We often hear the term wellness, regardless of the topic in question. It's connected to health or self-care epiphanies. Everyone in some way has spoken about wellness and their understanding of it. Additionally, I believe we live in a time where up-and-coming adults gravitate to spaces that amplify self-discovery and inner contentment. These lifestyle changes and models are influencing both younger and older generations to take back control and take charge of their life. You're investing in yourself --- trust that it's not for nothing. Before you can realign your health goals or create new ones, I want to ensure you get started on the right foot. Understanding the foundations of health and wellness can alter the inner parts of your mind. This change can generate achievable goals and promises to yourself. In return, you're more likely to honor these commitments. When you prioritize your needs, your self-care routine grows exponentially. You are courteous to yourself. You treat yourself with compassion. You are intentional about habits of rest and recharge. You gradually begin to reaffirm the amazing person you are and fix the filter in which you view yourself.
\ud83d\udce2Speak this over yourself: You are an asset; not an unstable liability.\ud83d\udce2
No matter how many times others tell you of your greatness; if you do not shift your self-perception, you will have a difficult time believing this truth. What is the truth? The truth is — you bring value to any environment and any room you stand in. As you mature, your mind highlights what is unfavorable than what is favorable, what we dislike over what brings us joy. For this reason, the first thing you see when you examine yourself is everything you dislike; Everything you want to change about yourself.If you never see yourself as valuable (lacking in any good trait or quality) or not worth the time and investment, you will have less motivation to change the things you have the power to change through daily, smart choices. I will not force you to change anything you're not ready to change, nor is it my agenda to influence you into a 30-minute self-pity talk or a downward spiral. The purpose of this blog post is to initiate and prioritize a conversation with yourself, increasing your self-awareness in your current position.
What is wellness?
If you research the term wellness, a list will populate with both healthy-based definitions to scientific definitions. For simplicity, let’s agree to the definition from the Global Wellness Institute. Wellness is defined as “the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.” Holistic health is another term for the inclusion of multiple areas of the body. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are all areas that require your brain. Another element I want to emphasize is the health and fruitfulness of your environment. Our environment plays a crucial role in how we acknowledge our feelings and the feelings we allow our bodies to process and navigate through. You must dissociate with slow-killing, self-destructive habits. We remove any satisfaction from suppressing our emotions.
Let us begin with the first two areas — your spiritual and emotional health. These two areas are directly related whether you believe it or not. When undergoing arduous challenges in your spiritual life, your ability to compartmentalize and regulate emotions becomes more burdensome. The state of your spiritual health heavily influences your brain and heart. For example, imagine a time when you felt distant from life and distant from God. For this example, it is safe to say life feels like a revolving door without an exit; you deeply desire to crawl out and experience a change. However, it's impossible. In these moments, we are aware that our irritation is heightened. Our disappointment in various things and people is dangerously high. If you're an excessively honest person, you've accepted your emotional cup is about ¾ full of pure FED-UP. Every morning, you start your day with a more dense emotional spectrum. There is no room for you to handle the extra surprises of feelings and unfortunate life events that are inevitably bound to pop up in your week. A problem is present in your wellness, and this is sign #1!
Next, let’s cover our mental and physical health. More often than not, humans, including myself, need to witness some change in our physical health to embrace the need for change. Our eyes help us accept our current reality, and how we process this information drives our ambitions and next steps. Have you ever heard the saying, how we look is a peek into our mind? Here's a common American colloquial phrase: how someone treats their car shows you how they would treat and care for their home. Maybe even their life and any environment they are responsible for. How you think of yourself is fed into the treatment and care of your temple. Weight gain or weight loss is not the only sign to hint at this. The emotions most prevalent in your life influence your fashion choices, the type of diet you curate, and so much more.
The last bit to discuss is your environment. Your environment can enhance your well-being and add to you. Your environment can guide light, youthful, and positive energy into your being. Conversely, it can take away every ounce of hope, goodness, and sustainability rooted in you. It can amplify darkness (inability to hear), emptiness (the lack of pursuit to uncover YOUR why), and confusion about your worth and identity. It can gradually expel everything innately good about you.
The place you call home or most frequently engage in the necessities of life is where you "should" be able to be, to exist. In other words, it’s a place where you can exist with no outside influence or pressure. You should be able to sit in your identity and own who you are. If it is more taxing and energy-depleting to reenter yourself at home than live outside in a busy congested world, something is seriously wrong. A problem is present in your wellness, and this is sign #2! You should not feel more drained and depressed in the place you call home. Your environment helps you prepare for the emotions you'll broadcast into the world. Your environment can either build a driven, optimistic human or a non-ambitious, anxious human. Our environment includes more than our home. It includes the 5 most frequented places for us. Think of your workplace, your church, and your safe friendships.
