#54: How I Overcame Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long COVID

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SUMMARY

The Beginning of My Long COVID Recovery Journey

I don't usually share personal stories on this podcast — maybe it's the Austrian in me — but today I want to open up about something I've kept mostly private: my own years-long struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and later, Long COVID.

I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome years ago, and it showed up in waves. Some days I genuinely couldn't stand up. Exercise wasn't just difficult, it was impossible — I couldn't even walk around the block.

People would look at me and say, “You look fine,” while internally I felt like I hadn't slept in weeks.

It wasn't only fatigue. It was muscle pain, brain fog, and stretches where I was in bed for up to six months at a time.

Back then, I tried many things to support my body, including supplements, nutrition changes, and other approaches. I felt that some of them definitely helped.

But I kept noticing the same pattern: I would begin to feel better, something stressful would happen, and suddenly I would fall back into the fatigue again.

A few years later I contracted COVID, and it knocked me flat for an entire month. After that, I could no longer tolerate exercise the way I had before.

And when I say exercise, I don't mean hiking or working out at the gym.

I mean walking.

I began experiencing post-exertional malaise (PEM), where even a small amount of physical activity could be followed by a major increase in fatigue, pain, and other symptoms.

I remember trying fifteen minutes of gentle yoga, feeling completely fine while I was doing it, and then ending up back in bed crying from the pain afterward.

What Post-Exertional Malaise Taught Me

I started researching what might be happening in the body. I found research looking at changes in energy metabolism and mitochondrial function in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long COVID, although the biology behind these conditions is still being studied.

I continued taking the supplements and using the physical support that I felt was helping me.

But even when I improved, stress could still send me backwards.

And that made me feel that there were additional layers in my own situation that I needed to look at.

This is where my process of looking more deeply at my own Long COVID recovery really began.

The Meditation That Changed Everything for Me

I realized that I was carrying emotional stress and trauma in my system that I felt I needed to work through.

I also became aware of an undercurrent of tension I'd been living with for so long that I'd almost stopped noticing it.

I started doing energetic release work, layer by layer, and I began a specific kind of heart-centered meditation — one where I shifted my awareness out of my mind and into my heart.

This wasn't simply about observing my thoughts.

For me, it was about dropping into the energetic heart and experiencing a completely different state of being.

The more I practiced it, the more I connected with feelings of love, gratitude, connection, and, most importantly, wholeness.

And I noticed changes.

I had more energy. I felt calmer. And I wasn't constantly focused on the idea that something was wrong with my body.

Why Your State of Consciousness Matters for Healing

One of the biggest things I learned through this experience was how much my inner state mattered to me.

When I saw myself only as sick or broken, I was constantly monitoring my body, worrying about what was wrong, and waiting for the next crash.

And after being ill for so long, that had become completely understandable.

But heart-centered meditation gave me moments in which I experienced myself differently.

I could connect with a sense of calm, love, connection, and wholeness even when my body still couldn't do everything I wanted it to do.

I'm not saying that our thoughts cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Long COVID, or that simply changing how you think makes an illness disappear.

That isn't what I'm sharing here.

For me, it was about learning to spend less time in a constant state of tension and more time experiencing safety and connection inside myself.

And that became a very important part of my own healing journey.

What My Long COVID Recovery Looks Like Today

Slowly, things started to shift.

I got back on my bike. My relationships became easier and more joyful. My creativity returned.

And eventually I was able to exercise again.

Today, I consider myself fully recovered from Long COVID and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I'm back in the gym lifting weights, which still makes me incredibly happy because there was a time when fifteen minutes of gentle yoga could send me back to bed in pain.

I don't believe my recovery came down to one thing.

Nutrition, supplements, emotional work, rest, and the different ways I supported my body all played a part.

But learning to connect with my heart and experience a deeper sense of safety and wholeness felt like a missing piece for me.

My recovery wasn't one dramatic moment. It was gradual, and it's something I'm deeply grateful for today.

If you're struggling with a chronic condition yourself, I don't want my story to become another formula you feel you have to follow.

Every person is different.

But I do hope it reminds you not to lose hope and encourages you to keep looking at your own healing from more than one angle.