3 Ways Fighting for a Diagnosis Prepared Me for Entrepreneurship
For over a decade, I fought to understand what was happening inside my body. I knew something was wrong, I could feel it. But year after year, appointment after appointment, I was dismissed, misunderstood, or told it was just “bad periods.”
What I didn’t know at the time was that this difficult, confusing, and exhausting journey would teach me some of the most valuable lessons of my life, lessons that now fuel how I show up in my business, relationships, and personal growth every day.
When I look back at my journey and then look at where I am today, these are a few of the biggest strengths I gained from that experience:
1. Perseverance & Resilience
I heard the word “no” more times than I could count. I was told I was overreacting. That I should just take birth control. That it was all in my head.
But I didn’t give up.
When something doesn’t feel right, you either shrink and silence yourself, or you keep going. I kept going. Not because I wasn’t tired or discouraged, but because I knew deep down that something was truly wrong and I deserved answers.
This ability to persevere through difficult seasons is something I’ve brought into every aspect of my business. Whether it’s a failed campaign, a rejected pitch, or a moment of doubt, I remind myself that growth is uncomfortable. But resilience is built in the discomfort. And that’s where we learn to adapt, evolve, and keep showing up.
2. Learning to Trust My Intuition
My intuition has always been loud - even when I didn’t fully understand it.
It was intuition that led me to leave home at sixteen, walking away from a religious upbringing that didn’t align with who I truly was. It was intuition that told me, again and again, that something deeper was wrong with my body - even when the medical system told me otherwise.
Today, that same inner voice is one of my most valuable tools in business. From choosing the right team, listening to my gut instinct about which clients to work with or not work with, to knowing when to walk away from the wrong opportunities, I’ve learned to trust what I feel even when I can’t yet explain why. Intuition is intelligence, and it has saved me more than once. And in complete transparency, the times I chose not to listen to the alarm bells going off in my head and gut, it always ended up being a mistake.
3. Confidence & Self-Belief
Eventually, I got my answer.
After a decade of fighting, advocating, and doing my own research, a discovery surgery confirmed what I had known all along: something was wrong. My pain was real. My experience was valid.
That diagnosis was more than a medical answer — it was a moment of deep validation. My instincts were right. I wasn’t being dramatic.I had refused to give up, I refused to stop asking questions, and I refused to take no for an answer.
I can’t tell you what that did for my confidence.
It reminded me that I am capable of navigating hard things. That I can trust myself. That even when the world says “it’s nothing,” if I know it’s something, I should keep going. That level of self-belief now supports everything I do as an entrepreneur and as a woman committed to growth.
There’s no “poor me” in this story. Just strength. Just fire. Just lessons learned the hard way that helped me become the person I am today.
Whether you’re navigating a health journey, running a business, or simply trying to trust yourself more, know this:
You’re not too much. Your intuition is not wrong. Your persistence is not wasted.
Keep going. You might just find your greatest strength on the other side of being misunderstood.
