person. I wanted to learn more about what that looked like when she was in the finance world.
Victoria Gibbs
No, I kind of always like that. I mean, it's much more so now, since I can do my own thing. But prior to that, when I was at the hedge fund. I was the only female at the time. And so it was a very interesting situation. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't taken seriously because I would show up in like a hot pink suit. But like, that's just me. I feel like a lot of times, you know, I think they thought I was just there for fashion feels and not for the overall gain of the fund, which was not true.
I always asked for more responsibilities and they were just never given to me. So I learned a lot. I loved my colleagues. I'm still in touch with some of them today. So, it was definitely a good experience, but it didn't give me life the way that yoga does.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
I asked Victoria if her passion for yoga overlapped with her work in finance.
Victoria Gibbs
No, it definitely overlapped. One day I left the office and I had stopped dancing pretty much cold turkey after I left college. And so I realized that I needed to do something to fill my soul. And a lot of times I would just walk past a hot yoga studio and then one day I was like, you know what, I'm gonna take class.
And so I took class and that was, that was it, it was yoga to the people back then. And a mentor and amazing Yogi Talia was my teacher and she was incredible. And it just, it really shaped who I am today.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Victoria has been very transparent and open about her health journey and diagnosis with Lupus on social media, calling herself a Lupus warrior.
Wanted to dive in a little bit. You mentioned briefly that your passion for health, health and wellness really came through and blossomed even more because of your own specific and personal journey with health and your own health. So can you tell me just a little bit more about that?
Victoria Gibbs
Of course, In 2016, on my birthday, actually, it was my 31st birthday. I was diagnosed with Lupus nephritis. So basically my auto, my autoimmune or my immune system, I should say just attacks my body. And so all sorts of crazy things were happening to me that I had never experienced before, to the point where I was becoming
a danger unto myself like I was trying to go to work, but literally would black out in the middle of the street and just, it was a miracle that I can't even talk about it today.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Lupus is a chronic disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body. Chronic means long term. It's an autoimmune disease which means that your immune system, the body system that usually fights infections actually attacks healthy tissue. Inflammation usually happens when your immune system is fighting an infection or an injury.
When Lupus makes your immune system attack healthy tissue, it can cause inflammation in lots of different parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling and pain. Lupus, most commonly affects the skin joints and internal organs like your kidneys and your heart.
Victoria Gibbs
But after that happened, I realized, you know, there were some lifestyle shifts that I needed to make and I was happy to make them and I didn't understand what lupus really was or why I got it. And a lot of people say it's, you know, past traumas that have been part of your life or things that you've done to your body and through classical ballet, I had developed an eating disorder at one point.
And so I'm like, did I bring this on myself? And then, right after I left college, my best friend and roommate at the time committed suicide while we were living together. So it was very traumatic and I'm just, you know, thinking to myself, is this why I have this now? But, it gave me, direction, motivation and just like a purpose to wanna figure, figure out how to live life properly with this autoimmune disease.
I'm someone who is very busy and I just love to do what I love. And Lupus was absolutely slowing me down, especially right after my diagnosis, I spent that entire summer at home, with my family and they were, you know, taking care of me and I was taking an enormous amount of medication just to kind of get everything under control to the point where it was almost making me ill. I would have to like crush my pills because they were so big. I called them horse pills. They were massive. And, I mean, I eventually got back to work and everything, but I realized that working at a hedge fund was not my journey in life. It didn't fulfill me.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
And I realized that doing more with health and wellness felt like it was my calling while anyone can get lupus.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
The disease most often affects women. In fact, women make up about nine out of 10 adults with the disease. It's also more common in black Hispanic Asian and indigenous women than in white women. The cause of lupus remains unknown. But there is solid evidence that genetics, epigenetics, which means changes in chromosomes that affect gene activity,environmental factors, viruses and infections play a role. Some symptoms of lupus with varying severity include fatigue, pain and swelling in joints, skin rashes and fevers. Initially. What even made you look, were you already just like having you knew something was wrong and you just fell off. And is that what kind of led to you finding out that information on your birthday?
Victoria Gibbs
I was having crazy symptoms. So it was like a four month span where my health deteriorated rapidly. I know for a lot of people it's years, but for me, it was just months. I was training for a national yoga competition. And during my training, I realized that, you know, something was definitely off, like I couldn't get into my poses the way that I normally do and my joints were hurting.
