Stress. That horrible word makes my toes curl with frustration. When I’m stressed, I get anxious, agitated and lose all sight of healthy living. I begin eating food that is far from nourishing and omit going to the gym and stay in bed binge watching shows on Netflix instead. Before I know it, it becomes the new normal. Feeling drugged under all the sugar, jammed because of not exercising and crabby because of all the procrastination become way too familiar.
When last semester came near its end, I was feeling very busy. I don’t particularly like the word ’stress’, because that insinuates that somehow I’m not enjoying what I do. I do, I immensely enjoy everything that I have on my plate. It’s just that sometimes the plate gets too small for everything that is on it. As for my actual plates, they get filled with unhealthy foods ranging from sugary candies to fatty chips. I get tired, agitated and even more stressed than before.
It’s not always easy to know when to stop, so the mind does it for us. Exams, deadlines and all sorts of things that one needs to be on top of get closer and closer and the mind just can’t take it. It does put up a good fight usually, because admitting defeat doesn't seem appealing. But eventually the mind shuts itself down and that, at least in my case, results in nausea, dizziness and anxiety.
For the longest of times I’ve enjoyed zeroing everything out. Finding energy in good food, great company and exercising has been a great source of joy for me. This time it all got lost somewhere in the piles of assignments. To be quite honest, the moment I forgot to take care of myself was the moment it all begun to go wrong.
So now, a new semester is starting and I really need to take care of myself while still keeping myself focused. For me, taking care of myself means eating good, nourishing food and giving my body as well as my mind something to do. It’s about knowing when to calm down and to remind myself to breathe and refocus. It’s about being kind to myself and to others and about finding that inner peace and listening to it again.
With that, I want to welcome you to a wonderful adventure, to my Soothing Sundays.
With love,
Emilia
⎮ Soothing Sundays is a series of posts in which I go back to what is really important in a quest to find joy, serenity and a softer way of viewing the world. A new post will be up every Sunday in January. ⎮
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