1KHO 822: How to Get Off the Hamster Wheel of Desperation | Amy Kurtz, But You Look Fine

**Ginny Yurich** (0:00)
This episode is sponsored by Fora Travel. I've always been the person people come to for travel advice, whether it's planning a camping trip in northern Michigan, figuring out how to travel well with kids across the country, or finding experiences that actually help families connect instead of just filling an itinerary. I genuinely have loved helping people create meaningful adventures. And I know a lot of you listening are probably that person too. The friend who plans the trip, the one who researches the details, the one person people trust to find the hidden gems and make everything run smoothly. Fora is built for people exactly like that. Fora is a modern travel agency that helps people build their own travel business no matter what stage of life they're in. You don't need prior experience because Fora gives you the training technology and support to help you get started. And you're joining a community of people who are building businesses centered around experiences, relationships, and helping others travel well. A lot of advisors begin simply by helping people they already know and grow naturally from there. What I also appreciate is that there are no sales quotas or minimums. You can build this at a pace that works for your life and your family. Your next act starts here. Become a Fora advisor today at foratravel.com/1000hours.
That's F-O-R-A, travel.com/1000hours.
And make sure you tell them we sent you foratravel.com/1000hours.
Welcome to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast. My name is Ginny Yurich. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside. We're going to be talking about such an important concept today. If you have been struggling with chronic illness, and then you're feeling the after effects of that, Amy Kurtz has come up with this whole new word to describe that. It's called Medical Brain Trauma that she actually coined. And Amy Kurtz is here. She has a new book out. It's called But You Look Fine, Trapped in Hell Between Sick and Well and How to Break Free. Hi, Amy. Hi.

**Amy Kurtz** (1:45)
Thank you so much for having me.

**Ginny Yurich** (1:48)
This is a book that I never read anything like it, but you totally see it. Like I just the other day, my friend Angie, she does my hair. And she was talking about just different times in her life where like she'll go to the doctor. She'll be like, none of this stuff is working. And then they're like, well, we can't do anything for you. You know, they'll leave. She's like, I'm crying and all of this. And you're like, oh, I hope I didn't just share all her business.
I think she's fine with that.

**Amy Kurtz** (2:14)
Okay.

**Ginny Yurich** (2:15)
But I think it's common, right? Like you go, you're trying to get help. You can't get help. Nobody knows what's going on. So can you share your story, which is, okay, like this budding actress and you have all these things going on. And then you hit chronic health problems that last for a very long time. And then once they start to kind of go away, you're still struggling. And a lot of that is because this has been years of uncertainty and you don't know what's coming next. And is the other shoe going to drop? Am I going to feel bad later on? And then you're feeling like you're behind in life because you had a plan and it got derailed because of being sick.
That's a really big question. But if you want to give a little bit of your life story, so you can explain to the listeners like why you're so passionate about this.

**Amy Kurtz** (3:03)
Well, I want to say first for your friend that I think it's important to de-stigmatize it because this is something that so many women experience. And so hopefully she'll be fine with it.

**Ginny Yurich** (3:16)
Maybe I'll just cut her name out.

**Amy Kurtz** (3:18)
Essentially, yeah, exactly. Essentially, I started to feel really unwell in my 20s. I was a sprightly little girl. I was very passionate about the arts. I never had any thought that I would be anything but an actor from age five on.
And then when I was 25, I got really, really, really sick and it felt like the rug got ripped out from under me. And since then, I went to 36 doctors with over a decade, looking for the right answers. And I did get answers, but I didn't get correct answers. And it wasn't until just a few years ago that I was finally diagnosed with late stage neurological Lyme disease and co-infections. And it was really intense to get the diagnosis because on one hand, it was so, it was every part of my body knew it was true. It just like landed, like I knew that that was true. But there was also so much grief that came with all of the years lost, where I didn't realize it at the time, but I was essentially in survival mode.