I started to develop mouth ulcers. So all these white spots in the back of my throat to the point where my mouth felt like it was on fire. I literally could not eat anything or even talk. It was so painful. I got blood blisters on my fingers, crazy fevers that were like 100 and 5, 100 and six degrees. My face blew up like a chipmunk. My body swelled everywhere.
And at one point, I was going to urgent care thinking that they could help me and they basically just told me that I had the mumps or that I had the flu and that I needed to just go home and rest. And so I was resting an aggressive amount to the point where I stopped going to work. I stopped training and nothing was moving the needle whatsoever. And so, eventually my motor skills declined.
I was having brain fog and extreme sensitivity to light. I decided, I guess it was may that, you know, it made sense for me to go to this national competition despite all of these symptoms, not having trained, not done anything. I was like, I'm going because that's the kind of person I am. So I literally went on stage and the bright lights came on. I did like three poses and basically my body just collapsed underneath itself and I just gracefully got up, bowed my head and walked off.
And I thought at that time, I would never practice again. I certainly didn't think I would ever compete again. And I never stepped foot back in the yoga studio for about a month. And so my symptoms just progressively got worse. And at one point, my parents were like, you need to come home. There is definitely something very wrong with you.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Victoria has been navigating life with lupus for several years. There are a lot of different things that she does to take care of herself.
She shared some of them with me. So how is it navigating? Figuring out what, what makes you feel your best for me?
Victoria Gibbs
Over the years, I've learned that rest is very pivotal. I sleep a minimum of eight hours and if I don't, I can't function properly the next day. And so then I play catch up and I'll sleep nine instead to make up for it. I mean, sometimes I can sleep 10 like I'm very keen on rest cause I know that that's something that's really important for my body.
I hydrate hydrate, hydrate with water 24 7 to the point where even my doctor, my kidney doctor, he's like, yeah, maybe it's too much water. And I'm like, no, it's not too much water. Like I know what my body needs. food is definitely pivotal. I eat primarily pescatarian. I mean, I'll eat chicken and stuff like that sometimes. But for me, a lot of vegetables, a lot of fish really goes a long way.
I do not over commit whatsoever. I schedule at most three things in a day and even then sometimes I'm just like, hm, let me maybe bow out on the second one or the third and reschedule for another day because honestly, every day is different. So I kind of just wake up and listen to my body and figure out what it really needs for that day. My yoga practice has been very pivotal in managing my autoimmune disease because like I said before, if I can get on my mat and have a great class, then I know everything's going well. If I get on my mat and my joints feel a little bit tight, I'm like, ok, let me just take a backseat for a day or two and then I'll regroup and come back to practice. I love anything self-care related. I love a good cryotherapy sauna. anything of lymphatic drainage massages, those are really helpful. I mean, I know those are not resources that everybody has available to them, but for me being in the city, I mean, everything is at your fingertips.
So I always kind of jump into those things. especially just cause they really, they really move the needle in a very positive way and I maintain probably the lowest stress levels ever. I do not let anything stress me out. or anyone for that matter, I've learned to set boundaries for the first time in my life, which, you know, can be challenging at times.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
But I have to just advocate for myself because if I don't do it, no one else will and I'll be the only one who's gonna suffer in the end. So I really just, I commit to what I know my body needs and I do not deter from that at all.
Victoria Gibbs
We talked about how her boundaries now compared to the way that she set boundaries and prioritized her own.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman, Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Well being in the past back in your hedge fund days.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Do you think in terms of like setting boundaries prioritizing your piece, those elements that you mentioned, do you feel that you had a very different perspective and a very different approach to those things before or do you feel like you were relatively similar and trying to keep your peace in that way?
Victoria Gibbs
No, I definitely was not keeping my peace at all during those years. I think I was there about six years and I mean, I wouldn't say they were insane, but they were definitely stressful at times. And I don't think that my daily commute from Long Island helped a lot. I was living with a relative on the island. And so it was like clockwork up at six on the 710.
And then I would catch the 842 because I wanted to practice after work. And so it just became very physically draining and I did not know how to set boundaries whatsoever. I did not know that I need to take a personal day because I'm tired and this is my reality. I, it kind of was just like a slave to the work and it's like making someone else's dream come true.
