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My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick Kindle Edition

by Lyndsey Medford (Author), K.J. Ramsey (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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We are living in a world that is sick. Both literally sick, with 60 percent of adults in the US living with a chronic illness and rising rates of autoimmune diseases in particular, including long COVID, and figuratively sick, facing ever increasing rates of burnout, anxiety, and disconnection.

As a writer, activist, and theology student, Lyndsey Medford was used to critiquing unsustainable medical, environmental, economic, and social systems from a theoretical perspective. But when her autoimmune disorder roared out of remission, she discovered that her own body's systems lived at the very real vortex of all those systems' dysfunction.

Learning to cooperate with her body would require her to change every aspect of her life--and in the process, to seek a radical reimagining of the world, from a place where sickness is an individual affliction to an interdependent ecosystem where sustainability is a community way of life. In this beautiful and inspiring book, Medford draws on her experiences with a rare autoimmune disease to illuminate the broader lessons we need to learn, in order to heal what ails us individually and communally. Whether our burnout stems from illness, systemic racism, poverty, or simply sin's separation, we're all in need of hope, and we are called to heal together.

My Body and Other Crumbling Empires points out the beauty and ubiquity of our limitations; the importance of accessibility, broadly construed; the interconnected nature of individual and public health; and the badly needed wisdom we have gained from living with our particular bodies.

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  1. Print length
    216 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Broadleaf Books
  5. Publication date
    March 7, 2023
  6. File size
    3300 KB
  7. Page Flip
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From the Publisher

Book Cover My Body and Other Crumbling Empires

Book Cover My Body and Other Crumbling Empires
Lyndsey Medford’s “My Body and Other Crumbling Empires” includes chapters such as:

  • Why We Need to Heal
  • American Healthcare and Other Oxymorons
  • Healing Comes from Inside Out
  • The Economy and Other Convenient Fictions
  • Healing Is Priceless
  • Community and Other Rescued Buzzwords
  • Healing Is Shared
  • From Disconnection to Wholeness

An Inside Look at My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick

Excerpt from “Chapter One: My Body and Other Crumbling Empires”

Sixty percent of US adults live with a chronic illness. Having a chronic illness feels isolating and scary. But the truth is, we are 60 percent. I believe we, the fragile, can show a culture of bravado how to live with finitude. I believe we, the delicate, contribute something to the world just by being right here, on our couches. Again. I believe our embodied existence, our boundaried lives, our networks of care offer prophetic presence to the world.

Quote from My Body and Other Crumbling Empires

My Body and Other Crumbling Empires Quote

Quote from My Body and Other Crumbling Empires

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I'm inspired by Lyndsey Medford's deft mix of gentleness and fire. She speaks the truth we crave and manages to do so with the voice of a trusted friend." --Shannan Martin, author of Falling Free; The Ministry of Ordinary Places; and Start with Hello

"Through the ache of embodied life, Lyndsey Medford finds goodness, glory, and the generosity of God, reminding all of us who suffer that we are 'here, here and now, and for good reason.' A beautiful debut." --Courtney Ellis, pastor and author of Uncluttered; Almost Holy Mama; and Happy Now

"Medford weaves through the ways our lives are pushed and pulled in a system that is not set up to teach us to have a relationship with our body, just to conquer and tame it. She reminds us that self-care without community care, without centering and acknowledging those who are marginalized, misses the bigger picture. I highly recommend this beautiful guide on living in a body." --J. Nicole Morgan, author of Fat and Faithful

"In a society that creates a false binary between the sick and the well, Lyndsey Medford bravely reminds us that surrender is a form of strength, that gentleness can achieve what force cannot, and that we are deeply interdependent." --Ellie Roscher, author of The Embodied Path; 12 Tiny Things; Play Like a Girl; and How Coffee Saved my Life

About the Author

Lyndsey Medford is a writer, activist, and sometimes disabled person with a rare, chronic autoimmune disease. Her writing has been featured in The Deconstructionist's Playbook, Sojourners, 100 Days in Appalachia, The Wakening, and Our Bible App. She holds a master of theological studies degree from Boston University School of Theology. She and her husband live in Charleston, South Carolina.



K.J. Ramsey is a trauma-informed licensed professional counselor and the author of The Lord is My Courage and This Too Shall Last. She is a recovering idealist who can't stop offering space to see every part of our embodied souls and stories as sacred.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B5M5WSN4
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Broadleaf Books (March 7, 2023)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 7, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3300 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 216 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

About the author

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Lyndsey Medford

Lyndsey Medford

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Lyndsey Medford is a writer and speaker living with a rare autoimmune disorder in the crumbling empire of the American South. She works from a disabled and feminist perspective in the tradition of the Christian mystics.

Lyndsey’s writing has been featured in The Deconstructionist's Playbook, Sojourners, 100 Days in Appalachia, The Wakening, and Our Bible App. She holds a master’s degree in theological studies from Boston University School of Theology. When she’s not writing, she’s on her porch with friends or hiking with her husband and her rescue dog.

