Oftentimes, we are living a double life, whether we immediately realize this or not. We are rushing around managing all of our daily obligations, making sure we’re meeting our commitments, interacting with others and checking off a to-do list, while inside we’re suffocating and begging for a breather. We’re completely disregarding our own health. I refer to this as a “separation of self.”
The world is chaotic, and we tend to wear multiple hats, taking on a variety of roles each day, usually without taking the time to check in with ourselves to ensure we’re even up for it. When our bodies show signs of slowing down or being too worn out, we often compensate with false and fleeting energy options, such as caffeinated beverages rather than opting for rest, we apply more make up than we normally would to hide the bags. We just keep going anyway. Because we realize we’re already maxed out, we don’t dare taking a few extra minutes to meditate or wind down at night.
Add a mental health diagnosis, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, or depression to this chaos, and we’re destined to fail. In the long run, we simply won’t be able to manage. Our bodies will eventually say enough is enough and instead of gradually allowing ourselves some much-needed balance by making time for self-care, we will collapse altogether. This is why it is all too common to see someone giving 110 percent on a daily basis for an extended period of time in a high-level position only to abruptly stop seeing them show up altogether. One day, you simply hear they’ve quit their job or had to take a hush-hush medical leave of absence. Instead of taking time to periodically check in, they’ve done what most of us do – pushed their minds and bodies to their breaking point. It wasn’t physically possible to keep going any longer.
Now, add addiction to the mix. You see, it’s extremely common, more common than the general public would like to admit, whether we’ve been diagnosed with a mental health ailment or not, to use substances to provide false assurance that could very realistically ultimately ruins our lives altogether. This doesn’t have to mean you decide to use cocaine to stay awake, although it could. It’s common to become addicted to caffeine, sleep aids, alcohol, over-the-counter stress reducers, and other, very legal prescription medications used to manage sleep deprivation, insomnia, shift work sleep disorder, sleep apnea, chronic fatigue syndrome, stress-induced anxiety and generalized anxiety – the list goes on and on. The common thread? No rest and no self-care.
The life-ruin shows up when we’ve chosen to extend stressful circumstances far beyond what our bodies were made to handle on their own and, thus, we’ve inadvertently induced a whole slew of physical health issues, including thyroid problems, anemia, diabetes, and heart problems, in addition to increased our anxiety levels, become completely unapproachable by those we “love” and have retreated into a covered-up deep depression in which we hate everything about ourselves. The life-ruin often includes dependency from those things that “keep us kickin’” and excruciating withdrawal should we choose to manage stress in a healthier way far too late. It could even mean death. This is a very real possibility.
So, let me stress, we must, must, must make time to ensure our mental, emotional and physical health is tended to on a daily basis in a healthy way. If we have been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, depression, a sleep disorder, insomnia or any related condition, we have been diagnosed with these things for a reason. Anything we do to try to self-medicate and manage these conditions on our own, particularly with the use of pills, drinks, unnatural supplements or the like is destined for failure. These things may provide a band-aid, they may provide temporary relief, but in the long run, they will cause us to fail. Take the time to have quiet moments to yourself, check-in, be “selfish” or “self-serving,” whatever anyone else wants to call this counter-culture behavior. Meditate, pray, read, journal, walk, do yoga. Make sure you refuel and revive your senses, so you can continue your journey undeterred.