Symptoms Are Messages
Photo by milan degraeve on Unsplash
Your body is constantly sending you messages. Are you hearing them?
I once heard an analogy that your body is like a voice mail system - you have to pick up the messages to get the information.
It is IMPERATIVE that you understand that all of what I am sharing here, I learned only in hindsight. All I knew at the time is that I had debilitating back pain, I felt fat, and I was in a bad mood all the time. The first thing I DID recognize in my early 40’s was that therapy (see Identify Your Stories ) would be helpful with my moods, but I did not understand until a few years later that the back pain and weight were both reflecting problems related to my mental state. My whole body needed to shift towards more balance.
My routine coping mechanisms, which had served me for decades, were no longer working for me. These included staying small and not asking for what I needed or wanted because I believed I didn’t deserve it, emotional eating, always holding more space for others’ energy than for my own, and powering through every day with no regard or even awareness of how I really felt.
Once I was paying attention, these are the messages my body sent me:
My diet needed an overhaul;
Digestive imbalance and an unhealthy gut were part of the back pain problem;
My relationships needed work;
The death of my mother after a relatively short battle with cancer left deep scars and a responsibility for my father that I was not prepared for;
Not being true to myself and what I needed was showing up in my body in a variety of ways;
Chronic, low grade stress has a tremendous impact on your body.
Small steps were THE most important piece in this part of my story - it was years of making small discoveries and changes before I was able to successfully manage my weight and physical pain. These are highlights of how I shifted my path one small bit at a time:
Each meal - make the best or a better choice; pay close attention to how particular foods make you feel.
Each day - drink water, move your body and continue to seek solutions for back pain like it is your job.
Each day - pay attention to your mood; who or what impacts it negatively or positively; what brings joy; what needs to change?
Stay curious - much of what I implemented for myself I heard or read somewhere.
The human body is an amazing and resilient machine, and I am evidence of that. Patience is a necessary part of the journey but the power of transformation is yours if you seek it. Do you pay attention to how you feel? Are you moving through your days with a feeling of heaviness or listlessness? Are you always tired? Do you feel too tightly wound? Do you have physical pain, stomach upset, headaches? Are your consumption habits feeling out of control (alcohol, social media, food)?
Living in a state of imbalance will suck the quality right out of your life and your symptoms will become more pronounced and louder until you address them. What is not working for you? Has it become uncomfortable enough to make a change? This the moment to start.