Lyndsey writes at www.instagram.com/lyndseymedford and to her email list via www.lyndseymedford.com.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Josh Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth the Read!
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023
Verified Purchase
As a hospital chaplain, I loved walking with Lyndsey through her story of wrestling with chronic illness. It reminded me of the ways in which (despite my own bias in considering the healthcare providers I work with incredible) our healthcare system is fundamentally broken and often actively inhibits healing rather than facilitating it.

It challenged me as I thought about the ways I often try my hardest to ignore and forget about my own (overweight and balding) body, even as the pandemic and my own griefs, losses, and struggles with mental health have taken a physical toll and I've struggled to care for it (calling it "him" still feels a little weird to me) and have ignored the basic needs of health and wholeness in favor of overindulgence and the path of least resistance.

There are nitpicky complaints I could make about the book (like I wish there was an indication up front about the notes section in the back and its reference points and clarifications along the way). There are certainly things about Lyndsey approach to discussing health and wholeness that I don't agree with. There are ways of doing the work of justice and compassion in the world I would place more primary importance and emphasis on. But one of the things I loved about her approach was that her posture wasn't one of condemnation or shame but of inviting the reader to consider a different way of being and begin the work of making small changes that can lead to big changes. She talked in her conclusion about the struggle to find hope: for me, that's one of the places I find it. In the belief that the small things matter, even enough to bring the big things into being.
9 people found this helpful
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Barbara D
5.0 out of 5 stars Justice through Connection and Compassion
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023
Verified Purchase
This is not a book about any outcome at all. This book is about living, here and now, in a crumbling empire.”

These two sentences from the conclusion of the book really do sum up the entire thing. Lyndsey Medford writes about her own body, various immediate systems (such as healthcare in the US and industrial farming), and overwhelming systems, like colonization and empires, without giving answers. And that is precisely her point. She recognizes that her own quest to listen to her body led her to a greater quest to pay attention to other systems and how they behave—or don’t behave.

This is a book about paying attention. It’s about recognizing that we are all connected. It’s a reminder that true, lasting change is slow and often small.

Medford weaves the love, creative energy and presence of God; the stories and life of Jesus; and the movement of the Holy Spirit throughout the book. She writes these threads full of gentle care for both the theology represented and her readers. It may be a faith-inspired book, but it’s not preachy or self-righteous.

This book would be a great beginning of a conversation for a book group or an introduction to several different topics. Medford includes a bibliography sorted by topic in the back, which would be a great next step for anyone wanting to learn more.

Minor quibble: I wish the end notes had some kind of marking within the chapter. That pulled me out of the narrative in the first chapter when I wondered who she was quoting. But I figured it out quickly.
5 people found this helpful
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Doug Milligan
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting perspectives on health, healthcare and society
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
I think for anyone who would pick up this book after reading the jacket they’ll find some interesting perspectives. It’s not for everyone and descriptions of the book will interest the right audience. It’s more of a memoir, and gives the reader pause to reflect on their own situation.

I gave a copy to a relative to read along with me, for me it was thought provoking but for them I don’t think they had the same experience.

I didn’t feel the book read easily. In the end it felt like a “pandemic project” that needed additional rounds of editing to flow better and tie together. I liked the authors voice, the writing not so much.
One person found this helpful
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Jacqueline Graves
5.0 out of 5 stars Weaving Together a Discussion About Disability, Healthcare, God, Whiteness and Values
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2023
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“When we add up all the burdens, illnesses, mental health needs, neurodivergences, and disabilities in the world, we discover that it’s the rare person who isn’t regularly excluded from the “normal,” “healthy,” or nondisabled standard.” This sentence is found near the end of Lyndsey Medford’s book, but sums up well her own journey with a rare disease. She sought treatment and information, faced disappointment and disillusionment with the medical establishment’s answers, searched out alternative healers all while fighting the dreaded “disabled” label, hoping for a miracle cure. My Body and Other Crumbling Empires maps her journey on that road, while also showing us her ability to eventually embrace her imperfect body. She even sees it and others’ with disabling situations as canaries in the coal mine of White superiority preying on cheap labor, leaving them wounded and discarded reminiscent of Chinese coolies in Britain’s Indian tea fields. Yet she tells these stories wrapped in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. Jesus saw, truly saw the sick and the lame, the poor and the outcast, the lepers and the homeless and the epileptics. His verbal barrages were leveled at the elitists.

Medford offers us hope, for both our bodies and spirits as well as our culture if we, too, will only see the world around us.

Medford is a great writer. She's done her research and punctuated it with her own story. A compelling read.
7 people found this helpful
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lkdelano
5.0 out of 5 stars A book to keep returning to
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2023
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In a world where we are taught, explicitly and subliminally, that if we aren’t burnt out and pushing through our bodies warning signals to slow down, we aren’t working hard enough, Lyndsey Medford offers us permission to say no thank you or even a not so polite no more to the idea that productivity at the cost of our vulnerability, burn out and perfection at the cost of our health and pain at the cost of our humanity is the only way to live. She offers an opportunity for us to see our humanity for what it is - both limited and beautiful. And celebrates that when we listen to our bodies and seek healing, the small part we can play in bringing about wholeness will help to heal the whole world. It sounds like not such an insurmountable task to accept and celebrate ourselves as we are when held by Lyndsey’s words of vulnerability, truth telling, and comfort.
5 people found this helpful
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