What can you do with this information?
At this point, I must challenge you to be a better nurturer and keeper of yourself. Otherwise, what's the point of reading this blog post? I challenge you to assess each area of your life on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 is equivalent to absolutely not; 5 is I’m content and radiating peace. Rate the tranquillity of each area. Is your mind at peace and happy? Is your spirit and relationship with God radiating peace right now? Is your temple (body) content and satisfied with what it reflects? Continue to adjust the questions for each part of your health. At the end of your ratings, commit to uncovering the areas with the highest ratings. Only two areas at a time, s’il vous plait (please)!
Ask the questions that prompt you to recognize heavy feelings. Ask the questions you’ve silenced because "it's just not the right time." There will never be a perfect time. The side effects you’re experiencing are coming from at least one of these areas. Do not coach yourself to be okay with negligence. Stop neglecting the things God said you are in control of and all that you have dominion over.
You are ready to feel and see something different in YOU.
Your wellness is your solution.
Jaime Garrett🪴
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Have you noticed any sudden changes within your body? Are you noticing the warning signals and interpreting these signals correctly?
Your body is an intelligent, meticulously designed, complex system that knows how to inform your brain that something is not working correctly. While there is no harm in investigating each organ system to establish whether there is a dysfunction present, you could save time by focusing on the more urgent concerns, the red warning lights.
Common Areas of Concern
The first question you should ask yourself is: Where are you experiencing frequent inflammation? Inflammation is a sign your body has identified something as out of order. Inflammation could also mean that a specific organ or body part is under-working or overworking to help your body maintain homeostasis. The second question you should ask yourself is: Have you noticed any drastic changes in your energy levels? Are you more sluggish throughout the day? Is your energy level very sporadic and unpredictable regardless of how much sleep you get? The third question you should ask yourself is: How easy is it for you to focus throughout the day?
Ultimately, it is very common for your body to signal warning signals through various forms of inflammation, inconsistent levels of energy, and your inability or difficulty to focus.
I will briefly describe general ways to analyze each category introduced above. In each section, I will provide some good starting questions to assist you with discerning the urgency of your warning signals.
*Disclaimer: I am not providing this information in hopes that you will supplement it with professional medical advice. Please follow up with a certified medical professional for diagnosis of medical conditions.
A. Inflammation
Understanding and pinpointing the inflammation in your body may need medical assistance. External inflammation is much easier to locate and treat because you typically see this through swelling, discoloration, pain, or abnormal/high sensitivity in that part of your body. Internal inflammation can be difficult and convoluted because one organ can be inflamed from an issue in an entirely different organ system. So, it is crucial to assess the type of inflammation you are experiencing and then determine the location in the body. Once you've categorized the kind of inflammation you're experiencing, proceed to ask yourself these questions:
Now, let's transition to the second category—your energy levels.
B. Energy Levels
One of the most noticeable signs of dysfunction in the body is your energy levels. I am sure you've heard the quote, "You are what you eat," and if the quote on the front page of my website does not reiterate this message, let alone the business name, somewhere along the way, I have not done my part.\ud83d\ude42
Obtaining an entire night's rest in your sleep window (yes, this is a real thing) may fix and realign your energy levels. At the same time, how your body processes and digests food can impact your energy levels significantly. If you are at the point where no matter how much you eat or sleep, you're lethargic, sluggish, exhausted, and more, it is plausible your body is not getting the nutrients it needs to function at its best. Additionally, your organ systems could be experiencing difficulties because you have not accounted for your body's design, food sensitives, and body structure.
For example, most people understand that beans are a great way to include fiber in their diet. However, beans are commonly known for producing gas in the digestive tract. All beans contain a sugar called oligosaccharide, and the body cannot break down and process this sugar. Part of the reason my body cannot digest beans is due to the abnormal curvature of my spine, as well as a hypersensitivity to this food category. Structurally, my stomach is positioned extremely close to my left rib cage. Once I consume any portion of beans, organ inflammation begins as the food item travels through my digestive system. As the body tries to transform this food into energy, the sugar contained in beans continuously releases in the intestines faster than my body can process. This interaction creates extreme bloatedness, fatigue, nauseousness, and other symptoms. It is important to note that organ inflammation in the digestive tract dramatically slows the digestion process and this is very dangerous if not monitored and corrected. An usuaul, slower digestion process can impact how frequently you eat and disrupt your energy levels since your body cannot cultivate a good rhythm to recharge and refuel the energy you use throughout the day. Under these circumstances, you are potentially creating an opportunity for your body to overcompensate in other areas it shouldn’t be. This is an example of both inflammation and energy levels signaling an important warning message. Where have you encountered issues with your energy levels?
