Listen to your body

A few weeks ago my neck went out again. I was out of commission for two and a half days; just lying in bed or on the couch. I was pretty angry about it. I thought that this year's busy season would be more tolerable and less stressful because I only had one client this year whereas last year I had 4-5. Unfortunately I was wrong. In exploring the situation, I discovered that I don't really express anger when I feel or experience it. I store it all in my neck and then eventually it "boils over" and I wake up with nearly unbearable pain. I couldn't believe I'd "allowed" this to happen again.

Last year when I suffered this neck pain and ended up in the hospital, I didn't go to the gym for a month or two at the advice of my physical therapist. This was to allow my neck to heal because we thought that the pain was caused by a subluxed vertebra. This has never been confirmed nor denied, but after talking to my chiropractor, I'm beginning to wonder if it is a subluxed vertebra or just a shit-ton of tension.

So this time I asked my chiropractor, "Can I go to the gym and/or exercise? or do I need to take it easy for a few weeks to heal?" and his response: "Listen to your body. If you want to exercise, then exercise. If you start to feel pain, soreness, tension, then stop and take it easy."

What a novel idea! I am amazed that we, as a culture, tend to not listen to our bodies. It seems so obvious. It should be common sense. But, no. We push ourselves, overwork ourselves, over-eat, under-eat... and the list goes on. So now I'm listening to my body. I'm working on listening to myself so that I can be effective at work and in life!

Peace & love.
J