Listen To Your Body

I work very hard to balance myself. I tend to swing wildly between two extremes, I go back and forth from so lazy I'm having a hard time getting off of the couch to a crazy workaholic who never sleeps.

So when I'm in workaholic mode, I have a rough time taking some time for myself and managing to relax. Furthermore, if I have any sort of health or wellness scares/concerns, I have to work very hard (depressing isn't it, to work to relax?) to take care of my self to heal through it. I have to remind myself that it's not being lazy or making excuses if you're truly listening to your body.

For instance, if you normally eat pretty but suddenly crave something deep fried or covered in chocolate - your body might be telling you that there's something in there you need. Or your hormones are crazy, it's always hard to say. But when I spend a bunch of time outside in the hot weather, maybe exercising, I have a tendency to apparently inexplicably need potato chips or ramen noodles. Then I realize that I've lost an awfully large amount of salt. Hence the craving.

In the beginning of my third trimester of pregnancy, I got a cold. Normally, my idea for dealing with a cold is to make sure I don't short myself on sleep too much. However, when I'm taking care of a horse 7 days a week, and I'm super pregnant and working out, a cold really knocks the crap out of me. In those conditions, the only thing you can do is just do the minimum to get by on horse care and doctor appointments, and otherwise sleep as much as is possible. Instead of running, walk. Instead of too much strength training, just a little yoga, and if I need a little extra sleep if for instance I am not sleeping due to a stuffed up nose, then cut out the entire workout without trying to make up for it later.

If you feel too much stress, take something else out of your day, even if it's meal prep or exercise, for the short term in order to get more sleep or take a little private "me time" to yourself.

More examples from my life: in order to honor my late pregnancy and my body changing, I stopped riding. Not because I felt unsafe, because honestly I still felt very secure, but because it made me too sore afterwards and then during, which kept me from taking care of myself enough. Also, the week of our move when I had to pack up the rest of the house and tie up our loose ends by myself, I let healthy food mostly fall to the wayside. I ate macaroni and cheese or a pasta side for pretty much every meal for those 4 days, because it was something I could do fast, without effort and with a minimum of dishes. I did add a handful of spinach and a packet of tuna to each meal, to ensure that I did receive something resembling all of my food groups. This was the compromise I reached between time, effort, and my baby's health.

Never forget to adjust your workout (or cancel altogether if need be) to honor what parts of you are sore, the parts that are strong or weak.

Definitely don't make a habit of splurging on purchases or anything else financially when you're broke. However, honor your body and if you need new shoes to continue working or exercising - or maybe a belly support band - do so. There's value in those dollars as long as you spend them wisely. Also, sometimes when you're broke but time crunches, keep in mind that 3-4 times a year of getting quick food while you're out in order to get your body through a long (maybe a double) work day is worthwhile. 

Most recently I had to cope with honoring my body during surgical recovery. They didn't want me to try anything by mouth for at least 6 hours after surgery, and no food until 12 hours. By the time surgery happened, I was about 12 hours post eating, and consequently was shaking like a leaf from low blood sugar and hunger I'm sure. So when the nurses weren't around, I allowed my body to make decisions. I slowly started on water, but I had only a few small sips and then waited a good 30 minutes to make sure that I didn't feel sick. When I still felt great (at least digestively), I started on a few small sips of Gatorade, and again waited. Then I graduated to sport beans which I had stocked up on in hopes of getting my vaginal delivery. I was planning on using marathoner fuel to get through labor - as I know what I can eat while running and hot should be fine to not make me sick during other exertion.

Then again, other aspects of surgical recovery I need to hold back. I couldn't sit up without help, I couldn't get on and off the toilet without help. Even now, nearly 5 weeks later, there are a lot of things I can't do - or at least shouldn't. And while I CAN technically scrub some dog spots off of the carpet, it's honestly not worth the time and effort of me getting up and down off the floor so many times, it's still too much work.

Primary point here is that it's SO helpful to learn to listen to your body and follow it's instructions. Or at least, don't COMPLETELY ignore them all the time.