Grounding Ourselves in our Health

This morning, I woke up and made time to do some Tai Chi and Yoga before making myself a nice smoothie. Odd way to open up on a post, right? I promise it'll make sense soon.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of being true to ourselves and our identity beyond our responsibilities. (See here) In past posts, I've also communicated the importance of making time for the things we love, and in slowing things down for the sake of our sense of selves and for our health.

Now, if you've been with the Bra Street Rambler for a while, you may have noticed that I haven't written all that much on the topic of physical health where diets and workout regimes are concerned. Why? Well for one, I'm not that active at the gym myself and often get distracted from the physical endeavours I start. That's not to say I'm not active or healthy, I walk everywhere and often reach my 10,000 step minimum in a day. However, I often flutter around from different activities myself. For a while, I was active in rock climbing, but that became a little difficult for my monthly budget to maintain. On the few occasions where I use my gym pass, admittedly rare, I tend to stick to the elliptical for an hour of cardio with a high pace playlist.

Why am I saying all of this? Because often, the first thing to come and go with our mental health is our physical health. When we are at the top of our game, we're often paying more mind to our bodies, eating better (if at least more regularly), and getting up and active. When we are at our lows, often we find ourselves enslaved to Netflix and being homebodies. We know what we should be doing, we know that focusing on our physical health will help with our mental health, but we can't seem to find the get up and go for it.

Even when we do find ourselves slightly motivated, it can be difficult to stick with something and find routine. Why? Because, as with anything else, it's important to find what works for you. To find your own motivation, and your own direction with it. Often, what we try first is what works for others because it's “what people do”, but what will make You feel motivated and engaged?

I have a colleague who goes for a run every day. That's her thing. She'd on the ball with it, she finds her peace in it, and it does her a lot of good with every day stresses and keeping in shape. Would that work for me? Absolutely not. Don't get me wrong, I admire all of you runners out there, but no thanks!

Someone else in my life is very engaged and successful with his interest in Calisthenics. I gave that a shot, also not for me at this point in time, though I might like to revisit that particular challenge later. Rock climbing was amazing, but as I said, also a little rough on my wallet to maintain. Personally, I find that something free that I can do from home, that is easy, that calms and relaxes me and can easily be picked back up, is the right fit for me. Yoga and Tai Chi happen to be work for that. When I'm feeling a little more energetic, I turn to Just Dance for Nintendo Wii with my friend across the street. These things work well for me, and they make me happy.

So why the mention of these activities being completed today? Because making the time for them this morning, feeling grounded, relaxed, motivated, and inspired to immediately sit down and write told me that after months of stress, and of telling myself to fake it until I make it*, I'm making it. With the help of some very key people, and turning inward to discover and deal with what my stresses have been, I am again discovering my physical, mental/creative, and emotional outlets. All things that I believe to be balanced when we are being true to our identity.

Now, you have to know by now that a challenge is coming up here. That's right folks, I invite all of you wonderful Ramblers to search within yourselves and explore what works for you on each of those levels.

-What do you enjoy doing to express your individuality? To challenge yourselves intellectually or creatively?

-What do you enjoy doing to get up and active? Is it going for after dinner walks? Going for a run? Hitting the gym? Doing some Yoga or Tai Chi?

-How do you release stress? What are the emotions you feel most driven to share with the world? Are you a person who gains happiness from volunteering? From showering someone with love and affection? From venting with friends over a few drinks? From sitting down and doing some meditation?

Know what works best for you, it's never too late to learn about ourselves. In fact, it's something I encourage doing our entire life. As we grow, we change and evolve as individuals so there is always something new to discover about ourselves.

Take the time for this, you're worth it.

Cheers!

The Bra Street Rambler

* "Fake it until you make it." only works to a degree. It is important to know where the line is between using this to motivate yourself, and losing yourself to it. It's okay to work to push through something, so long as we accept what it is we're pushing through. Never deny who you are or how you're feeling, and never be afraid to reach out for help when you feel you need it, or when these lines are becoming blurred. After all, we're all only human.