Shit happens in life. It happens to all of us “normally happy” people. Whether it’s divorce, death in the family, issues in the workplace, or marital problems; we are all bound to incur a rough patch. How we take care of our body directly affects our ability to cope with the issues in our life.
Taking care of yourself is so important because it affects your sense of self worth which is often damaged with these issues in life. Let me explain my point. If you are in an unhealthy relationship and you are beginning to feel unvalued and unappreciated and then you eat poorly, skip your workouts, and stop taking time to care about your personal hygiene; you validate those feelings of inadequacy through your actions.You are telling yourself that you are not worth the energy to be treated with respect. We don’t realize how our daily actions affects our thoughts.
I realized this when I was told some upsetting news last night. I knew it was going to be a rough night of sleep because I was so disturbed. I decided to take the time to prepare some calming rituals to help me the next day. It sounds silly but the fact that I laid out my favorite outfit to wear and looked up a yoga class to take today gave me a little hope that in the morning I would wake up feeling a little less pain as I looked forward to my yoga to help sooth me.
This morning I choked down my oatmeal and egg whites. Did I want to eat? No. I did because I knew that the simple act of taking care of myself would make me feel a little better. I didn’t want to care about what I was eating, or how I looked when I went to work. I forced myself to care because I know from experience this can be the beginning of a downward spiral if I give into the pain and feel sorry for myself.
I am taking time to address coping mechanisms because it is one of the single most important reasons why people “fall off the wagon.” I hear it time and time again. “I got sick.” “My mother got sick.” “I broke my leg.” “Work has been brutal.” The list goes on and on. If you make a commitment to take care of yourself; you uphold it like any other commitment. We don’t drop out of college because we got sick or break our marriage vows because we are having a rough time at work. Why are we so quick to break the commitment we have made to ourselves to lead a healthy lifestyle?

Next time you are dealing with the shit in your life; get back at karma by taking care of your physical being. I guarantee your mental and spiritual being will benefit as well.