Listen to Your Body

I could get all spiritual with you. I could tell you that the body is a vehicle for our souls. I could tell you how much appreciation and awareness are owed to this amazing platform for life. 

I could tell you these things, but you probably won’t listen.

It doesn’t matter; your body is a sneaky little beast. Your body will act like a psychotic child crazed for attention. Even when you persistently ignore it, your body will stamp its feet and make a scene.

And you still won’t listen.

But in one form or another, be that an accident, a sickness, or a disease, your body will dropkick your ass. With the wind knocked out of you, you will try wrapping your head around what’s going on. All the while, your body will be in the corner, shaking its head, saying, “I told you so.”

It’s in this state of total exhaustion that you finally take notice of your body.

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For me, my body made its testament on my way to dinner Friday night. In the surroundings of oncoming traffic, my body said enough. I fainted, taking a hard nose-dive to the pavement.

Just like that, my body provided the wake up call I had been ignoring.

You see, I’m the type of girl that’s go, go, go. I’m in the classroom playing superhero making airplanes out of 3 year olds. Five days a week I have at least seven monkeys crawling on me trying to find their own space of Teacher Nola. I am daily over-saturated with Patience; Nurture comes knocking at the door every five seconds; Laughter soaks my skin; Creativity is chief in command. It’s a crazy cacophony of emotions.

When the weekend arrives I quickly switch out the rewarding but taxing life of education for adventure. Within 36 hours I have packed in reuniting with friends, exchanging with locals, experiencing the lands diamonds and relishing in the beauty of Thailand. It’s always too short and so worth it. The Senses are in constant disbelief of how extraordinary it all seems.

Taking perspective on my stimulating lifestyle, I can understand why my body did what it did. I mean, it scared the living shit out of me. But I get it. I have to slow down. So, I canceled my planned trip and did something I should have planned a while ago.

 Rest. 

I stayed in for once. It was the first weekend in months waking up in my own bed rather than in a dorm, a hotel, a guesthouse, or a bus. I took a breath of normality. I watched a movie at the mall. I relaxed at the nail salon. I drank Starbucks. I ate a hamburger. I let my body take a freaking break from the hustle and bustle of my overflowing routine of work and travel.

My friend described me as the celebrity who cancels their tour due to exhaustion. And she was so right on. Because we can’t all be rockstars everyday. We’ve got to give ourselves some time once in a while.

Our body damn well deserves it for all the work it does for us.