The Mind-Body Connection
Don’t Neglect Your Body as You Develop Your Mind.
I was talking to my husband late last night about the things that are preying on my mind these days. He leaves for a contract job 1000 miles away from us next week and I am hunkered down trying to ride out the emotional turbulence leading up to his departure: all of the last minute home improvements, the disorganized clutter involved with finding passports, social security cards, etc., the cleaning and packing.
Weeks before he was offered this position, I had begun rebuilding the support system that anyone with children and bipolar disorder should have. I dumped a slew of doctors who were not helping me and connected with a new, action and goal-oriented counselor. I reconnected with friends and neighbors and started reaching out to my church community.
In essence, I was doing all of the things that you should to develop emotional wellness. I really wanted to make sure I had a good system in place before I hit the spring time mixed states, or even worse, suffered a relapse of the wild mood swings I had this time last year. I made a decision not to pursue any new medications, after a string of scary adverse reactions, and instead to return to the lifestyle-management treatment program that had previously served me well.
What I was not doing was taking care of my physical wellness. Oh, I go to the dentist and get issues resolved, I go to the doctor and have check ups and tests, but I eat a constant influx of questionable foods and I don’t exercise. I am a walking example of how not to take care of yourself.
Last night, in talking to my husband about my myriad worries, I finally unburdened myself and admitted that I did not feel well. I have been making really good progress on my emotional wellness, but I have completely neglected my physical wellness and that omission was undermining all of my efforts. I feel fat and unhealthy and it leaches into my subconscious and consciousness at inopportune moments. I sleep fitfully. I feel self-conscious. It leaves me depressed.
A lot of people have the opposite problem, they focus on the physical and neglect their mental health. I’m here to say that we need to find balance in both, we need take care of ourselves in a holistic way, addressing not one or the other, but both.
This is a resolution, I suppose, on my part to make a commitment to my physical wellness as well as my emotional wellness in the days to come.
wildtomato Said,
March 26, 2009 @ 5:15 pm
Good luck on your journey, especially with lunadad’s upcoming work schedule.
I find that for me to feel human, I need to actively schedule workouts and time with friends. This sounds awful, but I treat it like work, complete with task lists and time lines. So many days, I’d rather stay put and not make an effort, but when I slip is when I start to feel down and disconnected.
Meera Said,
March 27, 2009 @ 10:14 am
I have to echo wildtomato – I need to schedule in at least a walk every few days and a social engagement at least once a week. I often end up doing more and sometimes it is exhausting, but at all times it has been better than not doing anything. I also tend to be in better spirits if I work out – will it help you if you thought of activity and eating well as a way to emotional health rather than just physical health?
lunasmom Said,
March 27, 2009 @ 10:27 am
It’s a vicious cycle. I’m tired, so I put off exercise. I put off exercise therefore I am tired all the time. Because I work from home, I never have to “kickstart” in the morning. With lunasdad’s move, I will be in charge of all the tasks he had been taking charge of, including getting the boys to school and daycare and getting the dogs walked. I am hoping I can incorporate a system of exercise into a regular schedule since I will have about an hour to kill between when I have dropped off the kids and when my work day begins. Also, making sure I take my lunch break on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I don’t have to pick up the tank from school, will help as well. I can go for a bike ride, a walk, or take the dogs to the park. I need the pressure, right now, in order to develop the habit. It’s harder to develop the habits because lunasdad did most of the stuff that involved leaving the house!