A new day
Today is January 10, 2016 - a new day in a new year. What if when we experience times of darkness we find a sliver of light? Sometimes that sliver of light will turn into a beam, into a bright star or even a room filled with bright, warm, beaming light that wraps you in the loving glow. I am not going to lie and say that everyday is great. But I will say that every day is how I choose to see it.
As I continue to work my way through getting well again, I am aware that the choices that I make each day are mine to make. Yes things happen, my kids get tired and cranky, they don't always listen when I ask them to do something the first time, they fight, they scream, they decide that now isn't the time they want to get ready for school even though the bus is coming around the corner...it is what it is. However, I am learning that it is my choice how I react to these experiences, these moments.
When a person has adrenal issues, it isn't something that just goes away easily. I will admit I am a bit impatient when it comes to wanting to be "optimal" NOW, but it isn't the way it works, this will take time and I respect that (kind of)...again I know that even though I want to feel better NOW, I can choose to feel a certain way or I can let it bring me down.
There is no denying that when I am done, tired, ready to crash - I must listen to my body. There is also no denying that when I feel my heart race, my anxiety increase, my patience get shorter - that it is time to refocus on something to redirect my energy. As an adrenally exhausted patient, I know that it is my responsibility to manage how I deal with stressful situations. No one else can do that for me.
What have I done? some have asked. How are you dealing with stress now that you know it has affected your adrenals? How are you changing the way you were so that you don't keep this adrenal exhaustion pattern? What are you doing to help yourself get better?
This isn't a one simple answer reply. What I can say is that there are days I don't feel like taking the herbs my naturopath recommended for me to take daily. If I count the number of supplements that I am on right now, I would lose count so I will not...but I know that if I want to get better, skipping days will not help me make this happen faster, but I am human and I have skipped several days and I will not beat myself up for it - carrying any sort of guilt doesn't help. But what I did realize was that over the Christmas holidays I had relatively low levels of stress - we all know what that feels like - when everything is just going more smooth. On weekends I have low levels of stress, bring school mornings back into the mix - my stress levels rise again. CRAZY as it sounds, because it is just part of life as a parent. Getting kids up, dressed, fed, lunches packed, teeth brushed, dressed in winter clothing and out the door seems pretty routine and it is, yet it is the time in the morning that I get stressed out about more than any other time in the day.
But guess what - this wouldn't typically be a stressful time, it wouldn't be a time that makes me feel inadequate, but it does now. Adrenal function is so important and when it isn't working - the smallest tasks can make us feel stressed out and as if we are not doing enough. As I learn strategies and ways to overcome this vicious cycle - I am slowly but surely seeing improvements take shape. If you or someone you know is experiencing adrenal failure or exhaustion some of these may be helpful.
Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Naturopathic care and Acupuncture - I have gone to a chiropractor for years, I have also gone to an osteopath for years. I swear by both and I can't imagine life without them. Something I realized though is that there are different modalities of the same type of care. I was going to the same chiropractor for many years and I still love going to him, however, my gut was telling me I needed a different style of chiropractic care so I switched to a completely different style and maybe the simple fact that I am with my new chiropractor for 20-30 minutes in a relaxed and super relaxed state, it is helping me to slow down. For years, I wanted to get in and get out just as fast. Treatments were often less than 5 minutes long (I never felt rushed but it suited me to be done quickly - who has time to be anywhere for 20+ minutes? I didn't have the time)...now life has changed and I am forcing myself to slow down. Osteopathy is still one of the most incredible experiences I've had. I continue to go once per month and I look forward to that hour a month always. As I mentioned in my earlier posts I did start seeing a naturopath after I talked with a friend about my symptoms and she recommended that I seek advice from a naturopath asap. Acupuncture is new for me and to be quite honest wasn't something I was excited about. Really - who looks forward to having needles poked into their body in sensitive areas? BUT - against my original thoughts, I decided that it was worth a try. I want to get better and if it could help as many say it does, I would be worth giving it a go. So I did. One mistake I made at first was I went and then the next day had a Christmas party to go to. I will warn you, if you've never been to an acupuncture appointment before, you may want to just know that it could affect you the way it did me. I was SO SICK for almost 48 hours after I went the first time. I felt completely hung over and thought I was getting a flu bug. When I looked it up it stated that some can experience a healing crisis and from the business that I am in, I knew what that was as it is common when people cleanse also. Usually a healing crisis, although uncomfortable, is a good sign that things are working as they should and it is more of a reason to keep going with treatment. So here I am after my 2nd treatment and I didn't experience that feeling again.
