You are walking on your way to work and you feel a little bit of discomfort in your throat, the usual escalating takes you to a few days later and spending a couple of days in bed resting and recovering from the current virus that is going around as they say. Many times I fell into this pit of apathy, painkillers and plenty of water. It is fascinating for me how all the priorities, tasks and interests disappear because your whole being is concerned with one distinct thing… recovering. So why do we put so much pressure when healthy and then zero when under the weather? I also like that we have an immune system that can defend us against any bug, maybe not mosquitos, it decides to allow a recovery period that cancels all our appointments. Another fascinating thing is this cycle in which we live, a cycle of health and sickness. What are we missing?
We are a chemical, electrical thinking machine. The way we live, the way we interact and think is intimately linked to our health and it is fascinating that we ignore that for the urgencies of the here and now. I am thrilled that technologies are starting to appear that allow us to monitor biomarkers like glucose levels, sleep and exercise. Biomarkers that are guiding us to better understand how much we are affected by what we eat, sleep and do. When I look around, I notice that you and the people around you are quite responsible and smart to the point that we understand the importance of avoiding ultra-processed food, sleeping around 8 hours and doing some kind of exercise 2 or 3 times per week. Why are we so distracted that we struggle to connect these dots? Why do we keep falling into these spiral behaviours? I want to tell you that I have the answer, but I don’t. I have some ideas and some things that I would love to try. One of my favourites is planning big in a small way. I find it very helpful trying little experiments of everything I research and learn everyday. Like trying to have my last meal of the day a few hours before bed. I know that every time that I have done that, one of these two things has happened, I am very hungry and I wake up in the middle of the night to snack or I actually rest well. So that allows me to ask now, what was different in those cases, and I found that if I sleep well, drink water through the day and make sure I have a proper meal away from going to bed, I just really rest better. Yes, this is just an example of how I am trying new things and paying attention to them. I really want to wear a glucose monitor, so I can learn a bit more about my own body and what it does when I feed my body with different nutrients.
Balance in life is the key. Balance how? Who are you? How do you compare something that you probably don’t know? Writing, meditating, trying different things. Getting to know thyself is a priority. There is nothing that you can do if you don’t know what you need to rest, to feel love or to get excited about what you do. I find myself in the ambiguous world of not going out to dance because I am always teaching dancing. I know it is not the same. I rest better after a night of just dancing, Yet I don’t remember exactly the last time I went out to dance. And then when organising my days I try my best to allow space for resting and enjoying time with people. But who? You don’t know exactly, start by figuring out who. Kindness has been one of the best tools when treating myself and the people around me. Yes, boundaries are important, but they are not a peace contract, they are an opportunity to communicate a better way to treat and be treated by the people that you want to have in your life. I notice often that distraction not only pulls me away from some of the work and family priorities but also from self-discovering that will open paths towards the things that I find important to rest, unwind and enjoy life so my immune system has a few more reasons to be strong.
All those important things that we believe have to be done today, that make you feel like rubbish, yes, that task list written with “guiltink” means nothing when you are sick. This is a beautiful reminder that we are priorities. There is no task, no appointment and no one that is more important than yourself. It looks like I am missing myself, I am missing the train of self-care and self-love because I am distracted by my phone or at work. I love my work but because of that I sometimes forget how important it is for me to spend time with friends, myself or in activities that literally charge my batteries, or activities that allow me to figure out better ways and people that help me and guide me towards enjoying life regardless of the weather.