Find Your Grind

Embrace The Suck To Push Through

There is a paradox in life. You are on your own, but so is everyone else. We are all on our own, together.

Any day can bring sadness and depression. Any day can be rainy and overcast. Usually, though, we can see warning signs when our mental weather is going to be bad, and we can take the appropriate steps to make sure we are taking care of ourselves.

If we saw a rainstorm coming we wouldn’t plan for a day on the beach, would we? In the same way, when we see an emotional storm, or even a brief shower, on the way to our mental landscape, we can make sure we are hunkered down inside our home, with a cup of hot tea or chocolate, and a good book.

Sadness passes over us like a wind over the prairie. Sadness can stay a long time, but eventually it will move on. Sometimes when it doesn’t move on for days into weeks into months, we need to consider therapy and medication. But other times we are simply not providing enough mental shelter for ourselves to stay dry and safe.

When we sit out in the sadness and let the cold tears drench our clothes and give us hypothermia, we are asking for illness to manifest in our bodies. In a similar fashion, when we eat junk food and sit around staring at our screens all day we are asking illness to manifest in our bodies.

Illness is an imbalance, mental or physical. We need to support our immune system with a healthy diet, which includes a lot of good fats, meats, dairy, vegetables, and fruits. We also need to move our bodies every day. It does no good to say that we will exercise on the weekend and then sit on our asses all week. It is far better for our overall health to do some body movement every day, such as working with weights, taking a brisk walk, or doing some yoga. Move that body.

The important mental action is that we create habits and patterns that support our health and wellness. Daily is the key word here. If we want to lose weight it does no good to diet for several days and then eat crap for a month. In the same vein it does no good to write a novel for a week and then take a month off. You have to stay the course to make a difference in your life.