Meditation - this is something I haven't made a habit yet, but what I have been learning by so many successful people is that mediation is so helpful to keep us grounded. When we know how to get into a meditative state quickly we can calm ourself down during these moments of stress. Who wouldn't want to have a tool like that? I have thought about meditation for years as I always heard great things. But I never really took it too seriously. I even went as far several years ago and I purchased some downloadable recordings of children's meditations. So this past week I told my kids that we were going to do something new everyday. I turned on a 10 minute children's meditation and the 4 of us and the 2 cats found a spot and we listened and drifted into our "first meditative state" together. The kids LOVED it and asked if we could do it before school, after school and before bed. We haven't done all 3 times of day yet, but we are starting to make it a habit at least once per day and I can tell you that I have seen a small improvement in the "energy" of our house already.
Exercise - for anyone who knows me and my history of exercise, they know that I haven't been successful at making this a daily habit. Again I will not beat myself up for this, because I know living in guilt causes more stress for me and makes me feel bad about myself. But I heard a wonderful young man speak on a conference call this week. You may want to start following him if you don't already. His name is Joel Brown and he is the CEO and founder of www.addicted2success.com - brilliant man. Anyway, in his conference call he talked about starting small. I've heard this before, but somehow always thought that if I am serious - I will do 45-60 minutes of fitness starting on day 1 or I might as well prove to myself that I just can't do it. So after hearing his call about starting off slow and in manageable goals...I decided to do it. He recommended skipping, even skipping 10 times and then increasing to 20 times the next day etc...SO again I decided that a few times a day this week, in the middle of working I would get up from my desk, get a glass of water, skip 10-15 times, hold a plank for as long as I could and do some stretches. And by the end of the week I was feeling successful because I would stop throughout the day and do these "seemingly insignificant" things to get my blood moving and then I felt more functional and efficient. I intend to keep this up as I increase intensity and reps as I keep moving forward towards my fitness goals ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Nutrition - We all know that we've heard we are what we eat. I know as much as most that when we eat junk, we feel like junk. When we eat clean, we feel clean. This week I also re-focused on my nutritional program and by day 4 I felt so much more capable to deal with the stresses of my day. I felt lighter in a relatively short time and I was feeling satisfied and not craving the junk that I had been before. Making it a family habit became easy because when our kids feel the difference, they ask for it. I love it when my kids ask for our highly dense nutrition before school, after school and even on weekends. It helps to reinforce my own love for these products when I know that the whole family is benefiting from it. Cheers to that.
Limitations - many times people with adrenal issues don't say no to anything. They keep saying yes to everyone and everything and they literally burn themselves out. Something that I've promised myself is that when I am asked to do something I must be very selective with how I spend my time. Some people can drain us, pull on us and they don't even know they are doing it. Some mean well and don't realize they are requesting too much from us. I have been reminded by a few great friends to be certain that my values are being met. When we have strong values and we know what those values are, it is important that we always recognize that when we say yes to something or someone that we are holding true to our values. If an invitation is taking us away from our values, than maybe it is time to say no. This is easier said than done I know, but it is part of the journey when we are doing what we can to eliminate our stress. So for example, if we are honouring our health and we've been asked to spend time going to an unhealthy restaurant to meet for a meal or to go out to a party and drink and stay up late, we might want to socialize with our friends, but we may be going against our health goals and values by saying yes. Then when we do this we can often feel guilty that we did it and this adds stress that we didn't need to add. Maybe not a great example, but one that some can relate to. So what I've been practicing a lot lately is being very selective in the things I say yes to. I know that I cannot be everywhere at one time, therefore I have eliminated the amount of times I commit to others and I have increased the amount of times I am saying yes to my solitude and silence, because one of my values right now is to get well...and I do my best healing when I am silent and calm and giving myself time and space.