Here are some questions to get your mind thinking in the right direction:
C. Focus
Immediately, I think of the song lyric, 'Can you focus on me?' by H.E.R. Most of us struggle with focus, and we have identified environments and tips to help us focus better. Nonetheless, I am not referring to these personal facts about your temperament. I am discussing the type of focus that you need to be present in your day-to-day routine. Each day, we have a list of responsibilities we must tend to and that need our focus. If you are struggling with keeping your attention on any of these responsibilities and completing the required tasks, it may be time to assess if a warning message is going off. It is super important here to initially establish pre-existing attributes about yourself. An example of this would be if you know through diagnosis that you have ADHD, ADD, or other conditions that can impede your focus.
To assess whether this is an area of concern for you, ask yourself these questions:
It's Time to Do the Work!
Now that I've covered the most common areas where your body could be signaling a warning message and provided some basic questions in each area, I hope you can come to some unique revelations on what needs your attention most. Please use a notepad or journal application on your most used device, or feel free to use a physical journal to document your responses along the journey. You will not remember this information in your head.
In this process, be patient and intentional. Patience matters because you recognize you did not get to where you are overnight. Intentionality matters because you will never be able to fully commit to any lifestyle changes without understanding the ‘why’ behind your actions and choices. Intentionality and patience help you stick to your plans and goals when the process becomes tiresome or arduous.
Once again, everything in life is a process. Try to enjoy the process as much as possible and reframe from comparing your needs to the next person's needs. Everybody is uniquely designed, which was done on purpose by the best creator ever.
Jaime🪴
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What is your body trying to tell you, but you're ignoring the signals?
For years, I would cook all types of dishes. Some dishes fit the down south comfort food criteria. Some meals were classic five-star restaurant meals. At the beginning of my cooking journey, I challenged myself to be creative and make cooking fun. I would not use a recipe. I would buy random ingredients (that I was familiar with) or use whatever was in my house. I become more knowledgeable of what mixes with what, what spices are needed for a certain taste, and trusting my intuition. I listened to whatever my mind and spirit were leading me to do. Some might even say 'your ancestor's guidance'. As a surprise to me, these dishes would exceed my expectations. I found myself making spur-of-the-moment meals with whatever was in the refrigerator. These dishes were and still are original. However, several of these dishes were not always healthy, as they had a large amount of dairy and other heavy ingredients. However, there was one guarantee with my meals... you always felt full and happy.
It wasn't until recent years I was forced to change my diet to tend to the needs of my body. Due to chronic health issues, I could not afford to neglect the needs of my body. It felt like my body was screaming at me with inflammation in various parts of my body, pain everywhere, gut/digestion issues, constant fatigue, severe acne, and many other symptoms. Changing my diet was not the only thing I did to get healing, but it played a vital part in my healing. From my own life experiences and listening to other young adults share their testimonies, several young to middle-aged adults are dealing with invisible illnesses or silent killers. And, you would not think they were dealing with these issues because 1) they are "so young". And 2) they looked physically healthy/fit.
There is this misconception and biased mindset that if you can see someone's extra weight, or if they do not fit the stereotypical image of people in their weight/height group, they are labeled as unhealthy. The same goes for the slim or "fit-looking" individuals. And that is one of the biggest myths we could ever believe. There are more factors to take into consideration surrounding one's health. There is more than what meets the eye. Some of my content will cover these topics to help unlearn what's wrong and relearn what is right through what we eat. I promise I won't be one of those people who use their platform to vent about all of their opinions and thoughts. I will only share the necessary points.
I am excited to start this journey with you. I cannot fulfill my purpose without you, and while I am here, I WILL create an impact in my community.
Whether it's your first time here, a friend, or whomever, I pray Enr-gee waters and feeds a seed within you to care for your body better. And to anybody struggling right now, life will get better. Rain is inevitable. Storms are inevitable. But, you must believe it will pass just as much as you believe your storm is necessary for your journey. Your struggles and tribulations are not just for you.
Let's feed the soul.
Jaime
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