Soapbox of Perception - Because I Care

I'll admit I enjoy being taken care of… to a point.  A roof over my head, someone to cook my meals.  I'd really like someone to clean my house.  Doors opened for me.  The little things that make one feel special.

I'll also admit, reluctantly, that my physical body has been through stuff which means I need to take care of myself… to a point.  I need to pay more attention to the things I eat.  I need to take temperature and exertion levels into account when I plan an outing (or a job hunt).  I need to know that this buzzy feeling in the head means anxiety while that one means shortness of breath and the other one means energetic work and that one, that one means there's something eating my hair.

However, all this specialness, all these adventures of body and soul, are nothing special.  They are attributes of my life, but they make me no better and no worse a person than Stephen Hawking or Steven Seagal or Stefen Smith.  We all have our challenges, we all have our skills, we all have our personality quirks.

Therefore, there is absolutely no reason to look for more reasons to be taken care of.  Lactose tolerance, allergies and arthritis, memory issues and muscle ticks and sensitivity to light, or vibes, or whatever.  There is absolutely no need to create mountains out of these molehills, to add another pill to the parade, to turn my medical information notecard into an essay.

So why, when feeling uncertain, confused, or even hopeless, why is the first impulse to find more impediments to my vision of a happy life?  Ah, that twinge must be the beginning of a migraine.  Oop, there's the gastro-intestinal distress.  Oh!  I must have carpal tunnel from typing so much.  And low blood sugar.  And high blood pressure.  And sinus infection.  And more allergies!  The more I sit here and mope about my body, the more issues I can find with my body and soon, if I sit here long enough, someone else will have to take care of me because I will be nothing except disease.

Yuck.

While I acknowledge the dependence our bodies have upon  nutrition and exercise; while I reluctantly bow to the evidence that my emotions, as well as my health, are affected by chemicals; still, there is no reason to BE the vitamin supplements, the medication, the dietary restrictions. My energy and motivation may be driven by those chemicals, but my passions, my integrity, my dreams are a different reality.  Yes, the body ages and changes, but giving it permission to deteriorate is, basically, lazy.

It is time to care for myself in a positive fashion. It is time to  finding healing solutions instead of painful problems.  To Care is to encourage through healthy thought. It that a twinge? Then slap some healing energy on it right now. Does the ankle feel weak? Time for some strengthening exercises.  Age simply means I have more will, a stronger will, and more reason to keep myself as healthy as possible.  More reason to THINK myself happy & healthy.

Yes, it is nice to be cared for. But it's tough to be in someone else's care, ad hence, in someone else's power. If I truly Care for me, I will quit encouraging the sinus pain & the allergies & the palpitations. These are now obstacles to my happy, healthy, wealthy life. And as such shall be dealt with firmly.

I am healthy because I care, I am special because I'm me. And illness has no place in my life because I have better things to do than count pills.

I hope you have a great day!

-Lila