Discovering What’s Right for You Through Personalized Healing

Written by Debi Wimberley, Medical Cannabis Educator

Debi Wimberley is a TEDx speaker, author, Medical Cannabis educator, and quality health advocate redefining the conversation around wellness. She empowers others through science-backed insights, lived experience, and bold conversations that challenge the status quo.

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In Why Age 58 to 68 Became My Most Transformative Decade I promised to take you by the hand into a magical adventure where finding what's “just right” becomes a quest. Well, get ready because we are about to step through that revealing doorway. And trust me, what's on the other side is way more powerful than any fairy tale.

The doorway of endless choices

There's a classic fairytale called Goldilocks that many people grew up hearing. A girl wanders into a cottage and finds three bowls of porridge. One is too hot. One is too cold. One is “just right”. So she eats it. She tries three chairs: one is too hard, one is too soft, one is “just right.” So she sits in it. And three beds: one is too firm, one is too soft, one is ”just right.” So she falls asleep.

The story teaches a simple lesson: “just right” exists. You can find it. It's specific to you.

Some misread her. They called her intrusive, fussy, and selfish. No. She was brave. She was willing to test. She was searching for what actually fit her.

And that's the real Goldilocks lesson, finding your "just right" requires you to be willing to test, to notice, and to trust what you discover.

Now apply that same lesson to your actual life. You're standing at the threshold of endless health choices. Sleep more! Move more! Change what you eat. Try this supplement! Explore that therapy! Rest more! Hang in! Be patient. Act now!

Every option promises to be "just right." Naturally, it's overwhelming. But here's the truth: Like Goldilocks, you can learn to test, to notice, to find what actually fits you.

In that overwhelming situation, Goldilocks discovered something revolutionary. She didn't need someone to tell her what was right. She needed to learn how to listen to herself.

Picture this moment

You're standing at a crossroads in your life, and you hand someone else the keys. Your health becomes theirs to manage, and somewhere along the way, you stopped wondering about the path they were choosing.

• ”Take this pill!” You took it.

• “Your body works this way!” You believed it.

• “Don't ask questions! Just follow the protocol!” And so you stopped asking.

Being curious about your own healing felt dangerous. Like you were admitting you didn't trust them. Like you were being difficult or ungrateful. So you became what the system wanted: Compliant. Obedient. A patient who listens and follows and doesn't wonder too much about the why.

Years passed. You swallowed prescriptions without asking what they did. You accepted diagnoses without exploring them. You let your body become a mystery. One thing only they said they could solve. A locked door where you weren't allowed to wander, wonder or ask why this works and that doesn't.

What if there's another way? How come nobody asked you what you actually felt? You became a passenger in your own story.

The more you passively followed, the more you lost yourself and your own inner compass. 

Until one day, you realized something. You still hold the keys and can get control in your hands. 

This is your moment

Your inner Goldilocks has been there all along, waiting for you to reconnect with her. Are you listening? Are you paying attention? She's been waiting for you to partner with her. And through it all, she's never stopped speaking the truths you're finally ready to hear.

This is your moment, you are being called to return to your own inner awareness.

The story you've been living

Let me take you back to where this all started. This story was so believable, so repeated, that you stopped questioning it. And why would you? It worked for a young child with a cold or a tummy ache. The pattern became ingrained. The societal norm. It's just what you do.

Then you became an adult. Your health needs became more nuanced. More complex. Instinctively, you knew this. But by then, you were squeezed into the one-size-fits-all approach to Western medicine. You stopped trusting the whispers of your own body. You handed over the keys to your own health and waited for someone else to tell you what to do.

The doctors knew best. The protocols were proven. Everyone else did it this way. So you did too. Maybe it worked.

But something had shifted. The porridge they handed you was cold when you needed warmth. Too hot when you need gentleness. Never quite right, no matter how hard you tried to make it work.

And you started to wonder: What if the problem isn't me? What if it's the one-size-fits-all approach?

