Healthy Mind-Healthy Body
Mental health is one of the most undervalued assets we can have. In many cultures, seeking help or even admitting that you don’t feel happy or content with your life is considered a weakness.
The truth is, we all struggle in our minds. We all have our demons to deal with, whether we accept them or not. These demons can take the joy and desire out of everything we do, and, if not attended to, they will cause physical symptoms just as well.
We all have heard or witnessed someone showing physical symptoms like partial paralysis or becoming catatonic after a horrific traumatic experience. Most of us do not feel the need to manage our stress and anxiety levels during our daily lives, assuming that such physical symptoms won’t show up. It is quite the contrary.
Our bodies are highly sophisticated systems that have evolved to stay alive at all costs. Meaning, if one part of the body fails to complete its responsibilities, another area will compensate for it. That is a very efficient strategy to stay alive in the short term; however, the entire system starts to fall apart in the long run. It is an extreme measure to survive, not to stay healthy.
Small doses of constant stress can lead to things: like chronic anxiety, loss of appetite, and insomnia, which leads to all sorts of metabolic dysfunction. That is where our bodies start to shatter. Although our bodies give us enough signals, we usually disregard them: Mild headaches, loss of appetite or increase in appetite, muscle, and joint pain, cramps that come and go, injuries that occur out of nowhere, back pain, blurred vision, very short and mild pains around our bodies. Even our psyche is telling us something is wrong; constant mood swings, irritability, lack of desire to do anything are all pretty good signs that there is something wrong which we have normalized and come to ignore.
Our physical well-being is entirely associated with our mental health. One cannot be without the other. Exercising, proper nutrition, proper sleep cycles are vital parts of our physical health; however, most of us don’t give enough importance to these. Feeling physically powerful and alive translates into being mentally tough and powerful just the same. A strong mind can exist only in a strong body. Alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, and processed sugar are all great for momentary spikes of dopamine; however, in the long run, they will only make you feel miserable afterward. The misery I am talking about is the state of your body. The overall low energy cycles we get when we don’t look after ourselves is something we’ve come to live with; however, I have to say, until you start feeling good, you don’t realize just how bad you felt.
When I mean a strong mind, I am not talking about being cheerful all the time. Usually, when people insist that they are happy all the time, it is to avoid reality. Acting like we are joyful all the time can fool others but cannot fool us. Running away or avoiding hard, unpleasant truths about ourselves is not the best way to deal with your problems. Even though you might not address it at that specific moment, it is still there inside your head, and it gets only heavier with time. We are our greatest critics, and if we don’t learn to be more accepting of ourselves, then we start to torment ourselves instead.
The constant competition for success in our societies has made us forget about what is more important than anything: ourselves.
I have personally experienced dramatic changes in my overall mood and ability to manage stress after I began taking time off to spend time with myself. Spend time with yourself, listen without judgment, accept your shortcomings and work to better them, take walks, cook decent food, read more, don’t do things that you know are destructive for you-but you do anyway to punish yourself. Remember, your past self is a different older version of who you are today. Learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them, don’t dwell on them. If you have trouble starting such a path, seek professional help. But don’t forget, results won’t happen overnight. It takes time and practice to change your habits of action and thought.
Your mind can be your worst enemy or your greatest ally. It all depends on how you nurture it.
