Are You Playing Chicken With Your Health?

Have you ever done this – you’re so overwhelmed with everything on your schedule, you get sick just to cancel it all and stay home?

You’re not alone.

A lot of us use our health as the ultimate trump card. To be honest, I was there yesterday.

I woke up to a four full days of appointments ahead of me and felt the old familiar itch in my throat and pressure in my head.

Was I really getting sick or just feeling over-stretched? I couldn’t quite tell and ended up canceling both my morning and evening appointments to catch up and rest.

This doesn’t sound bad, right? No big deal, right?

Wrong.

Super big deal.

Because when you use your health as your last line of defense in making sure you have enough balance and rest, you’re playing with fire.

The body and mind give thousands of signals every day to let you know the state of your being.

Your emotions.
What foods you’re craving.
How tired you are.
What you feel like doing – bath, reading, walk.

The problem is – most of us are masters at overriding our systems.

You hear the urge then ignore it.

You stay up late, watch TV, eat the same old thing because it’s easy.

You feel “off” and throw medicine, caffeine, and pills at it to mask the symptoms instead of listening deeply and addressing the problem.

You keep pushing through without changing anything – your exercise, diet, sleep.

Until one day, you can’t push anymore. You’re sick. Really sick.

Because you left your miraculous body no choice but to get your attention in the most extreme and unpleasant way possible just so that you’d finally hear it screaming: “Hey! I need some rest and help! This isn’t working for me!”

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

You can learn to tune into your body’s messages on a daily basis. You can set your schedule so that you have more time to rejuvenate in ways that feel restoring and healing for you.

Or – and this is a big one – you can choose to do the exact same things but feel differently about them.

You can simply drop the stress, worry, and anxiety. Realize that you’re choosing to feel out of control and schedule yourself chock full. Then accept it wholeheartedly as the joy of the life you’ve chosen.

But you can’t do any of it if you keep denying that you have a role in your own health and happiness.

Spend some time over the next few days noticing if you use your health like a canary in a coal mine – the final straw when you’ve pushed too far.

Then consider: How can you take more care of yourself every day so that you’re not playing a life-long game of chicken with illness?

Because your life – and happiness – depends on it.

Be free. Be brave. Be YOU!

Love,
Alexis