Losing Control of Your Body: How Evelyn Miller is Learning to Adapt and Move Forward

This blog was pulled from the Chris Terrell Podcast episode featuring Evelyn Miller

What do you do when your body stops listening to you?

Not in the *"I'm a little sore today, maybe I should stretch"* way. No—when your body *actually* stops cooperating. When you go to take a step, and your legs don’t respond the way they used to. When you reach for something and your hands don’t quite land where you expect them to. When the thing that once felt like your strongest ally—your own body—starts feeling like something else entirely.

That’s the reality Evelyn Miller woke up to when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in October 2023.

In a raw and insightful conversation with Chris Terrell, Evelyn opened up about what it feels like to lose control of her body and—perhaps even more difficult—how she’s learning to let go of who she used to be.

This conversation wasn’t just about MS. It was about what happens when the game changes and you don’t get a say in the new rules.

And it’s a reality many people face, whether from illness, injury, weight loss struggles, or simply the undeniable passage of time.

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The Shock of Losing Control

When Evelyn first got her diagnosis, she thought it meant things would start getting better. She had answers now. A plan. Doctors told her she’d take medication, make adjustments, and before long, she’d get back to something resembling normal.

She believed them.

And then, the opposite happened.

“I thought I was going to start feeling better,” Evelyn said. “But I actually got ten times worse.”

Instead of regaining strength, she started losing more of it.

Instead of controlling the condition, it seemed to be accelerating.

Fatigue hit like a freight train. Spasticity took over her muscles. Even basic activities—things she never thought about before, like walking around the block—became near impossible.

It didn’t take long for her to realize: normal wasn’t coming back.

And that’s where Chris—who’s worked with thousands of people facing life-changing transformations—immediately saw the parallels to weight loss.

“So many people think once they start losing weight, their body will just magically work the way they want,” Chris said. “But sometimes, your body fights back. Sometimes, you don’t lose weight as fast as you expect. Sometimes, you do everything right, and you still feel like crap. And if you’re not prepared for that, it can break you.”

Because losing control of your body—whether through disease, weight struggles, or aging—forces you to confront a brutal truth:

The person you used to be isn’t coming back.

So… what now?

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When the Rules Change, You Have to Change With Them

For Evelyn, that realization came in waves.

At first, she resisted.

She kept trying to push through. Running shorter distances. Slowing down her pace. Ignoring the numbness in her legs.

“I thought it was normal to start running and have my legs go numb,” she admitted. “I didn’t realize that wasn’t normal.”

But then she started losing more. **Biking became unsafe. Strength training was impossible.**

Even walking became a struggle.

At some point, she had to face the truth: she wasn’t just dealing with a rough patch. This wasn’t a phase she could grind through.

She had to adapt.

And that meant making choices she didn’t want to make.

Like using walking poles.

“I was so stubborn about it,” Evelyn laughed. “John [her husband] kept telling me, ‘This would help you so much,’ but I *couldn’t* do it. In my head, that was a cane. And I wasn’t ready to accept that I needed one.”

Chris jumped in. “So getting the poles felt like admitting defeat?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It felt like accepting that I wasn’t going to get better.”

And that’s when it really hit.

For so many people trying to lose weight, this moment comes when they realize their body isn’t going to *magically* snap back to the way it was at 18. When they realize their metabolism *has* changed, their joints *do* hurt, and those crash diets that worked before just *don’t* anymore.

And in that moment, they have two choices:

- Keep fighting for a version of themselves that no longer exists.
- Or adapt, let go, and move forward in a new way.

Evelyn eventually gave in and got the walking poles. And you know what?

“They made everything so much easier,” she admitted.

Turns out, accepting reality doesn’t mean giving up. It means making the best of what *is.*

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Redefining Success—Without a Finish Line

One of the hardest things Evelyn had to learn was how to move without a finish line.

She used to set strict fitness goals. Run a certain distance. Lift a certain weight. Train for a certain race.

That kind of structured goal-setting worked for most of her life.

But then MS changed the game.

She told Chris she still wanted to run a 5K. In fact, she had set a goal: March.

Then she had a conversation with her AI assistant (yes, really).

She asked ChatGPT—whom she lovingly named *Spruce*—about her goal. And Spruce responded, *“Why are you giving yourself a deadline?”*

“That hit me hard,” Evelyn admitted.

Because that deadline? That was **old Evelyn** talking.

That was the version of herself that could predict what her body would do.

But that’s not her reality anymore.

And again, Chris saw the parallel to weight loss.

“The problem with goals,” he said, “is that once you hit them, there’s nothing waiting for you on the other side. So you set another one. And another. And another. And suddenly, you’re chasing goals *forever.*”

Chris has learned to approach fitness and weight loss with a different mindset—intentional movement without expectation.

You don’t have to set a deadline. You don’t have to put pressure on yourself. You just have to take one step in the direction you want to go.

And maybe you’ll get there. Maybe you won’t.

But either way, you’ll still be moving.

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The Power of Support—and Cutting the Rest

If there’s one thing Evelyn learned through this process, it’s that the people you surround yourself with matter.

She quickly realized that some support groups weren’t actually supportive—they were just spaces for people to vent and wallow. And that wasn’t going to help her.

Chris has a rule for his clients: Only Supportive People (OSP).

“If someone in your life isn’t actively supporting you, they don’t get a seat at the table,” Chris said. “You have to curate your environment.”

For Evelyn, that meant leaning into real connections.

Sharing her story. Talking about the hard parts. Admitting when she needed help.

And, in turn, she’s found that helping others helps her.

“When I started posting about MS on TikTok, people started reaching out saying, ‘I have MS too, and I thought I was alone,’” she said.

And suddenly, she wasn’t just surviving—she was making a difference.

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Final Thoughts: When the Body Fights Back

Losing control of your body—whether from illness, weight struggles, or aging—is one of the hardest things a person can go through.

But Evelyn’s story is proof that you don’t have to fight it.

You can adapt.

You can change the way you measure success.

You can stop chasing old versions of yourself and start **building something new.**

And most importantly?

You can keep moving—no matter how different that movement looks.

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Follow Evelyn’s Journey

You can find Evelyn on TikTok at @EvelynMiller48, where she shares her experiences, struggles, and the real, raw reality of adapting to MS.

Because no matter what you’re going through, you’re never alone.