Reading - I continue to make personal growth a big part of my daily habits, but now I am bringing this gift to my children on a daily basis too. I will continue to update this page of recommended children's books, but one that I've been reading each night to my kids is called, Dreams do come true, all they need is you by Mike Dooley. This book is helping my children and I to be more aware of our thoughts. "thoughts become things, choose the good ones"...and as we get worked up or upset, we remind one another to choose the good thoughts, and most times we see a smile come across a face. Try it yourself, awareness is key. So often we think we are in this "bad" place. That life is happening to us, when in fact if we take a moment to re-frame it, we can take control of our "thoughts" and change it into a positive. Does this mean we will never feel angry, sad, frustrated again? No, but it may just help us change our negative state into a positive one faster. These tools are not just there for us, but we can continue to improve ourselves by learning them and I've decided that while I am learning these and while I am strengthening these muscles, I might as well do it with my children so that we can all grow together.
As I continue this journey to wellness, I will continue to add more habits. I will share them with my readers. For now I know that I am not looking for perfection, nor am I looking for instant gratification - I am looking for long lasting wellness and the tools that will help myself and others to get to a state of bliss, a state of being, and a state of honouring myself and trusting my voice. When we fight against what we know is right for us, this could be the space that creates the stress that creates the dis-ease, that creates the body breaking down...so therefore learning to find the tools for ourselves, learning to recognize when to use them and learning to trust ourselves - these in combination will help us find peace from within in order to heal from within.
The photo shown below is our family chalk board in our dinning room. My 8 year old daughter wrote this (perfectly imperfect message) on it, last week and I wanted to share. Our children remind us to be gentle with ourselves and with them. They teach us to have compassion, to slow down and to be in the moment. I will continue to remember that by being perfectly imperfect - that I am enough. Life doesn't have to be as hard as we think it does...so why create stress? We have the ability to choose a better way and I promised myself that 2016 will be a much different year from the years previously. As my kids and I say each and everyday, "everyday in everyday, I'm getting better and better". Thank you Lynn H for sharing that message with me at a conference, it is s simple sentence that my family lives by daily.
As I continue to work my way through getting well again, I am aware that the choices that I make each day are mine to make. Yes things happen, my kids get tired and cranky, they don't always listen when I ask them to do something the first time, they fight, they scream, they decide that now isn't the time they want to get ready for school even though the bus is coming around the corner...it is what it is. However, I am learning that it is my choice how I react to these experiences, these moments.
When a person has adrenal issues, it isn't something that just goes away easily. I will admit I am a bit impatient when it comes to wanting to be "optimal" NOW, but it isn't the way it works, this will take time and I respect that (kind of)...again I know that even though I want to feel better NOW, I can choose to feel a certain way or I can let it bring me down.
There is no denying that when I am done, tired, ready to crash - I must listen to my body. There is also no denying that when I feel my heart race, my anxiety increase, my patience get shorter - that it is time to refocus on something to redirect my energy. As an adrenally exhausted patient, I know that it is my responsibility to manage how I deal with stressful situations. No one else can do that for me.
What have I done? some have asked. How are you dealing with stress now that you know it has affected your adrenals? How are you changing the way you were so that you don't keep this adrenal exhaustion pattern? What are you doing to help yourself get better?
This isn't a one simple answer reply. What I can say is that there are days I don't feel like taking the herbs my naturopath recommended for me to take daily. If I count the number of supplements that I am on right now, I would lose count so I will not...but I know that if I want to get better, skipping days will not help me make this happen faster, but I am human and I have skipped several days and I will not beat myself up for it - carrying any sort of guilt doesn't help. But what I did realize was that over the Christmas holidays I had relatively low levels of stress - we all know what that feels like - when everything is just going more smooth. On weekends I have low levels of stress, bring school mornings back into the mix - my stress levels rise again. CRAZY as it sounds, because it is just part of life as a parent. Getting kids up, dressed, fed, lunches packed, teeth brushed, dressed in winter clothing and out the door seems pretty routine and it is, yet it is the time in the morning that I get stressed out about more than any other time in the day.
