Here are a few things I’ve come to recognize within my own health matters. These matter in my opinion because mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health are all interconnected. The state of one impacts all. So my health efforts become a kind of a duck-duck- goose kind of game. I take care of one aspect, then move to the next, then the next.
For example, I love coffee. Duh. I like meditation. I occasionally love to run and do yoga type stretching. I do therapy. I pray. I set boundaries. I like to try and get at least one meal in a day that has a green vegetable. Sleep is also super important. Keeping my house clean is important. Spending quality time with my husband and also visiting our daughter in NYC is vital.
Here’s the thing. I can’t do all of them at the same time. Not possible. And I know when I’m off my game. It shows up in this one peculiar way: I can’t find my set of keys when I need to leave the house or leave the office. That’s it. My overwhelm has lead to a certain level of unmanageability. So these days, rather than stomp around my office grousing and sighing-or being visibly and vocally flustered at home, I recognize it. I stop. I figure out what is the best next step and do it. I cancel non-vital activities, tell my friends/fam what is going on with me and pare down my day or week as much as possible. Should someone in my community be unhappy with my cancellation or honesty as to why I am cancelling, then I know it’s on them. Obviously I don’t bag on major commitments unless I’m ill or dealing with a family emergency. Time has taught me that I will repeat lessons but that each time I revisit the lesson, the time it takes to work through it diminishes.
No one has all the answers, nor is there one person out there that has it completely put together. Oh, they may look that way or sound that way–but guess what? We’re all human. And that, my friend, is the thread that connects us all.