With flu and cold season upon us and some COVID variants sprinkled in, the groundwork has been laid to actively remind us to pause when we’re running too fast or spread ourselves thin. Sometimes we just keep chugging along without even realizing it and then BAM! at the drop of a hat, we’re flat on our bed with a sudden onset of aches and pains and find ourselves so fatigued that we can’t get out of bed.  This is exactly what happened to me Wednesday morning this week.

At first there’s resistance – as in can I really afford to lose an entire day?  There’s so much to do! I simply cannot do this now.  Then, there’s the realization that acceptance is the ONLY option and I give into the indulgence and ever-needed sleep.  It’s as if this bug has me at gunpoint – only the message is “You need to STOP, TAKE A BREAK and CANNOT CONTINUE LIKE THIS. If you do, you’ll just cause more long-term damage to your health, your body, and your mind in the long-run.”  At least that’s my interpretation of the message.

Onto the deeper part of the acceptance phase . . . where I’m forced to reflect on the situation and message.  As I come in and out of consciousness with sleep, my energy level is so depleted I don’t bother to turn on my phone nor do I go near a computer to be lured into checking just one email.  I honestly don’t even have the strength to open my eyes to watch TV or Netflix on the iPad right next to me. With each few minutes of wakefulness and as my strength is slowly regained, here are the unfiltered insights that came through:

• My immediate family actually does care. Both teenage daughters independently came to check on me several times throughout the day and brought chicken noodle soup, gatorade and half a grilled cheese sandwich. My husband stopped by the store to pick up extra gatorade on the way home. Had no appetite, but sincerely appreciated the thoughtfulness and attention. Even my dog, after not seeing him for at least 24 hours, gave me the most welcoming greeting when I mustered the strength to go to the kitchen to warm up the soup. His tail wouldn’t stop wagging and he brushed up against me for more petting.
• I’m so happy and grateful for the reminder to rest and the opportunity to get the rest I needed; even though I didn’t even know I needed it.
• My neck and shoulder muscles were the most achy and served as a reminder to consciously relax them throughout the day.
• Between periods of rest, I did read a few lines of a book on wellness and healing – maybe that’s a little too productive, I’ll admit.  Part of the reason for this was my strong desire to get back on my feet quicker.  It had some amazing exercises which I think really helped speed up my recovery.  Therefore, I’m so appreciative of resources like these.  The biggest takeaway from what I read was that if you can catch any negative emotions early enough, it’s possible to stave off some of the scarier diseases and prevent them from happening – which was super hopeful!
• I’m so happy and grateful for wise healers like the author of the book that share their wisdom with us.  The name of the book is called “Wisdom to Wellness: Healing Your Emotional Sufferings so the Physical Healing Can Follow”, by Maureen Jones.  I highly recommend it!  It’s one of the best books I’ve read on health from the inside out and getting to the root cause of what’s really causing the issue.
• A few of the exercises in the book I experimented with focus on self-love, which is an area I’ve been working on recently.  Given this, I’m the most happy and grateful for the opportunity to turbo-charge my self-love journey through those exercises.  Within minutes of practicing these, my energy returned and I was in complete amazement of the level of healing that took place.  Yes, it could’ve been a 24 hour flu bug, but I’m convinced otherwise.  

Frankly, had I not been bed-bound I never would have even tried these exercises or came across the wisdom until much later and who knows if that would’ve been too late.  

The final phase is the test . . . the next day, I felt much better.  Given what I just experienced and learned, I eased into the day at just the right pace and checked in with my body to see if it needed further rest and consumed small amounts of soup as my appetite returned.  I also decided to spend some extra time with my daughter and take one step at a time.

The trick will be in practicing listening to my body and pacing myself so that I don’t get another forced reminder to rest. Since this isn’t my first rodeo, I’m sure I’ll get another forced reminder from time to time.  The goal would be to get better and better at it each round, so that one day I can avoid it altogether!