But guess what - this wouldn't typically be a stressful time, it wouldn't be a time that makes me feel inadequate, but it does now. Adrenal function is so important and when it isn't working - the smallest tasks can make us feel stressed out and as if we are not doing enough. As I learn strategies and ways to overcome this vicious cycle - I am slowly but surely seeing improvements take shape. If you or someone you know is experiencing adrenal failure or exhaustion some of these may be helpful.
Chiropractic, Osteopathy, Naturopathic care and Acupuncture - I have gone to a chiropractor for years, I have also gone to an osteopath for years. I swear by both and I can't imagine life without them. Something I realized though is that there are different modalities of the same type of care. I was going to the same chiropractor for many years and I still love going to him, however, my gut was telling me I needed a different style of chiropractic care so I switched to a completely different style and maybe the simple fact that I am with my new chiropractor for 20-30 minutes in a relaxed and super relaxed state, it is helping me to slow down. For years, I wanted to get in and get out just as fast. Treatments were often less than 5 minutes long (I never felt rushed but it suited me to be done quickly - who has time to be anywhere for 20+ minutes? I didn't have the time)...now life has changed and I am forcing myself to slow down. Osteopathy is still one of the most incredible experiences I've had. I continue to go once per month and I look forward to that hour a month always. As I mentioned in my earlier posts I did start seeing a naturopath after I talked with a friend about my symptoms and she recommended that I seek advice from a naturopath asap. Acupuncture is new for me and to be quite honest wasn't something I was excited about. Really - who looks forward to having needles poked into their body in sensitive areas? BUT - against my original thoughts, I decided that it was worth a try. I want to get better and if it could help as many say it does, I would be worth giving it a go. So I did. One mistake I made at first was I went and then the next day had a Christmas party to go to. I will warn you, if you've never been to an acupuncture appointment before, you may want to just know that it could affect you the way it did me. I was SO SICK for almost 48 hours after I went the first time. I felt completely hung over and thought I was getting a flu bug. When I looked it up it stated that some can experience a healing crisis and from the business that I am in, I knew what that was as it is common when people cleanse also. Usually a healing crisis, although uncomfortable, is a good sign that things are working as they should and it is more of a reason to keep going with treatment. So here I am after my 2nd treatment and I didn't experience that feeling again.
Meditation - this is something I haven't made a habit yet, but what I have been learning by so many successful people is that mediation is so helpful to keep us grounded. When we know how to get into a meditative state quickly we can calm ourself down during these moments of stress. Who wouldn't want to have a tool like that? I have thought about meditation for years as I always heard great things. But I never really took it too seriously. I even went as far several years ago and I purchased some downloadable recordings of children's meditations. So this past week I told my kids that we were going to do something new everyday. I turned on a 10 minute children's meditation and the 4 of us and the 2 cats found a spot and we listened and drifted into our "first meditative state" together. The kids LOVED it and asked if we could do it before school, after school and before bed. We haven't done all 3 times of day yet, but we are starting to make it a habit at least once per day and I can tell you that I have seen a small improvement in the "energy" of our house already.
Exercise - for anyone who knows me and my history of exercise, they know that I haven't been successful at making this a daily habit. Again I will not beat myself up for this, because I know living in guilt causes more stress for me and makes me feel bad about myself. But I heard a wonderful young man speak on a conference call this week. You may want to start following him if you don't already. His name is Joel Brown and he is the CEO and founder of www.addicted2success.com - brilliant man. Anyway, in his conference call he talked about starting small. I've heard this before, but somehow always thought that if I am serious - I will do 45-60 minutes of fitness starting on day 1 or I might as well prove to myself that I just can't do it. So after hearing his call about starting off slow and in manageable goals...I decided to do it. He recommended skipping, even skipping 10 times and then increasing to 20 times the next day etc...SO again I decided that a few times a day this week, in the middle of working I would get up from my desk, get a glass of water, skip 10-15 times, hold a plank for as long as I could and do some stretches. And by the end of the week I was feeling successful because I would stop throughout the day and do these "seemingly insignificant" things to get my blood moving and then I felt more functional and efficient. I intend to keep this up as I increase intensity and reps as I keep moving forward towards my fitness goals ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Nutrition - We all know that we've heard we are what we eat. I know as much as most that when we eat junk, we feel like junk. When we eat clean, we feel clean. This week I also re-focused on my nutritional program and by day 4 I felt so much more capable to deal with the stresses of my day. I felt lighter in a relatively short time and I was feeling satisfied and not craving the junk that I had been before. Making it a family habit became easy because when our kids feel the difference, they ask for it. I love it when my kids ask for our highly dense nutrition before school, after school and even on weekends. It helps to reinforce my own love for these products when I know that the whole family is benefiting from it. Cheers to that.
