You Have the Power

Often, we have more power over our situation than we think. And what and how we think is where this power starts.

We can’t control some aspects of our life but there’s an awful lot we can control, or learn to have more control over.

We have the power to learn how to take care of ourselves better. There are hundreds of self-healing practices that mean we can clear colds, pains, and imbalances. We don’t need to sit around and be miserable thinking there’s nothing we can do about our ailments.

We have the power to be more relaxed. There are lots of simple relaxation techniques that we can employ whenever needed.

We have the power to make the lives of the people around us happier. Mindset hacks and setting healthy boundaries help us create a life where we aren’t so easily triggered by the every day stresses we encounter.

This world can feel overwhelming and extremely difficult to navigate for most of us. But, there are many, many things within our power to help us. At the moment I’m resting and clearing a heavy cold, which I’m fortunate to be able to do. I know how to restore balance to my wellbeing, and I’ve spent the past four days doing what I can to feel better. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this unwell. I’ve managed to avoid colds and COVID for a few years despite being around a lot of people running a cafe and meeting various professionals while sorting out my younger son’s education and wellbeing needs. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been slowing right down and processing everything that’s gone on and is currently unfolding in my life partly by starting to write the books I’ve been making notes on for years.

Emotions when left unchecked and unprocessed can become stuck in the body, causing weaknesses. It’s hard to stay on top of emotions when we live hectic lives as most of us now do. This is why slowing down from time to time and regularly practicing mindfulness is so important.

When I was in my teens and early 20s I lived a very chaotic, unhealthy life. As a result I was ill a lot and this affected my kidney function. I was diagnosed with a kidney disease called IgA nephropathy (Berger’s disease in the US) a few years ago when I was experiencing chronic sleep deprivation and the IgA N symptoms came to the surface. Over time this disease damages the kidneys, so, in a nutshell, I try my hardest to void getting ill because it speeds the deterioration. However, my lovely 14 year old didn’t listen when I tried to explain that if he gave me his cold I’d get really ill. Plus a long, cold walk with my Dad Saturday night didn’t help either.

We can’t rely on others to look after our wellbeing, it’s our own responsibility. We can’t control other people’s behaviour, but we have the power to do all we can to protect and improve our wellbeing. If we don’t look after ourselves, we can’t be useful to others. It’s ironic that it tends to be Mums trying to do it all – work, keep up with a social life, maintain a loving, successful home, often keep a partner happy, and look after their children’s emotional and physical wellbeing – who don’t do enough to look after themselves. Obviously this also can apply to Dads, but in my experience women tend to feel like they shouldn’t be prioritising their wellbeing. Burnt out parents are more likely to become easily triggered by the normal more difficult developmental behaviour all children have. Small humans who haven’t learned how to cope with the world need full grown humans who can regulate themselves and model how to look after themselves.

Every single human experiences difficulties and tricky emotions from time to time. The power is yours to learn how to restore balance to your emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.