The system in your body nobody told you about

Everything you've felt so far has a biological explanation, the system that makes "just right" IS real.

Here's what the science reveals, and it's absolutely magical.

Inside your body, there's a system so fundamental, so essential to your survival, that it orchestrates every function you need to thrive. It's so ancient that when you were a single cell, your body relied on signaling to grow and to live. That same system is still protecting you today. Scientists discovered only it a few decades ago. Most doctors still don't understand it. Yet your body has been trying to tell you about it your entire life. 

It's called your Endocannabinoid System (ECS). Think of it like an orchestra inside you. Every instrument needs to be in tune. Every section needs to work together. When they do, your body sings. You sleep. You feel calm. You have energy. Pain quiets down. Your immune system does its job. Your mood stabilizes. Everything flows.

Your ECS is constantly working to find that perfect balance. Scientists call it homeostasis. You know it by simply "just right."

So when that orchestra is out of tune, when some sections are playing too loud and others can't be heard, your whole system struggles. You feel off. You get sick more easily. Sleep won't come. Pain becomes your constant companion. Anxiety whispers in the background all day long.

Here is the good news: getting to know your Endocannabinoid System can change all this.

Your system is completely unique

And here's the miracle: Your system is uniquely yours. Your ECS is tuned differently than anyone else's, shaped by your unique genetics, experiences, stressors, and everything that makes you who you are.

This explains why the standard medical protocol never worked. It wasn't planned for your entire orchestra. But now that you know, you can do something about it. Are you ready to be empowered?

How to know when something isn't working

As you begin your own quest into finding your “just right”, your inner Goldilocks will help you. The porridge could be too hot. You start an approach, and within days, you feel worse. Side effects stack. Your body rebels. Anxiety spikes. Brain fog sets in. Everything feels more broken than before. Your gut screams, "No!" That's your inner Goldilocks protecting you. Listen.

Then again, the porridge could be too cold. You start something, and nothing happens. Weeks pass. You're waiting, hoping, checking for signs of change. You start telling yourself the lie that this stress can bring forward: Maybe nothing will ever work for me. You feel like you're wasting time, wasting money, wasting hope.

But here's what Goldilocks knew: cold porridge isn't a sign to give up. It's a sign to adjust. Maybe you need to turn down the intensity. Mix things up. Change your timing. Find better support. Try something entirely new. But giving up? That's not what Goldilocks does. She tastes the next bowl.

The personalized path

To review, there are two paths to navigate your health. The first: A white coat syndrome creates a standard protocol. Everyone follows the same dose and timing, even though each body is completely different. So generalized protocols rarely honor your unique ECS.

The second is the lesson Goldilocks teaches: You can become a curious researcher of your own body. You experiment, notice what happens, adjust. You're the world's only expert on your health and life.

Choosing a personalized path doesn't mean rejecting doctors or evidence entirely. It means using science as a guide, not a cage. Collaborate with your body instead of overriding it.

What "just right" actually feels like

When you finally find your “just right,” something extraordinary happens. You don't need anyone to tell you it's working. Your body knows. Your inner Goldilocks recognizes it immediately.

It might feel like the heaviness in your chest finally lifts, and anxiety stops greeting you when you wake. Your mind clears instead of feeling foggy. You can think without wrestling through mental sludge.

Pain quiets from an eight to a three or two. Sleep comes easier. Energy feels genuine, not borrowed from exhaustion.

Beyond the physical, hope begins to creep back in. You stop seeing your body as the enemy and start seeing it as an ally. It’s slow, and it’s steady, and eventually you start to believe, not theoretically but actually, that healing is possible. For you. Right now.

When you find your “just right,” there's a knowing that happens. It's the same way you know when water is at a comfortable temperature. Your body reacts and tells you before your mind does.

Your body doesn't debate it. Your inner Goldilocks doesn't need convincing. You just know.

Rest is part of the balance

Goldilocks doesn't just find the right porridge and the right chair. She finds the right bed. Three to choose from: too hard, too soft,” just right.”