Limitations - many times people with adrenal issues don't say no to anything. They keep saying yes to everyone and everything and they literally burn themselves out. Something that I've promised myself is that when I am asked to do something I must be very selective with how I spend my time. Some people can drain us, pull on us and they don't even know they are doing it. Some mean well and don't realize they are requesting too much from us. I have been reminded by a few great friends to be certain that my values are being met. When we have strong values and we know what those values are, it is important that we always recognize that when we say yes to something or someone that we are holding true to our values. If an invitation is taking us away from our values, than maybe it is time to say no. This is easier said than done I know, but it is part of the journey when we are doing what we can to eliminate our stress. So for example, if we are honouring our health and we've been asked to spend time going to an unhealthy restaurant to meet for a meal or to go out to a party and drink and stay up late, we might want to socialize with our friends, but we may be going against our health goals and values by saying yes. Then when we do this we can often feel guilty that we did it and this adds stress that we didn't need to add. Maybe not a great example, but one that some can relate to. So what I've been practicing a lot lately is being very selective in the things I say yes to. I know that I cannot be everywhere at one time, therefore I have eliminated the amount of times I commit to others and I have increased the amount of times I am saying yes to my solitude and silence, because one of my values right now is to get well...and I do my best healing when I am silent and calm and giving myself time and space.
Reading - I continue to make personal growth a big part of my daily habits, but now I am bringing this gift to my children on a daily basis too. I will continue to update this page of recommended children's books, but one that I've been reading each night to my kids is called, Dreams do come true, all they need is you by Mike Dooley. This book is helping my children and I to be more aware of our thoughts. "thoughts become things, choose the good ones"...and as we get worked up or upset, we remind one another to choose the good thoughts, and most times we see a smile come across a face. Try it yourself, awareness is key. So often we think we are in this "bad" place. That life is happening to us, when in fact if we take a moment to re-frame it, we can take control of our "thoughts" and change it into a positive. Does this mean we will never feel angry, sad, frustrated again? No, but it may just help us change our negative state into a positive one faster. These tools are not just there for us, but we can continue to improve ourselves by learning them and I've decided that while I am learning these and while I am strengthening these muscles, I might as well do it with my children so that we can all grow together.
As I continue this journey to wellness, I will continue to add more habits. I will share them with my readers. For now I know that I am not looking for perfection, nor am I looking for instant gratification - I am looking for long lasting wellness and the tools that will help myself and others to get to a state of bliss, a state of being, and a state of honouring myself and trusting my voice. When we fight against what we know is right for us, this could be the space that creates the stress that creates the dis-ease, that creates the body breaking down...so therefore learning to find the tools for ourselves, learning to recognize when to use them and learning to trust ourselves - these in combination will help us find peace from within in order to heal from within.
The photo shown below is our family chalk board in our dinning room. My 8 year old daughter wrote this (perfectly imperfect message) on it, last week and I wanted to share. Our children remind us to be gentle with ourselves and with them. They teach us to have compassion, to slow down and to be in the moment. I will continue to remember that by being perfectly imperfect - that I am enough. Life doesn't have to be as hard as we think it does...so why create stress? We have the ability to choose a better way and I promised myself that 2016 will be a much different year from the years previously. As my kids and I say each and everyday, "everyday in everyday, I'm getting better and better". Thank you Lynn H for sharing that message with me at a conference, it is s simple sentence that my family lives by daily.
