Part 6 of the healing acronym headaChe follows on from
H for Health First
E for Eating Anti-inflammatory Foods
A for Altruistic Behaviours
D is for Daily Practices.
A is for Action Steps.
C is for changes - the other year I recorded a mini-podcast, tune in and listen here.
In he last section on healing acronym headache we talked about taking Action Steps â little and one at a time.
Today, we are discussing changes. Teeny Tiny ones.
Teeny tiny changes on what you feel will be supportive to your health.
Aligning them with your own vision, values and goals â not someone elseâs. This includes mine if they donât feel right for you or in alignment with what you know to be true for you.
Action Steps was all about taking action towards what you want, what you know is coming and what is required to meet your needs. Be they physical needs, mental, emotional, spiritual and/or financial.
Here, we are looking towards making changes based on
the environment we are living in, working in and socialising in
our ability to feel and regulate our emotions
thought patterns
behaviours
as well as diet
lifestyle and
stress reduction.
As I mentioned in a previous article Invisible Me where I share how I learnt to deal with the invisibility of living with such a disabling and debilitating illness, I started making changes by working with what I was UNable to do, given that I was bedbound for so much of the time.
What do I mean by this?
In the early days, this included making the decision to quit binge drinking alcohol and caffeine. Simply because I was unable to drink either.
And although I never would have admitted this to myself before chronic illness took hold, I know that binge-drinking both were not conducive to the healthiest of lifestyles.
Not only that, but I was addicted. I now realise I have an addictive personality. But before disability by illness I would have denied it.
Though these are my 2 first examples, you donât need to make changes as big as that all in one go.
These are to highlight what is possible even when you are disabled by illness.
If anything, Iâd recommend smaller changes.
And definitely only one at a time â in much the same manner as all my other changes have been.
In hindsight, I can see that I broke the chronic pain cycle â which happened within 12 months â simply by making sustainable changes. Not just to what I was consuming but to the ways in which I was treating myself and thinking. As well as the decisions I was making.
By the time I made the change of taking Vitamin B12 and magnesium together (after learning they are a small help for pain), I realised that many of the seemingly little changes I was making, would add up to big change further down the line.
Around the time of breaking the chronic pain cycle it was even said to me âsurely it canât be that simple?â.
Whilst it is that simple, putting it into practice is a different matter.
It doesnât matter how challenged your health is, how limited you are in the choices and changes you make â all that matters is that you start with where you are and make changes that are in alignment with what you want. Doing what you can when you can. One small change at a time. Applying the least amount of pressure. Releasing perfectionism.
For something so simple, it sure is layered in complexity.
Unusually for me, I realised early on that I had to ease any pressure on myself to make changes. Adopting a âperfectly imperfectâ approach.
I encourage you to do the same.
This one practice also counts as a change. And helps tremendously with the stress side of things.
Base any change you make on what feels supportive to your health.
What does feel supportive to your health?
It was some time after breaking the chronic pain cycle, chronic fatigue cycle and starting to make giant leaps forward with menstrual migraine, that I read in Louise Hayâs book âYou Can Heal Your Lifeâ that disease is dis-ease in your body. Citing that at the root of chronic dis-ease is
âa refusal to change. Fear of the future and not feeling safeâ.
I donât know about you, but I could hard relate to all 3 of these areas.
Once I became less fearful of my future, of money and how I was going to live and survive alongside making changes â my health improved.
It took me a long time to learn to feel safe in my body. A good 3 years for my nervous system to feel down-regulated for some of the time each month.
I believe the reason for significant improvement year on year is because the changes I made were sustainable and they aligned with my vision, values and core objectives.
My vision in the early days was âto get wellâ.
My values became freedom, balance and sustainability.
My first core objective was to reduce inflammation in my body.
Despite the challenges â of which there were many â I always stayed true to my vision.
Though it might sound âsimpleâ change isnât âeasyâ and there is a difference.
Between how it sounds and comes across in the first instance, to being the one to actually do the work and implement what it takes to improve your health.
I remember my fellow chronic illness warrior friend sharing with me
âa lot can change in a yearâ
And it really does start with one thing, one item, one change, one thought even.
Whatâs the smallest change you can think of that youâd like to make?
If a few come to mind, make a list.
Do they feel supportive to your mental, physical and financial health?
Most commonly, I hear âdo more exercise and lose weightâ
But what does that even mean?
For me, as exercise had been a monumental struggle for YEARS and I couldnât understand why, in the end, every form of exercise was triggering attack. I had to make the shift from using the term âexerciseâ to the word âmovementâ.
What do I mean by movement?
Movement in the form of short walks. At a much slower pace than I had ever done in my adult life. Including rest breaks in between. Only on the days that I could.
Moving on to discovering the healing benefits of yoga. Even though I didnât think I was doing anything sat on a mat breathing.
Only in time, I did come to realise how crucial this form of movement was for the benefit of my ongoing health. Also, how the unsuccessful gym sessions were no longer supporting my physical or mental health.
Food wise, this looked like
reducing inflammatory foods (namely sugar and gluten) over time, taking a few months.
Switching milk one month.
Taking supplements the next.
Adopting an anti-inflammatory way of eating over a longer period of time than I wouldâve extended myself in the past.
Interestingly, this approach brought about long-lasting results that dare I say, were enjoyable! Changes that led to me feeling fuller for longer and more satisfied by food. Within a year I realised I could joyfully eat this way for the rest of my life.
I hope this helps you identify one single change that you can commit to making.
Start with one.
Really imbed that one change until it becomes a habit or routine.
THEN have a look at your list.
Start with the next one.
Feel free to share any changes youâve already made that have made a difference in your life, your health or generally feel like a step in the direction of where it is you want to go.
Iâd love to hear from you.
This is Julyâs instalment of 12 Chapters, a few little days late. But whoâs taking any note? After taking a little break from making sure the book I am in the process of publishing is universal in appeal, I am back on it. Thereâs a heck of a hill climb to go and so much is materialising (including a follow on book and a root cause quiz!). I am forever reminded that its a marathon not a sprint. And hearing
voice reminding me to stay aligned with âjoyful growthâ keeps me motivated.
For me this letter âcâ is the core of all other letters. There was a difference in me implementing a change like exercise and feeling frustrated by how it made symptoms worse than implementing more movement. Would I allow for grace or be bound by a rigid structure?