We are getting so many messages from our wise bodies, are you listening?

Many of my high-achieving clients work through their lunch hours, ignore hunger signals, don’t drink enough water, and even hold their own urine because they don’t want to stop working!!!! 

I had one client who consistently gets urinary tract infections because she ignored the signals to go to the bathroom to keep producing instead. One main problem that I have uncovered with this is that it erodes self-trust and makes us more apt to look outside of ourselves for answers.

We let other people and numbers dictate how we operate instead of tuning in to our own bodies for the answer.

I have spent many years as an adult listening to what other people thought I should do with my body when it comes to health and wellness. Whether it be how many miles I should run, how many steps I should take in a day, how many glasses of water to drink, or how many points I should consume, ignoring whatever signals my body was sending me.

It didn’t matter if I was super tired, sore, or my stomach was audibly growling, I waited till noon to eat, I did the workout anyway, I pushed through. Sure, many times I felt better after the workout and proud of myself for doing hard things, but lately, I am also wondering the downside to pushing through and not listening to what my body has been trying to tell me all along.

You see our bodies are a super sophisticated system with built-in indicators to tell us when it is time to eat, time to drink, and even time to slow down but are we taking our time to listen to what our body tells us?

“And I said to my body softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.’”

~Nayyirah Waheed

Whether we realize it or not we have a relationship with our physical body and for many years mine was very avoidant. Over the past year or so, I have been on a mission to change that and the first step has been to just tuning in to myself regularly. 

You can set an hourly reminder to check in with yourself and ask, what does my body need at this moment? Do I need to stretch, breathe, drink water, or close my eyes?

Dear body, what do you need?

Sounds simple, however, it has been fascinating to see and then honor what my body needs throughout the day. Sometimes it is inconvenient and I have to stop what I am doing to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom, but my relationship with myself is so much stronger when I started to listen to my body.

What’s interesting is that I rely less on fad diets/other people to tell me what to do. We believe in a common fear that if you listen to your body you might just eat ice cream all day while watching Netflix, but I have found the opposite.

I am surprised by how many signals I use to ignore to tell me to stop eating. For sure I blasted any signal in the past to stop eating a dessert or salty treat. Which in fact our body will tell us when greasy food doesn’t feel good with a little tummy ache, indigestion, or heartburn.

It's just a matter of taking responsibility and listening to our bodies. I promise you will be grateful for the changes.

If you are someone who is physically fit, yet ignores many signals from your body, I invite you to reach out to schedule a consultation call with me, I have 2 spots left for personal coaching.

Mind Your Strength,

Melanie Shmois