Let your body take care of you- Deepak Chopra
Many years ago, I was running on complete and total empty. As an adult woman, I laid my head in my mom’s lap, at a restaurant no less, and was totally physically, mentally, and spiritually spent. I was consciously sacrificing my health because I thought the time it took to care for myself was getting in the way of work. My wise mother asked me how I was doing with the basics- water, food, exercise, sleep, and spirit. I realized I was operating all wrong. First, work is never more important than me, than my health. In fact, fortifying my health makes me better at my work. It’s a necessary foundation.
In one week of really focusing on my basics, I felt so much better, and now I think about the basics a lot. When I’m working with clients, we check in on these areas from time to time. Even though I am not a professional athlete or health coach, I am convinced these areas are non-negotiable essentials for effective leadership and a full life.
To spare us many pages of me reporting information that is all over the internet, let’s just assume for fun that I’m right that all of these areas are important to manage. (I love when we assume I’m right.) If you doubt any of them, fire up the Google machine! My hope is that it is helpful to hear how I manage the basics.
Water
Whenever something feels off, I first think about how much water I’ve had that day. Most people need 0.5 ounces to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight a day. To get it all in, I drink at least 30 ounces before breakfast and always have a larger water bottle nearby. The days I struggle to get my fill are the days when I don’t have it in front of me, ready to go.
Healthy diet
I am not a medical professional, and there are too many perspectives on healthy eating out there. You don’t need me to weigh in. That said, I will encourage you to check your diet when you’re not operating at your best. Need help? There are so many great nutritionists out there, and many health plans cover at least the initial conversation.
Here’s the hard thing, though- how many times have you been stressed and said, “You know what I really want? A salad!” Probably close to none. Instead you want that scone, some mac & cheese, or a candy bar, perhaps? Studies show that stressed out animals prefer sugar and fat. But that sugar and fat can cause you to feel sluggish and eventually takes a toll on your overall health. So while you may be highly compelled not to eat healthily at high-stress times, consider pushing against habit to create a short-term win that may help reduce stress in general.
Exercise
I’ve never once said, “Man, I should NOT have gone to the gym today.” And I’m not someone who particularly loves athletic adventures. I just know how happy, clear, and useful I can feel after I get my heart rate up.
I try to exercise three to four times a week, twice on the weekend and twice during the week. This tends to be the first thing to go (or not even make it) on the calendar when I’m scheduling clients or time with my family, so I hold four times a week on the calendar well in advance. That way, I begin to see it as a non-negotiable that needs to fit in.
Really feel like you can’t fit it in? I feel you, and I have been there. I would encourage you to get creative. Perhaps there is a call you can take from a treadmill when you’re not presenting or taking notes? Could you suck up to the HR people to create a healthy office challenge and encourage mid-day workouts? Or do what I did when I was training for a marathon and working in banking- go running at 9pm or 10pm when you can swing it. We are meant to move.
Sleep
We are also meant to sleep. Again, there is a lot of good research about sleep. Headline: it’s important. When you’re off your game, consider your sleep. Is it consistently enough? If not, what do you need to do to get rest? For me, it’s thinking about when I need to wake up and counting back by eight hours. It’s also remembering how miserable I am when I don’t get the sleep I need, even when I really want to watch another show.
Get connected
My mom would call this “spiritual practice.” Some of my friends would call this tapping into your “source.” You might think of this as “purpose.” The whole point is to connect with the something that’s bigger than you and a view into who you are at your core- it could be your god, your meaning, your purpose, the earth.
For me, it’s 15 minutes of meditation and 5 minutes of journaling. Sometimes it’s daily and sometimes it’s way less frequent than that. But at the very least, it is a few minutes of conversation with my daughter at the end of every day to recap what we are most grateful for.
Oh, also, sunscreen. Just do that.
Please allow me to be clear- my life does not look like one of those yogurt commercials where the lady wakes at 5am to do yoga and journal and eat totally organic, hand-picked produce in a beautiful all white loft apartment in a totally unidentifiable city. I am not encouraging you to apply perfectionism to your self-care. But what I do know is that without the basics, I will not give my best to the world. And I’ve learned I would rather do a little less and be fully revved up for it than doing it all on low fumes.
So what’s sparking for you? Do you want to get back to the basics? Are there other considerations that are “basic” to you? How can you mindfully include them in your life?
An important note: If you are feeling really out of whack, and I get that, I recommend checking your basics and also seeking medical or mental health support.
Photo from Unsplash, credit to Corinne Kutz
