Welcome to a New Liis on Life!
Thank you so much for visiting Liis on Life! I am so happy to share this space with you and am looking forward to connecting often. Yes, this website is a play on my name… but it really does reflect a new energy for me, a new direction, a new purpose in life. If we are meeting here for the first time then a big hello to you! And if some of you know me through my over 20 years in the fashion industry, I am happy to connect with you again.
Sometimes you blissfully walk through life thinking your future is going in one direction then all of a sudden a giant hand swoops down and declares, “Change of course! You are now going this way!” You find yourself on a completely different path, one you never envisioned or chose. You protest, you reflect, you rage, and then a moment of calm clarity comes about and you realize the universe chose your experiences for a reason, that you attracted in your experiences for a reason – or a million – a million really, really important ones. And you realize all your experiences are meant to be shared in order to help someone else in the exact same spot you were just in.
Looking back I was physically falling apart for years – but always with a smile on my face, always while keeping busy and moving onto the next project in my life. (Sound familiar anyone?) There were warning signs that my body was crying out for help. There was a growing disconnect with my mind, body & soul – they weren’t having the same conversation. The universe kept bellowing:
Hey Liis!
Can you hear me now?
Can you hear me now?
Can you hear me now?
HOW ABOUT RIGHT NOW?!
It wasn’t until I completely fell apart and started putting back the pieces that I realized all this, until I heard the universe LOUD and CLEAR. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune thyroid dis-ease in 2011, endometriosis in 2012 and the clincher, the rare dis-ease cerebellar gluten ataxia in 2013. My list of symptoms was enormous and the daily pain was off the charts. Were there good times in there? Absolutely. Some great times in fact. Some travelling and some nights of dancing even. Some amazing career projects. But to say I have done a lot of soul searching, health homework and deep reflection would be an understatement. I feel as if I just completed a university degree I didn’t realize I had signed up for!
I like to call the last few years my “spiritual time-out.” In all the pain and all the frustration, there were so many lessons, so much knowledge gained, so many moments of amazement and wonder. To the general public who have seen me on numerous TV appearances and in fashion campaigns, it may not have seemed like anything was wrong but every event – even if only one or two hours – required meticulous planning and then recuperation. From first adopting a gluten free life in 2011 to embracing a Paleo lifestyle in late 2013, I have grown to realize the healing energy of food, meditation and positive thinking and the power we have to change the course of our dis-ease, our happiness, our lives.
As I sat in my time-out chair, I did reflect on a lot, and came to new levels of understanding on so many platforms. After labour, mothers will always say of course they would go through it all again in order to have their children. Although not a mother, I can relate to that sentiment – I have come out the other side with a new lease on life I wouldn’t trade for anything in this world. There is no going back to “before.” I have wept so many tears of gratitude and sit in such gratefulness every day. My friends now lovingly say, ”Aww Liis, are you crying from happiness again?”
I have created this space and welcome you here to learn, to grow, to laugh, to embrace your inner child and hug the hell out of her. To reach out to your future self and proactively take care of her right now, this very instant – and let her know how amazing she is. To love yourself today, just the way you are in all your amazing perfection. To live in joy daily. To shake up your routine. To ask questions. To not only think outside the box but live like it never existed. To cry tears of total joy. To surprise and amaze yourself. To do your health homework because it is really, really good for your mind, body and soul!
Let’s lose the obsession with what size is on the label of our jeans and daily weigh-ins and always calorie counting shall we? My shape and size has changed dramatically through all this and it is but one small part of my story. My curvy body allowed me to travel the world with a career I loved, connecting with incredible people around the world. I honour my body throughout time, whatever shape or size. Weight and size is such a small part of who all of us really are. This site is about body love for everybody and every BODY.
If I can help others from going through the same health issues and rude awakening I did, I sure want to try. As this site grows, and as I continue to grow, I hope you will join me. I am so looking forward to it!
About 4 years ago I drove myself to the emrgneecy room thinking I was having a heart attack. My arms were numb, I had pain in my jaws, cold hands, dizziness and difficulty breathing. I was told by the DR that I didn’t seem like the type of person who would make these things up and was in incredible shape for my age. ( 37 at the time ). He explained that dizziness was a common unexplained mystery in over 50% of emrgneecy room visits and that sometimes your body just gets tired. These episodes have continued to haunt me sporadically without rhyme or reason. I am a very active person as well, spending time at the gym as well as Participating in many endurance sports etc, but have struggled for years with an apple shape. In the back of my head I have been suspecting a food allergy, but the typical wheat symtoms didn’t really match mine. Recently my health really took a downward spiral, very quickly too. Somewhere near the point of recognition I literally stumbled upon this book and upon reading the list of symptoms on the jacket, knew I better read it.It was the best thing I have ever done. What has impressed me more than returning to my normal health, weight, and dropping the dizzy spells is the change of mind. I had been living with an impending sense of doom, feeling it was my job and it’s relation to the economy I just kept enduring the feelings. I had no idea when embarking on this that I would end up with such mental clarity, drop my worry and become such an efficient positive problem solver. I am more productive than ever and I am loving it. I wish I had stumbled upon this sooner.