Creating Wellness Reduces Illness

Focusing on creating wellness reduces illness. How much time do you spend focusing on, and creating your own personal health and wellness? When was the last time, if you ever have, considered that? Now how much time do you spend discussing your illness? Your symptoms and problems, your can nots and your sorrows? Your next appointments and your medications? Your feelings and your disabilities? It is a full time job, hobby and pastime for many of us. A lot of us in fact. We must communicate what needs to happen, what our schedule is, what medication changes have been made, if any of the prescriptions and changes seem to be working or what effects they are having on you and your loved ones. The truth is it is so easy to use that reasoning and leave it at that. There is your life. Done.

Now, compare how much time you spend discussing your wellness. How much of your time is invested talking about your plans for the future, your goals, job, relationships and education? These topics are a necessary step in wellness/recovery. When coming out of a crisis situation a lot of time and energy must be invested in talk therapy and figuring out where to go next. That is not a step to be dismissed or skipped over, however once you have completed this step it is time to move on, not build your house and your life there.

A good professional therapist will guide you and encourage you to begin discussing your wellness. For many of us discussing the abuse, pain, neglect, fear, mistreatment, and ugliness of life is the only part of our conversations we were ever trained to have. It was all we knew. So here are five ways to implement steps to wellness in your life beginning today.

1. Notice when you feel good. Seriously? Yes. Take note. Stop. Recognize. Notice it. What happened? What were you doing? What were you not doing? Who were you with? Who were you not with? Most of us have spent so much time not feeling good, talking about not feeling good, being around situations and people who make us feel awful so we have something to talk about that we have no idea when we do feel good, if ever! Notice those times you feel good!
2. Invest the time to feel whatever you are feeling. Being a healthy human being requires investing the time and energy to feel whatever emotions are pulsing through you and allow them. Give in to them. This is terrifying for those of us who have anxiety and depression among other things, because we fear falling into that emotion and never resurfacing. That fear is what creates more of what you don’t want. The energy spent denying the anger and abuse, repressing the sorrow and remorse, justifying the poor decisions and illness are invested in what you are attracting more of to you. Today, set a timer for 30 minutes and feel whatever comes up. Think whatever thoughts come along and keep feeling. When the timer chimes, get up and move on about your day. If you feel the need to set the timer 4 times throughout the day, do so. The more often you allow yourself to feel and think the feeling and thoughts you have the easier your life will become and the less time it will take you in the future, even in a crisis situation.
3. Do what you love and what feels good. Many of us have spent our whole lives denying what makes us happy and what feels good because it wasn’t allowed. Singing, dancing, feeling, crying, painting, coloring, imagining, helping, healing, teaching, running, nursing, being bold, being you, were not accepted. To hell with that. Sneak away for a while and hide out if you must, at first, but do what makes you feel good down to you rattling bones!
4. Speak your truth. Your voice may have been muted or smothered to death your whole life. You may not recognize your own voice if it was speaking to you in your own head right now. It is time for that to stop and you are the only one to stop it with your very clear honest voice.  Invest the time to speak your truth, even if at first it is in your own head, to work up the courage to speak it aloud.
5. When you need encouragement seek it out. Be yourself. Ask for support. Read encouragement like this from Kris Carr.

No one but you can create your own wellness. It is your job and yours alone. The more wellness you create in your life and the more time you invest in your wellness the more your illness with fade away. The more your practice your wellness routine the easier it will become. Spending time, or shall I say investing your time, on the feelings and disappointments your illness creates, creates what you are trying to cure. The more time invested in wellness leaves less time for your illness to manifest.