Listening to Your Body

Part of this whole being healthier thing means listening to your body.  It can be hard to tell when to push through a wall, or know that, well, today, the best thing to do is rest.

Sometimes your body doesn't give you a choice.  Injuries, illness, scheduling and various other obstacles collude and then whatever choice you have is made for you.

I've been learning a lot about listening to my body this past year.  The asthma I struggle with won a few battles and now I know that I cannot power through an asthma attack.  My lungs WILL be respected!  When my back went out in a truly epic way over the holiday break, I learned that it, too, has limits that must be respected.  Now that I'm sporting an ulcer, I am learning that food choices are fairly easy to make when poor choices make themselves immediately known.

BTW, in case no one has ever mentioned it to you, Aleve is meant to be taken for a few days only.  Popping it regularly over a 3+ month period pretty much will guarantee you some stomach problems.  Fortunately, if you take care of them, ulcers heal.

I was pretty nauseated for much of the day yesterday, but managed to get back to Flag before I became truly ill.  By the time I crawled into bed, about 9PM, I was shaking and miserable.  I slept okay, but when the 5AM alarm sounded, I took a quick assessment and realized that working out would not be an option today.  It isn't that I couldn't power through.  I've powered through worse.  I just knew it wasn't the right thing.

I felt a flash of guilt.  I mean, I work out every single day. So today was my off day.  My body was screaming for more sleep, evidenced by the fact I fell asleep seconds after resetting the alarm to give me another hour and a half.

By the time I left for work, I was still not 100%, but infinitely better than I would have been if I had just powered through.

balance, balance, balance.