If you notice this is not my first blog post, in fact I’ve been writing this since early 2009.  Why have I not talked about this period of time in a direct manner before?  Well, when I first started blogging on the subject I was surprised that there was an almost immediate backlash from people saying that I could not possible relate to them because I obviously had ‘mild’ MCS.  I was shocked, did they not read my back story of being mentally useless for years; of losing almost everything… college, jobs, romantic connections, friends, and relationships with family.  Somehow it seemed that because I never lost focus, put in sustained effort and found a way to get substantially better I was no longer ‘In the Club’.  So I changed my writing and didn’t talk about how much better I felt. I did this to maintain an air of MCS credibility.

I have never really told the story of the Good Years. But that is not Thriving:  that is hiding.  I’ve always tried to write with a goal of showing others a potential path to Thriving with MCS, and now I don’t feel as if I can do this effectively without telling the story of how good it can actually get.

I started to feel truly good during the later portion of 2001 and felt substantially better for the next 10 years.  Multiple Chemical Sensitivity was ninety plus percent better than it had been when MCS first struck me back 1989. I could be employed at jobs I had not dreamed of. I could go places that I thought I would never again be able to.  My brain could again learn things.  I achieved the goals I was setting out to achieve.  I dated fantastic women and had a few great long(er) term relationships.  Was MCS gone? No. But a huge portion of it was.  I could function, I could truly live, I could Thrive!

In 2007 I went on a nine week motorcycle tour of Europe with my then girlfriend of 5 years.  I spent a summer working as a car salesmen, got a job at a mall, and worked my way up in that company from a Sales Associate to the Sales Manager for the entire state.  I’ve gone so far as to start my own company and meet the woman who would become my fiancée.  It was wonderful to often wake up and be excited about life again. 

But, as is all too often the story; I am human and I started to take my new found health for granted. I stopped doing all the things that got me to my wonderful plateau of health. My health started to fade again as far as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is concerned around 2011. 

I suspect you are interested in Thriving.  You are most likely interested in a better life if you are reading a blog called “Thriving with MCS” rather then blog perhaps called “Whining with MCS”(Don’t misunderstand me; there are times for emotional catharsis.  Taking the time and space to have these emotions is very valuable, but that is not what this particular blog post is about).  And since you are most likely focused on Thriving with MCS you may be asking at this moment what I did that not only allowed me to find such levels of health but what was I doing to maintain such levels of health?