Achieve your best health and get better when you feel like crap. Forget about the perfect plan and instead find what works for you. These 10 things will help you find your best health.
I didn’t simplify my life for clear countertops or to be better organized. I simplified my life because I got sick. Really sick. I was sick, tired, and overwhelmed for a long time, but when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I knew things had to change. The stress and excess in my life may not have caused my disease, but it contributed to relapses, new symptoms and other health issues. If you’ve ever thought, this is too much, things need to change or this headache/cold/exhaustion is my body telling me to slow down then you know what I mean.
Your Best Health: 10 Things to Try if You Feel Like Crap
We’ve all been impacted by the effects of stress and excess. Some of us notice and make immediate changes and for others (like me), we let it go on for too long thinking “it is what it is” until our bodies say, “enough is enough.” Someone with MS once asked me, “How can I be healthier with MS?” After writing back with some suggestions, I realized you don’t need MS to benefit from these recommendations. They apply to all autoimmune and other chronic conditions. In fact, even if you don’t have a specific diagnosis or condition, but are running low on energy, don’t sleep well, get frequent headaches or simply don’t feel your best, these might be helpful.
1. Build a healthcare team you trust
My first neurologist and her team were terrible. I was diagnosed over the phone. They told me to review the pharmaceutical kits and pick my own drug. They told me diet and exercise don’t matter. They told me my health would decline. After I few months, I realized they weren’t on my team (and fired them). I also understood that I had to rise up and build and lead a team. I used to be intimidated by doctors and other medical professionals, but now I know we have to work together. They know their stuff and I know my stuff. Creating good relationships with healthcare professionals gave me a chance to experience my best health.
2. You know your body better than anyone else
When I mentioned above that I know my stuff, I mean that I know what I believe, and know my body. You know your stuff too. Keep this in mind when working with your medical professionals, when taking advice from well-meaning friends and family, and especially when gathering information from the internet. Trusting what you know will take some practice, but you do know. For your best health, learning to trust yourself will make all the difference. This can be challenging in the beginning of a new diagnosis or when you feel like crap because it feels like your body is betraying you. But what if instead, it were simply letting you know that things have to change?
3. Reduce stress
If we want to improve our health and live with more energy and wellness, we have to be willing to live with less stress. Here’s the road to less stress: Less stuff. Less busyness. Less drama. Less debt. Less worry. Less fear. It takes time, but go down this road. Here are a few other ways to live with less stress. I’ve tried a bunch of things to reduce stress in my life but simplifying is the most effective. I meditate, journal, workout, eat and sleep well most of time and still simplicity is the most direct path to living with less stress.
4. Rest first for your best health
The first section of my new book is all about rest. While rest is important when you don’t feel well, for your best health, put rest first even when you do feel well. Our bodies and brain depend on good sleep and consistent rest and recovery. We know what happens when we push through until the weekend or until a vacation. We exhaust ourselves until rest is the only option. Don’t wait … rest and renew.
5. Stop apologizing for taking care of yourself
Let’s stop apologizing for taking care ourselves, for taking naps, for staying in on a Friday night and taking a bath. When you put your health first, you can serve and connect from a place you just can’t access when you are rundown, sick or tired. Sometimes we feel like we have to apologize for or explain/excuse our self-care practices. From going to bed early to taking time off to taking a walk in the middle of the day or incorporating more unconventional self-care practices. Feeling guilty and apologizing for taking care of yourself is not taking care of yourself. Good health is nothing to apologize for so please do what’s best for you.
6. Unplug from the internet
According to this article, you might spend 17 years of your adult life online. We are hyper connected to the internet and it’s taking away from your best life. Create boundaries around how much time you spend on your devices. Spend one full day a week completely disconnected and see what happens. Do you feel less anxious when you stay off social media? Do you experience less physical pain when you aren’t online as much? Pay attention to how you actually feel while online.
7. Take all the time you need to heal
Give yourself time to heal and don’t put a time limit on it. Adding random deadlines for feeling better only adds more stress. Instead, take a little step each day and rest when you need to rest. I used to try to replicate the diets and health plans of other people. I watched the videos, read the books and thought if I could do it just like them, I’d feel better. As it turns out, some of what I discovered worked for me and some didn’t. I had to create my own unique plan. Learn what makes you feel well. There isn’t a one size fits all diet or exercise plan for your best health. You have to learn what works best for you and be open to the idea that what works best for you will change over time.
8. Live without
For your best health, experiment living without the things you think you can’t live without. I quit drinking years ago but it started as a little “living without” experiment. Here’s a great example of things you can live without. Your list may look different. Take a look at the things you depend on every day and ask yourself what value they add. If you aren’t sure, take a break.
9. Act your age
I know we are all supposed to pretend we aren’t aging, but the reality is that we need different things at different ages. We can’t treat our 50 year old body and brain the same way we treated our 20 year old body and brain. The good news is that when you act your age when approaching healthcare, you can experience your best health at any age. Even better news is that it’s never too late to start. Here’s a study about the benefits of strength training in your nineties.
10. Remember that all health is your best health
How you feel physically and mentally contributes to your best health. It’s all connected! I assess the quality of my mental health by checking in. I ask questions like, “How do I feel?” “Am I more reactive than usual?” “Is my mind racing and making snap judgements or do I have space to be more thoughtful?” “Am I responding to stress in a healthy way or is stress affecting my sleep, work and/or relationships?” I’m not a medical professional but these questions do help me understand where and when I might need a little work.
The silver lining of discovering my best health
I haven’t had an MS relapse since 2008, but I still remember what it was like to wake up afraid that I wouldn’t be able to see or walk or think straight. (I share more about my MS journey here.) I can’t predict the future but now I wake up hopeful and excited for the day ahead and find it easier to focus on what really matters to me.
Not feeling well is scary. Not knowing what’s wrong is scary. A devastating diagnosis is scary. The words chronic, debilitating, unknown … all scary. But we have to make a choice. Will we live in fear or in hope? It’s not as easy as a flip of a switch, but if you find daily pockets of hope each day, the fear will dissipate. Write down what you are afraid of, and what makes you smile, what you are curious about and what you are willing to do to feel better. Keep writing it down until your hope lists are longer than your fear lists.
Your best health will be unique for you. It won’t look like my best health, your partner’s best health or anyone else’s best health. It will also look different today than it does in five years. Figure out what your best health is today. You’ve done a great job taking care of everyone and everything around you and now it’s time to do what’s best for you. Take all the time you need to give that gift to yourself.
