Yesterday, I had too much stress.
It wasn’t any one thing, in particular, I just had too much on my mind, and it was creating stress in my body.
It began with a very slight headache behind my left eye, and then a general feeling of tightness all over my body.
When I was a busy television executive with three school-aged children, this was a daily occurrence. I thought it was normal to always have a headache and muscle tension by the end of the day.
But when I began to study mindfulness, meditation, and coaching, I learned while this might be very common, it is definitely not “normal.”
So last night, when my head was pounding, the old me would have just powered through the pain.
I would have stayed up late to finish my emails.
I would have done a few more chores around the house.
I would have simply ignored the signs that my body needed rest.
But instead of going to my default setting of hyper-vigilance, I mindfully made a different choice. I decided to “listen” to what my body needed.
I ate a healthy dinner, took an aspirin, drank some water, and then took a hot shower.
I let the hot water penetrate my tight muscles and I finished with a cold rinse.
A cold shower or cold rinse is thought to boost your immune system and alleviate depression and anxiety.
I was already feeling much better!
After my shower, I put on comfy sweatpants and turned off my phone for the night.
Then I sat down on the sofa with my husband and told him he could pick a TV show or movie, but it had to be a comedy. No news. No violence. No crime stories. Nothing that might trigger more stressful thoughts or stress chemicals in my body.
We ended up watching an old Paul Rudd movie and we laughed our heads off.
By the time I went to bed, my headache and muscle tension was gone, and I slept until the sun came up.
I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go… because I listened to what my body needed.
Do you listen to your body?
If so, what is it telling you that you NEED today?
Happy Wednesday!
xo, Jackie
P.S. If you need help reducing your daily stress so that you can feel better and create more success in your life, let’s chat. You can schedule a free consultation simply by clicking here.
P.P.S. The OverThinker’s Guide to Joy podcast will return with new episodes soon. If you haven’t checked out the podcast yet, now is your chance. You can listen by clicking here or wherever you get your podcasts.
