Listening Differently

Listening to our body and giving it what it needs is so important. I have always been a morning person enjoying coffee and breakfast and bird chirps while the sun rises. Then 2020 hit and I had to start listening differently. Now it’s become easier to hear and I’ve created habits that are personally better and more healthy for me.

With everything in our face and space these last couple years, and all the news and stress and questions and trauma we’re being approached with, I’ve realized that if my body needs rest I *must* listen or I wear myself out and my body breaks down. It also needs exercise and movement.

Because breaking down is not an option! God forbid anyone catches a cold in these days, am I right??!!

It’s amazing to me that our society praises those who operate on less than the needed amount of sleep each night. Don’t we realize we are hard wired to shut down for 6-12 hours every. single. day.? If we don’t get sleep our brains and bodies suffer.

And if we don’t get exercise, our system atrophies and we don’t have strength, endurance, and immunity we need to thrive.

That’s why, for a few reasons, I’ve been giving myself grace to wake up between 7 and 8am instead of the normal 6am for the last year or so. Not only that, but I’ve been diligent to get moving each day. Even if it just means a half-hour walk, I give my body exercise.

Somewhere along the line, over the last couple weeks I’ve been getting up earlier and earlier again, as if my body is thanking me. I’ve listened and given it rest and now it’s ready to work better again. Through it all listening differently has improved my quality of life, which has in-turn produced better work.

No matter what, the passion I have for the work I do and people I serve hasn’t escaped. It still wakes me up with eagerness to face the day and all the adventures that await. But I haven’t driven myself into the ground, sacrificing my health just to say I got more done.

Do you need to listen differently? What is one thing you can do to improve your health and mental soundness this month?

As a side/follow-on note: Our lives also need joy and laughter and lightheartedness, so I present this story from NPR as a breath of fresh air. Enjoy!