Whereas I would rather be working like that to make my own dream come true. And so, well, it was a pretty lenient environment. I don't think that it really served me in any capacity. And I think at the very least my time there helped me realize what I needed to be doing for myself.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Victoria also spoke with me about her dance career.
Victoria Gibbs
Going back a little bit. You briefly mentioned your life as a dancer, but you danced for a really long time, right? Like from childhood through college.
Yeah, through college, I was actually on a prep profession track. I was doing summer intensive with American Ballet theater in the city. I went to the south of France for two summers to study with students from the Paris opera ballet. And then I had knee surgery, I tore my meniscus. And so my parents are very traditional. They are from the Caribbean and they were like, you know, maybe just focus on college.
So I did and I think just being a dancer taught me a lot about discipline, dedication, motivation, hard work. And so I was on the right path anyway. So when they told me I should probably make that shift, I didn't disagree with them and I was kind of already set up to get into a fairly good school. So I decided to take my parents' advice. But when I got to Dartmouth, I did join the dance ensemble. And at first I was very reluctant because it's all modern and contemporary and I don't move like that whatsoever. I am very rigid. But I made friends with the head director and he kind of shifted things a little bit to accommodate me. So he incorporated a little bit more ballet for me. And I guess I spent three years on the ensemble. So just my freshman year, I decided not to do it. But I was like, no, I need to do something. So I'm glad I joined, it was the most incredible experience.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
So I wanted to know what it was like transitioning from ballet to yoga.
Victoria Gibbs
Initially, I found them to be very similar, especially because I started training yoga doing B from yoga. So it's the same, you know, 26 postures, two breathing exercises every time you walk into the studio. So, you know, exactly what you're getting and it was kind of similar with ballet. It's like, you know, you're gonna warm up, there's places to do Degas Rend Dee through, you know, the whole two hour class, you know, exactly what to expect.
And so I think for me that was very helpful and in a way, I mean, I loved ballet but obviously it broke me down a little bit because being a black girl in a primarily, you know, white sport, it's I had to prove myself on a whole different level. And so, you know, when you get those letters, like, oh we didn't accept you into our summer intensive because your body shape is not what we are looking for or something like that.
It was mentally, very challenging. And so I think yoga helped me break down those mental barriers that I ha had been dealing with for so many years. It made me kind of understand who I was as an individual and made me learn to love and accept my body. Of course, dance is very different now. It's much more accepting of all body shapes and sizes which I'm so grateful for. Cause having to deal with not ever feeling good enough was, is not something I would ever want for anyone embarking on a ballet career. So I think yoga, it built a different kind of love that I finally had for myself and for my body. And was just able to find more peace. I mean, ballets, at least for me, it was so much about perfection and you know, that element of performance and you know, if you fall in the yoga studio, it doesn't matter. It's like you're the only one judging yourself. So I finally learned to kind of let that stuff go and just have more fun with it.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Well, fitness and wellness spaces are not always inclusive. And I know that firsthand, I wanted to know Victoria's perspective on inclusivity in the yoga community.
Have you found the yoga community to be more diverse than the dance world that you were in growing up?
Victoria Gibbs
Absolutely. it's much more diverse. I mean, it's yoga literally, it's for everyone whereas ballet isn't, I mean, they say it's for everyone if you want to do it, but it's not necessarily for everyone. There's only a handful of prima ballerinas or people who really make it. Whereas yoga, you can be 100 you can be five, you can be, you know, 50 a little bit heavier set or whatever it is.
But like there is a space for everyone in the yoga studio and I really just love that community. I just find that the energy is so lively and everyone just app appreciates each other and just really feeds off of each other's energy. And I think that having that sort of diversity in a physical space, it's really special.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Victoria and I both grew up in New Jersey though, in different areas and with different socio economic backgrounds, she shared earlier that she was one of three black Children in her school growing up. And by now, you probably already know my story.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman, Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
I wanted to get into that just a little bit more for me growing up in that predominantly white space.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
I was super self conscious about my body. I was super self conscious about my hair. I was straightening my hair. I had weaves, I was relaxing it. I had sewn in weaves, clip on weaves, tape, glue like every form of way to make my hair long and straight that I could possibly find. What was your experience like growing up in, in this community?
