Your body keeps score
Our bodies are very sensitive. At times, way too sensitive or maybe they are just shouting at us to slow down and listen.
It can be subtle, like a whisper, or a big roar. You need to decide if you can hear it, and even then you need to decide whether you will take action.
I am now aware of when my body is shouting at me, are you?
When I return from any trip or adventure, I immediately sense the sign that signals I have been maxing out life – neglecting my body. I have a sore throat. I am usually low on energy and have probably used up most of my reserves.
It shows signs of its arrival the minute I land back into my homeland - Scotland. Now I even expect it. It is a way for my mind to tell me my body needs rest. On each trip I go all in – max out the days. Usually with a sunrise run and sunset walk. Exploring and cramming in all the sights, my sleep is usually impacted. Our bodies are designed to operate on reserve for a period of time but then it needs some rest to recharge. If you don’t rest then it tells you that it needs to. Kind of clever when you consider it.
Ideally, I don’t want to get to that ‘I am on red battery’ point. It is a fine balancing act.
What signs does your mind and body shout to you?
For a while I was prone to an upset tummy, that’s just say it was delicate. It would flare up at various points through my 20s and into my 30s. Sometimes triggered by certain food types, experiences – we all know stress can lead to those anxious butterflies in our tummy – and of course, that old favourite, alcohol.
My body was crying out for me to stop feeding it stuff it didn’t like, I would sometimes listen and identify the culprit - creamy dishes would usually lead to an outbreak. This led to a choice to remove cream from my diet.
I never listened following a boozy session though. Surely that was part of a big drink session – the feeling of sluggishness and the unhappy tummy the next day. In 2018 things changed and I decided I wanted to make a change. The hangovers were making life hard and life doesn’t need to be hard. The minute I stopped drinking alcohol you could tell my body and mind seemed happy. Finally, after years, I suddenly listened and took drastic action. Goodbye alcohol, hangovers, feeling lethargic and that yucky tummy. Hello freshness and lots of energy. Hallelujah. If only I listened sooner. But we live and learn.
My body still wasn’t 100% happy. I turned investigator and in 2019 I visited a natural therapist who highlighted several food intolerances. Diary and gluten were high up there. Again, I made a drastic choice and decided to listen to my body. I switched out diary for diary free milk and yoghurts. I became more mindful to remove other diary products and also gluten – which is surprisingly in more food types than you imagine.
For over 6 months I was pretty strict and my body was happy. And what happened. It seemed to fix itself. On a trip to France a year later I ate all the gluten in the form of pizza and a lot of croissants. And didn’t restrict my diary intake. The amazing news, my tummy felt good. Hurray.
How amazing are our bodies? They can fix themselves by unlearning food intolerances.
I now use mainly dairy free products but don’t restrict on gluten. And can happily report back that I have a healthy gut.
It is important we listen to our bodies.
At first it may seem like a one off, but when we keep ‘abusing’ our bodies and mind then a one off becomes a pattern and the way is shouts at us will become more vocal. A whisper forms a roar. Begging to be heard.
Some people will be familiar with skin flare ups after an excessive weekend.
It is important to make notes and reflect on our lifestyles to address any imbalance.
How does your body keep score?