Hey y'all! I have been a little MIA on the blog front for the last couple weeks. I have been hanging out a lot with the family I live with, seeing my dad and step mom and step sister from a far, enjoying the sunshine, and soaking up some time spent with my love! Due to the pandemic I have been a bit down because I can't see most of my family like I usually can, and won't be able to see my boyfriend for an unknown amount of time as he is a rockstar and starting his job as a nurse in a few days. I am hopeful that everyone is taking the necessary precautions during this pandemic (in the Austin area we are at a stage 4 which means you aren't supposed to leave your home except for essential errands and shouldn't be out in groups greater than 2. Just sayin'!). I just want to see my people again y'all! The sooner we start thinking of others more, the sooner we can go back to our "normals".
Speaking of preventing the vulnerable populations from getting sick by being a good person and taking the necessary precautions; let's talk about ways we tend to overlook our own health.
You are the only person that knows exactly how your body usually feels. When your joints start irritating you it's recognized as abnormal because you don't usually experience it, right? If you feel nauseous after you eat, if you have a headache when you wake up, you know these things don't happen all the time otherwise it wouldn't be noticeable. So why do so many people put up with these things?
I am the worst about listening to my body, and I'm a nursing major!!! In January of 2015 I thought I had pulled a muscle in my back while lifting, and it took until St. Patricks day (three months later, y'all!) for me to finally go to the doctor and find out I had kidney stones. In December of last year I started having a horrible tooth ache and didn't go to the dentist until last month. Guess who had a root canal! This girl! I am not writing this blog post because I think I know better than anyone else that might need to hear this. I'm writing it because I do, too.
I thought of writing on this this week because as a lot of you know I challenged myself to run 100 miles in April, and honestly I kicked some butt. But during some of those runs I would have a bit of leg pain in my calves and shins. I wrote it off because I figured it was because I wasn't stretching well, and it wasn't very persistent. Well this month I wanted to see if I could match my April runs and get back in the habit of exercising like I was! Barely a week into it I was met again with those leg pains and honestly y'all they were way worse. Like limping through runs and can't even touch my skin worse. My last run last week I had to call my mum to come get me because I couldn't walk the block back to our house. So after only a few days of convincing this time, I realized I need to listen to my body. Even if it is simple fixes like needing to stretch better, take a magnesium supplement, drink more water, or if it's something more "serious"; I need to listen.
As I started believing my family that this is something I should check out I also noticed the trend I have of not wanting to take better care of myself. I think that a lot of us do this because we feel that someone else probably has something bigger going on and we don't need all of the attention right now. Or sometimes we even feel that we could be exaggerating and it's not that big of a deal! Spoiler alert: if you are feeling pain, or discomfort in your own body... no one else is feeling that. It is up to you and I to relay that information to others so that they can help us if we need it. We were blessed with one body to live this life in, and we have to take care of it. We were made in the image of God, and I think He wants you to take care of yourself too!
Small ways I have been able to self care are: taking supplements, adding collagen to my coffee, buying and using muscle rollers, eating cleaner, noticing shifts in how my body feels and adapting my workouts to accommodate that!
If you are or have ever struggled with putting your health first I hope that this week you take a few minutes to yourself to assess how you're feeling and doing something to help yourself feel better if need be. You deserve to be heard and cared for, too!
Thank you so much for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to like or leave a comment with your thoughts, and subscribe so you never miss a post.
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