Hahahahaha
That's my response to myself taking 27 years to learn that full, proper rest when you are sick, actually makes you better faster.
Hahahahaa IT ACTUALLY DOES!
Wow. Some of you might be rolling your eyes, scratching your heads, thinking "JJ.... aren't you, like a fitness professional and yoga teacher? Didn't you know that? Isn't 'listening to your body' supposed to be your jam? Why is this a blog-worthy topic? Don't you owe me $5?"
And I whip my freshly trimmed fringe to the side, cough a deep chesty cough that makes strangers say "you should get that looked at" and sheepishly respond to you: "Ah, yes, listening to my body is supposed to be my jam but sometimes my body speaks in tongues I cannot understand, or misinterpret."
You know.... my body might say "give me carrots" and I hear "give me cheese"
It might say "I feel tired, let's not ride 10km to work then do a workout" and I hear "I feel tired, let's do a workout before riding 10km to work and then do a workout."
It might say "I have had a big week, I want the couch" and I hear "I've had a big week, I want an espresso martini."
Well, this week, admittedly probably from too much of the pushing and not so much listening, I was smote down with influenza. I thought it was a chest infection, and normally push through (see the theme here) a few days for it to rear its' head before calling the Doc, but as I had to work 8 days that week then go home to NZ, I didn't want to take any chances. The next day, I was hardly able to breathe, move, smile, or eat, I was that crook. A few blood tests, nasal swab and asthma tests meant the Doc said I was not to work or exercise for the rest of the week.
I did it. What the Dr told me to. No work. No exercise, not even riding my bike. I barely left the house, instead, made a little snot den for myself where everything was within arms reach and napped for hours on end throughout the day. I was surrounded with a Narnia-snow like dusting of tissues, boxes of tablets, half empty cups of lemsip.
I rotated my dribbly pillows and coughed expressively, on the worst day some of my phlegm got on the carpet.
Better out than in.
During my yoga teacher training in India, some of us would fall asleep during meditation. We asked our gurus if this was bad, and how to stop it, and they simply replied that if we are falling asleep, it means we need more rest.
***the cogs turn***the penny drops***
There, one of the greatest lessons I did open myself up to learning is to actually- as cliche as the expression has become- listen to my body, with a patient translator, rather than just misinterpreting it straight away. In the months since then, the noise of the working western world has been interfering with my body's messages a bit, not always. Being sick and actually resting (I have almost recovered and that is with 3 days full rest, normally I would be sick for a week and a half, pushing through at full speed, downing cold and flu tablets and honey ginger cayenne pepper tea.)
This period of rest has given me a chance to reset that barometer and work my way up again. Till then, back to the snot den!
In a more lighthearted note, here is a list of famous hypochondriacs I found:
That's my response to myself taking 27 years to learn that full, proper rest when you are sick, actually makes you better faster.
Hahahahaa IT ACTUALLY DOES!
Wow. Some of you might be rolling your eyes, scratching your heads, thinking "JJ.... aren't you, like a fitness professional and yoga teacher? Didn't you know that? Isn't 'listening to your body' supposed to be your jam? Why is this a blog-worthy topic? Don't you owe me $5?"
And I whip my freshly trimmed fringe to the side, cough a deep chesty cough that makes strangers say "you should get that looked at" and sheepishly respond to you: "Ah, yes, listening to my body is supposed to be my jam but sometimes my body speaks in tongues I cannot understand, or misinterpret."
You know.... my body might say "give me carrots" and I hear "give me cheese"
It might say "I feel tired, let's not ride 10km to work then do a workout" and I hear "I feel tired, let's do a workout before riding 10km to work and then do a workout."
It might say "I have had a big week, I want the couch" and I hear "I've had a big week, I want an espresso martini."
Well, this week, admittedly probably from too much of the pushing and not so much listening, I was smote down with influenza. I thought it was a chest infection, and normally push through (see the theme here) a few days for it to rear its' head before calling the Doc, but as I had to work 8 days that week then go home to NZ, I didn't want to take any chances. The next day, I was hardly able to breathe, move, smile, or eat, I was that crook. A few blood tests, nasal swab and asthma tests meant the Doc said I was not to work or exercise for the rest of the week.
I did it. What the Dr told me to. No work. No exercise, not even riding my bike. I barely left the house, instead, made a little snot den for myself where everything was within arms reach and napped for hours on end throughout the day. I was surrounded with a Narnia-snow like dusting of tissues, boxes of tablets, half empty cups of lemsip.
I rotated my dribbly pillows and coughed expressively, on the worst day some of my phlegm got on the carpet.
Better out than in.
During my yoga teacher training in India, some of us would fall asleep during meditation. We asked our gurus if this was bad, and how to stop it, and they simply replied that if we are falling asleep, it means we need more rest.
***the cogs turn***the penny drops***
There, one of the greatest lessons I did open myself up to learning is to actually- as cliche as the expression has become- listen to my body, with a patient translator, rather than just misinterpreting it straight away. In the months since then, the noise of the working western world has been interfering with my body's messages a bit, not always. Being sick and actually resting (I have almost recovered and that is with 3 days full rest, normally I would be sick for a week and a half, pushing through at full speed, downing cold and flu tablets and honey ginger cayenne pepper tea.)
This period of rest has given me a chance to reset that barometer and work my way up again. Till then, back to the snot den!
In a more lighthearted note, here is a list of famous hypochondriacs I found:
Famous Hypochondriacs
Adolf Hitler
Florence Nightingale
Andy Warhol
Charles Darwin
Hans Christian Anderson
Marcel Proust
Tennessee Williams
Howard Hughes
Hahahahahahaha (That is my laughter also being the best medicine)
Jj
No comments:
Post a Comment