Stress, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia… these are signs from our bodies that we need to slow down and smell the roses which, more often than not, we choose to ignore. I once read a quote that said ‘health is a crown worn by the healthy that only the sick can see’ and it is because of this quote that I was inspired to start my Wellness Series that have been in plan for the past few months. In this exciting series of posts, you can expect to learn some expert fitness tips, find my favourite workouts and healthy recipes and learn some more about natural medicine and holistic healing all while learning to listen to your body and put yourself first.
I know that we all have an insane number of things to do in our daily lives and hardly have the luxury of taking time out for ourselves, so I will try to keep each post as short as possible yet crammed with useful information that will make your week ahead a more pleasant and enriching one.
Many of you probably know that I suffer with a disorder called ‘Fibromyalgia’, which I will share some more about later in the week. All you need to know about it right now is that it’s horrible and a hard thing to live with but, it is also partially due to Fibro that I am doing these posts as I too feel that I need that little bit of motivation to treat my body with some more love. I am in no ways qualified as a health care practitioner and what works for me might not work for you but, I will be sharing some great advice from people who are experienced in their particular field and have the degree to prove it.
This is also a way for me to make changes to my life while putting it all out there in the hopes that I inspire at least one of you to take that extra few minutes a day and spend it solely on yourself. This is also particularly important for me this year as I, like many of you, have a thousand things to do every day and almost always feel overwhelmed and stressed to my core. So, how do we begin?
Write down what you want to achieve
Is it to work out more or even start working out? Or is it simply to change your diet for the better? Maybe you want to find a better way to deal with chronic pain? Whatever it is, write it down!
Clean out your space
I’m going to be completely honest, I am not the tidiest person around, I always have stuff lying about which, come to think of it, is mostly beauty products I am currently testing, books I am currently reading, a jersey and, at any given time, 2 pairs of socks in case I get cold. This week I am going to make a better effort to tidy up and make a room a more conducive place to work in by simply putting things where they belong. The best way for me to achieve a state of zen is to light a candle (my favourite right now is by Wild Olive as well as the Soy Lights range).
Up your water intake
I am not even going to begin to talk about how important water is, we all know it yet many of us would rather chug a 2L Coke than a glass of water. I find that I go through phases of where I drink water all the time and then, for the next week only have about 2 glasses a day (I know). This week however, my mission is to up my water intake and hopefully tone it down to one cup of coffee a day (I stopped drinking coffee for a while and then, when campus started and all the stress that came along with it attacked me, I ran back to my trusty old friend, Nescafe).
What can you do this week?
Every week I will be sharing a tip on what you can do for the week that will hopefully jump start your life and make you feel a little better which will either be something you can do, eat or drink and this week it will be something you can do and read!
DO: We all need to relax and rewind and the best way for me to do this is to go for a massage. I would highly recommend Sorbet Belvedere for their relaxing and detoxifying ‘Knock Your Tox off’ massage which you can read about here. However, it doesn’t matter where you go as long as it’s a relaxing environment and the therapist knows what they are doing.
READ: For those of you who suffer with a chronic illness such as fibromyalgia, anxiety or even dizziness, I would highly recommend that you give this article a read. It’s written by Anthony William in his book The Medical Medium and is an interesting take on the underlying causes of illness with specific focus on the Epstein Barr Virus. Read an excerpt here via the Goop website (which is also pretty informative).
Please do let me know what you think and if you will be joining me on this quest to healthy living. Until next time,
X
Fatima