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Now in today's exhausting world, its has unfortunately become the reality of continually pushing yourself until your body gives up and I am greatly guilty of that. Recently especially, mentally and physically I have pushed my body and my body has turned into its flight and fight response.
The weight loss, nausea, stomach cramping, heart palpitations, fatigue and constant dizziness has quite literally driven me insane! Constantly neglecting my body of care because I am quote on quote overwhelmed, stressed or too lazy to complete simple tasks like making myself lunch. Your body is a temple, it needs to be maintained, looked after and nourished and sometimes all it takes is accountability and setting out a plan to combat this.
Stress is something we cannot avoid, it will always come up in our lives, its just our natural body response to things we are not too sure of, unfamiliar or are nervous of potential risks, and that's completely normal. Our bodies are incredible in the sense that they are designed to keep us safe when there is danger, its called the sympathetic nervous system responsible to warn us when there is a potential threat.
Even though our bodies are designed for this, it is not designed to be under constant flight and fight 24/7. Even though there may be no physical threat like a snake in the air con vent or a spider in the corner of the room, our body will still react the same when we are stressing over work, when we or someone else becomes unwell, or even posting a photo on social media.
With all this in mind, it is important that we choose to continually priorities ourselves mentally and physically so we can give our bodies a rest. Your body will tell you when it can only take so much, resulting in more serious factors. We and definitely myself included need to convert our thoughts from consuming us to thoughts that will grow us as humans. We are all humans, we are not perfect, however we can implement steps to keep us feeling positive and mentally sound throughout those stressful moments.
what is self-care?
Self-care as a whole definition is looking after yourself in a healthy manner. Self-care will look different to everyone, I most certainly am not meditating every morning and daily journaling and that's okay. Self-care however, is making the effort to ground healthy steps to give your body much needed rest.
Self-care when it is done correctly helps function the parasympathetic nervous system. This allows the body to recover and ease any fears and anxious feelings that the body is experiencing. Doing your self-care helps prevent the body from stressing and gives you a head start to better manage your thoughts when another challenge is hurled at you. You will always come out stronger on the other side!
why do we need it?
Hustle, hustle, hustle is what we live in unfortunately and this is detrimental to our body in the short and long term. Stress leads to inflammatory, impacts our mental moods, upregulate the hormones in our bodies, gut problems, reduces the recovery rate and so much more. It's honestly scary, stress is a disease, diseases like cancer THRIVE on stress. Stress is a killer that needs to be caught!
Like how we have to go to work and reply to that dreaded email, we can make ourselves a priority! Self-care does not need to be an all day event, it can be 10 minutes, it can be in the morning or before you hit the pillow. If we do not make it a habit, it will not become a habit.
my self-care
I am not at my self-care level yet, however, I am still finding ways to cope. My issue is I can be either determined and remain in a routine but as soon as a challenge hits me, it takes ages to recover and unfortunately that's of recent times. I purchased a journey from the company Innermost, it is a beautiful journey and has a questions to answer to get you thinking about what your grateful for in the present. Daily journaling is a struggle so every Friday i write in it as an end of week check in. Yes a lot of the days I may feel flat but there will always be a pocket of positivity, a good start is waking up alive.
I like to get a daily exercise in, it helps my endorphins, I have tried running at least 2 times a week outside or a walk because when we are stuck inside at work we often lack our vitamin d. Try to cook a meal I like and even bake. I love to bake, it something that brings me joy. I have picked up reading again, still very rusty but its a start. Even just doing a face mask once a week and doing some laundry while having it on is enough for me to feel good about myself. These are just small things that over time will become a habit and a routine.
We all have to start somewhere, when life gets hectic, find the time to do those small rituals. Over time you will show up better for yourself and the people around you. When we create a non-stressful environment, we will work twice as hard to maintain and live a more calm and present life.
finding yours!
When we do not manage our stress, our bodies will send out is warning signs that it is not coping. Trust me, they are not friendly signs!
Just start by finding what you like to do to calm down and focus on implementing that into your daily life. Start off slow and continually add various ways. There are heaps of self-care inspo on pinterest and challenge charts to give you a starter to your self-care journey. I am going to start being more active on pinterest and creating boards to help you guys start your self care journey's. I promise you, when you making yourself a priority, you will be better for it!
Please keep yourselves safe and I will see you soon :))
Signing off,
Marcus
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