Almost every client walking into my office this week is tired. I’m feeling it too. What is it? Well it isn’t the same for each of my clients but similar in that we are recovering. And you know, it’d be nice to get a big snow storm to slow it all down a bit. Stay with me, I know snow is a pain for us all in the city, but hear me out.
Me? I’m recovering from a very busy December and the heartache of missing my family over the holidays, I was raised Christian. You’d think after so many years missing my family would be easier but actually for me it’s getting harder. There have also been people I’ve lost along the way, through deaths and breakups, all the feels come up during the holidays. Recovery requires feeling through the feels.
Several of my patients are recovering from colds and flus that just won’t quit. They’ve been sick since before the holidays. It’s a rough time of year for so many of us. Financially, emotionally and physically draining. The ups and downs in the weather hasn’t helped this season. A fade into the cold weather, though hard to accept for some, is actually a better ride for our immune systems. Recovery requires stability.
The flux in hot and cold is very confusing. Toss in the overly burdened schedule of December and we create the perfect storm for our bodies to get run down. It’s not till about now, mid-January, that we are finally finding time to rest. And even then, it can take an act of Goddess to ensure we take some time off. Hopefully that act is a snow storm and not pneumonia. Recovery requires slowing down.
Pneumonia is no joke. We are conditioned in this culture, especially the city to be burning the candle at both ends and trying to invent a third and set that on fire also! Our bodies generally do us the favour of sending warning calls but December is that one time of the year when family, work and social obligations are much louder and more demanding. Recovery requires listening to our body.
With all the gatherings, grief, gripping cold we also tend to overuse substances. Sugar, maybe not surprisingly, is at the top of the list. Over eating and over drinking and drugs (legal and otherwise), are big on the lists of mentions of my clients and I am guilty too of the decadence of food. It’s been a few weeks now and my system is just getting back on line. Getting back to my optimum diet, schedule and intake of water has regulated my body and calmed my mind. Recovery requires cleaning up your routine.
Mixing and mingling can be overwhelming and taxing on the physical, emotional and mental bodies. It’s nice to get back into a regular groove. Sticking to a schedule and including self-care in that time. Getting back to basics with sleep, exercise and down time helps build the immunity and settle the nervous system. Recovery requires simplifying.
Nothing better reminds us that we have no control and of the basics of survival than an act of nature. Incredibly devastating fires in Australia, my heart goes out to you all. Here in Canada we are overwhelmed sometimes by blankets of snow and cold, or as the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland would have it, one of the greatest blizzards of all time, avalanches included. Under these conditions we are truly forced to stay inside and calm the fuck down about all the things we cannot do. Cause you know what, life is precious. Sometimes it takes a snowstorm to help us figure it out. To count our blessings, to rest in our fortunes, to stay warm and rested. Recovery requires gratitude.
Sometimes recovery can only come after we’ve had to experience hardship and devastation, we’ve hit rock bottom or are at the end of our rope. We come to understand we really have control that we are being dragged along and mostly just trying to keep it together while keeping up with the Kardashians. We all live our life by design. We don’t have don’t have to be broke, hungover for a week, experience extreme anxiety or require a snow storm to get there.
Feeling tired is a symptom. Recovery is a choice.