Let My Mistake Save Your Life, Marriage, & Sanity
We live in a world where we choose our eye candy. Whether it’s a pair of new shoes, an amazing business, exotic vacations, stuff for our home or even the goal for the perfect body and weight. All the stress of wanting to achieve can be overwhelming and push us into something called adrenal fatigue. And I AM GUILTY!!
So, today, as I took a break from phone consults, research, and writing articles to take my daughter to cross fit and and avoid the rush back home (yes, to get more work done before picking her up again), I decided to take a detour.
I ventured out for a short walk/hike in the desert trails and at that point, it was exactly what I needed. I think God was sending me a sign because I felt such a feeling of overwhelming calmness and gratitude as I passed several balancing rock works from the many hikers/walkers that enjoy the trail.
I realized as I passed one of the many balancing rock works, that my life for many years was just that: a juggling act! Most people juggle 2-3 things at at time, but mine was more like 9 or 10. It was then that it made so much sense unlike 9 years ago when I began to experience Adrenal Fatigue/Burnout or what it really is – Adrenal Dysfunction.
So why am I sharing this? Because unfortunately, I see too many women in their 30’s and even 40’s trying to do it all and take care of themselves last. By the time most reach their 40’s (sometimes even younger) they begin to experience burnout but continue to charge forward because "you have to tough it out right?"
WRONG!! Society tells us to tough it out and because eventually “I will sleep when I am dead," right?
I strive for big achievements and therefore, set high standards. Some of my goals were outrageous such as write a book, slim down to less than 15% body fat, function on 4-5 hours of sleep, skip meals, drive to 3 different practice locations, speaking gigs, and the goal biggest dream yet...to help over 100,000 people in a 10 year period. Most would just give up.
However, when God and the Universe wants your attention, the unexpected will come into your life and usually, it will be an event that will cause you to simply slow down.
Well, it happened again! You would think I would have learned the first time when my adrenals were so shot I would fall asleep at a stoplight, yeah that bad!
The second time around it was more like fatigue, exhaustion, depression, anxiety, and just a passionless life. My doctor told me to take the year off from my practice to heal my body, otherwise, I won’t be around too long to help others. So instead I decided to drastically changed my life.
And what did I change? I incorporated habits that were not only easy to do, but resulted in the most change.
Very simple...
Meditation & gratitude practice.
Yoga.
Nature walks and spending as much time outdoors as possible.
Although gratitude had been part of my daily routine for many years, meditation, yoga, and nature walks and spending time outdoors weren't.
If you are anything like me, which if you are a female, stay-at-home mom, work outside of the home, married, or single mom, then take this loving advice and take care of you first! Your family, friends, community and the world will greatly benefit too.
There is nothing in this world that is worth more than your health. Guard it. Honor it. Protect it. Take care of it, because without a healthy body and mind everything else in life is less meaningless.