The bed teaches something the bowls and chairs don't: balance isn't just about activity. It's about restoration.

Your nervous system has two main states: activated (doing, responding, protecting) and settled (resting, healing, integrating). Both are necessary. Neither is wrong. But you can't spend all your time in either one.

When your body is constantly activated fighting pain, managing symptoms, and stressed by protocols that don't fit, there's no space for restoration. Your ECS can't regulate properly. Your immune system can't rebuild. Your cells can't repair.

The bed that's "just right" allows your nervous system to finally settle. It might be actual sleep. It might be the safety of a treatment that works without harming. It might be the ease that comes from finally understanding your body instead of fighting it.

When you find this balance of activation and rest, your body can really begin its healing journey and flourish!

The gift of awareness

What Goldilocks teaches us is radical. She shows us that choosing your own path isn't selfish. It's not being difficult or picky or high-maintenance. It's being wise. It can even mean survival.

Most importantly, it's recognizing that your body is uniquely yours, and your Endocannabinoid System is uniquely tuned. When it is out of tune, you have the power to help adjust it. Your healing will look different from anyone else's, and that's not a problem to fix. That's a truth to honor.

Here's the real heart of revolution: the standard healthcare model wants to make you fit their solutions. Personalized ECS health teaches you to make solutions fit you.

That's not just a different medicine. That's a different healing entirely. And there's a universe of difference between the two.

When you commit to finding your “just right,” you're making a bold declaration: I trust myself. I honor my body's wisdom. I refuse to force myself into a mold that was never made for me. That's the Goldilocks Principle. 

Your inner Goldilocks is waiting

Right now, as you finish reading this, your inner Goldilocks is waking up.

She's never truly been asleep. Your Endocannabinoid System (ECS) has been working the whole time. But it's been dysregulated, pushed out of balance by years of ignoring its signals, by following protocols designed for someone else, by a medical system that was never taught to understand it in the first place. (Although the Endocannabinoid System was identified in the late 1980s, it remains largely absent from standard medical education despite its role in regulating nearly every major system in the body).

You have Goldilocks in you. You never forgot how to notice. How to test. How to know the difference between too much and too little and just right.

Throughout your whole life, your ECS has been trying to tell you what it needs. Through symptoms. Through whispers. Through moments when something feels right or wrong.

Here's the beautiful truth: You don't need someone to give you permission to listen any longer. You don't need a degree to trust what your body is telling you. You are the expert on you. That has value!

You don't need anyone's approval to keep searching until you find what actually fits. Simply put, all you need is courage, curiosity, willingness to test, and faith that your body knows the way home.

Are you ready to become your own expert?

Our current medical system fails to recognize the wisdom of Goldilocks. She showed us that health is not found at the extremes, not in rigid rules, and not in someone else's bowl. It is found in attention, adjustment, and trust in the body's signals.

The Endocannabinoid System was designed for this exact purpose: to help us sense when something is too much, too little, or “just right.” When curiosity replaces compliance, empowerment takes root and balance becomes possible. And when balance becomes familiar, it changes everything.

What is coming next? Meet Alice

She's the one brave enough to ask the questions nobody else would ask. In the next article, Alice in Wonderland teaches you how curiosity becomes your guide. How the questions you're afraid to ask are often the ones that set you free.

Ready to bring back curiosity and play to your health?

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This is your invitation to begin rewriting your health story, one moment at a time.

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Read more from Debi Wimberley

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Debi Wimberley, Medical Cannabis Educator

Debi Wimberley is a trailblazer in the Medical Cannabis space, blending lived experience with clinical insight. After surviving decades of chronic pain and lung disease, she transformed her journey into a mission to educate and empower. With a background in medical technology and oncology and certifications in Cannabis applications and patient care, she brings science and compassion together with a focus on health and improving quality of life. As founder of Effective Cannabis and the global EC Newsletter, Debi unites certified educators, coaches, and professionals to deliver fact-based, stigma-free education that inspires real change.