Victoria Gibbs
I mean, it was a wonderful opportunity. I mean, my parents moved to Princeton so that I could have a better education and that I definitely got and I think at the time as a child, I didn't necessarily realize how challenging things were. I just kind of let it roll off of my shoulder, but I too was, you know, straightening my hair and needed to be dressed, you know, just like all my friends.
And I do consider myself to be very lucky because I, there was like a, a group of us and, you know, despite the fact that I was dancing ballet, I was also able to be a cheerleader. which back then is you know, it's kind of highly coveted and a nice way to just be part of like the inner circle. And so in many ways I felt very included. But then in other ways it's like when prom comes around, you know, you're kind of like the, well, at least, for me, I was the last one in my friend circle to be asked
to go to prom. And I think things like that as a child, you don't necessarily realize how damaging they can be mentally. But, you know, looking back on it, I see where things were, were just kind of traumatic in some regards. And I remember as a little girl, you know, everyone's having their birthday parties and, you know, they're having sleepovers and I was the only one who wasn't invited to sleepover once at someone's birthday party.
And, you know, I didn't think anything of it. My parents were furious, of course. But like, you know, it's things like that that just make you realize that you are different or, you know, I had a teacher who, couple of teachers, actually my parents to this day, they're like, we should have sued the school. But, they're like, one, my drama teacher, she was like, you know, one day someone's gonna put you in your place and you aren't gonna like it.
And I just remember her saying that in front of the whole class and I was the only black student in the class. And the fact that I remember verbatim to this day, what she said to me speaks volumes in and of itself. And I just remember also being like turned around in the classroom. I like, literally couldn't see the board. I like, went home one day.
I was like, mom, I can't see the board and she's like, what's going on over there. And so of course, once they called the principal, you know, the teacher made it so that everyone was facing a different direction. So it didn't look like there was anything happening. But I mean, I knew the truth and so did the rest of the class. But moments like that are really kind of hard. I mean, my brother grew up in the same community but eight years later, so things had already begun to shift dramatically, but it was the same experience even in ballet. It's like, you know, we're all auditioning for The Nutcracker. I know I'm one of the best in my group and, you know, it, some girl had to break her leg or her arm before I could get like one of the coveted roles as a party child. And it was just like, you know, I should have been here all along and I ended up being one of the best, but because I was brown, I couldn't, I wasn't necessarily a real contender for it.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Young women with Lupus are 50 times more likely to have a heart attack than women in the same age group without lupus, more than half of patients with lupus will get cardiovascular conditions related to their lupus. Your heart, blood vessels and lungs work together to circulate blood throughout your body. Lupus can affect each of these body parts in different ways.
Victoria Gibbs
The only thing I love talking about now is my open heart surgery from May.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Oh, my gosh. Yes, I, I saw that on Instagram, but I did not know. Can you?
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman, Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Yeah, please tell me why did you have open heart surgery?
Victoria Gibbs
And you've seen me, my frame is like fairly petite. And so, at its worst, I ended up gaining £35 of fluid, which for me is just kind of a joke. It literally just felt like I was carrying a wheelbarrow of just weights behind me everywhere I went. And I mean, eventually it all went away and got better. At least I thought it did. But my kidney doctor was kind of concerned that it might have caused, some organ damage and I was like organ damage.
I was like, that sounds ridiculous. But I went, I listened and he sent me to get a pelvic scan and when I got the results back, they had noticed that there was a tear in my aorta. And so they were like, ok, let's get a heart scan so we can see how far up the chair starts and then when they got the scan back, they literally called me right away. Apparently it started at the top of the valve and I had an aneurysm, eight centimeters in size that was ready to rupture at any given moment.
And they, I got the test done on Thursday. They called me on a Friday and they're like, you need to come to the, right now and I was like, no way, am I going to the, right now to spend the weekend there? They're like, you need basically emergency open heart surgery. And I was like, what? So I literally just, I, I was talking to the heart surgeon and I was like, I'll come in but I'm going back home today, like, I'm not spending the weekend in the hospital.
