Getting Clarity for your Health & Wellbeing

I’m writing to you from Southampton England, from a 5th floor apartment. My neighbours are smoking so much weed that I’m fighting paranoia just from this second-hand user experience I’m having.

When business gets slow, and workload remains high, its time to pause.

We all need to pause to get clarity (And in case you were wondering the clarity isn’t about the grass I’m vicariously inhaling).

Mental health challenges during this crisis have never been higher. Just last night, my body bolted me awake the moment I fell asleep, because for some reason it thought my exhaustion meant I was dying.

I’ve not really been an anxiety sufferer before this year, but now I find myself drawn to taking active and deliberate measures to address some holes that have come up in my defences.

Sleep

The first mark of clarity is sleep. I’ve gone for many nights with just 4 hours of it, and the more I do that the more unstable my nervous system becomes. I don’t need eight hours, only 6 to be ok, but 4 means I’m opening myself to stress running rampant throughout the day.

Laughter

Before I go to bed, I watch something on TV that gives me a proper deep belly laugh. Its the greatest defence I’ve found to my stress hormones!

Food

The food I eat. We know that sugar wreaks havoc on our hormone balance and energy. All the lovely bread and croissants (my boy friend is French throw me a line here), orange juice and fruit all need trading in for lower glycaemic foods. How about that meat intake. Fish is still good — depending on where it is sourced and how it is farmed of course, as well as legumes, so having a lighter intake of other meats can be helpful, to your pocket, and to your overall well being.

Mental Stimulation

I’m writing more than ever, as a mechanism for bringing me greater clarity on my why, what I value, and what my goals are. Journaling is such an underestimated skill, that I urge you to consider adopting it at least once a week into your daily habits. Beyond the literally talents, I’m also singing. I’m bloody awful at it especially the older I get. 10 years of smoking (cigarettes not the weed) have taken their toll. Yet, I still bloody love it, and come on, you know you do too.

Action

Movement is tough at the moment. In a small flat without the ability to walk in the grass, I have to admit to losing it at times. But that’s where the music comes in. I often listen to classical music, and I stretch my body slowly aligned to the tone and rhythm of the piece: also because Its the only way I am going to attempt to stretch at the moment — very very slowly!

Fun

Most of all, don’t take yourself too seriously. My all time favourite thing to do every day now is to tune in to my 80s rock anthems on Spotify and just bang my head — and on occasion my hips. It reminds me that I was a frustrated teenager who couldn’t wait to grow up and go to work to earn money. Laughs on me.

New Normal New Rules

Think about your goals differently. A sustainable livelihood. Time to create. Time to learn. Time to grow in other ways. Then return to what ever it is you do; building a business, working for the man, what ever rocks your boat, but do it knowing what you want at the heart of all that you do.