He's like, just come in. So I went in with my brother, he came with me and he basically didn't want me to, to go back home. But I told him I was like, look, I can't stay here for the weekend if you're not gonna operate, like, immediately I needed time to kind of be at peace with what was gonna happen and try to make sense of it and just get my bearings and I came back home and I, you know, packed a suitcase full of stuff so that I had everything that I needed because there have been times I've been hospitalized and from Lupus and haven't had anything. And so I just wanted to make sure that I was prepared and, you know, I, I went in on Sunday night that they could start running tests the Monday morning and then they operated on, on Thursday. And so my parents came in, you know, like friends and stuff like that stopped by to, to see me just to kind of keep my spirits up.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
But, you know, it was definitely very challenging with so much vulnerability and openness.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
Victoria went on to share more about her experience with open heart surgery.
Victoria Gibbs
It wasn't anything that I ever expected. I always get so emotional when I talk about. but I mean, obviously it saved my life and I, I wouldn't change anything because, you know, it's either we operate or you or you could die. So, yeah, I think you should definitely operate. But I definitely realized just kind of a that anything can happen with lupus because it was from a lupus complication. you know, they don't really talk about that very much that like, you know, organs can fail and
things can happen. Like I assumed, obviously with, you know, having kidney lupus that, you know, I might need to get a kidney replaced or something like that or kidney removed or dialysis or whatever it is. But for me, it actually just attacked my heart. And so I'm really hoping that like that's, that's the end of it through it. All. Victoria has managed to continue her yoga practice and continue to move forward.
I look at it as it's all happening for a reason. And I think it just gives me obviously more to share about lupus and bring more awareness surrounding it because there is very little that is actually known about it. So, I've turned that tough life experience into something very positive and just try to keep a positive outlook on everything. And, I just remember the morning before my surgery, I couldn't sleep. And so I just was staring outside my hospital window watching the sun rise. And of course, it's always around my birthday. It was right before my 38th birthday. And so I was just, you know, grateful that I would even see 38 cause I never, once in a million years thought that, you know, I wouldn't live to see 38. So, rough but all for the better. And you know, I'm good now. I mean, I love my scar. I love to talk about it. It's become my new favorite accessory. So, I am very grateful on so many levels.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
I asked Victoria what advice she might give to someone that was recently diagnosed with lupus or something that she might say to someone else living with a chronic condition.
Victoria Gibbs
I mean, you just nailed it when you said the word peace. A lot of times for me when those big things come up, I have to find peace with the situation and stop trying to control it. I'm always the type of person who says, why am I not better overnight? And of course, it's weeks of, you know, symptoms and nothing can get better overnight. And so I think the most important thing is to, you know, meditate if you can, even if it's for five minutes, just focus on some deep breathing or even listen
to guided meditations. I do that sometimes at night before bed. Even now just cause it kind of sets the tone before bed and then you wake up also feeling very energized and motivated. And I think as hard as it is, you just have to turn those moments into an opportunity to really learn something new about yourself. I mean, I have learned so much over the last I guess seven years about lupus and about myself.
Taylor Rae Almonte-Roman
I think I say this every single episode, but I continue to be so grateful for the vulnerability that all of my guests are really willing to share on this show. Diving into these tough topics and conversations and people really just opening up their heart and sharing really personal stories. I know that it means so much to so many of you guys out there that are listening that can relate that are going through the same thing or a similar thing that have a family member or a friend that
are navigating a similar circumstance. And I'm really just so glad that I've gotten to speak to people from so many different walks of life and with so many different backgrounds and situations that I really feel gives such a clear picture of the ways in which so many of us have different, you know, different life experiences going on, but still experience a lot of the same feelings. So of course, so grateful for Victoria sharing her story, sharing her journey and honestly inspiring us with her amazing positivity and vibes and just everything about her was so great to chat with her and have this conversation. You can follow Victoria Gibbs at what Gibbs on Instagram. As always a full transcription of the episode along with citations can be found on my website. All of those links are available in the show notes. See you out there.
References
“About Lupus - What Is Lupus? | Lupus Research Alliance.” n.d. Lupus Research. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.lupusresearch.org/understanding-lupus/what-is-lupus/about-lupus/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAi6uvBhADEiwAWiyRdhoMksMsTFCDGHNdjkGRu_tqGLPBV8UxEbHkynSE-KtlI4AIA0tr4hoCIC8QAvD_BwE.
Cox, Caitlin. n.d. “Lupus and Heart Disease.” WebMD. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.webmd.com/lupus/lupus-heart-disease.
Lupus Foundation of America. 2018. “What Is Lupus?” Lupus Foundation of America. 2018. https://www.lupus.org/resources/what-is-lupus.
