I’m writing this on the eve of “Mental Health Awareness Week” and the timing couldn’t be better. Over the past few months I’ve become a lot more active regarding my own mental and physical health. The symptoms have been a bit lively these past few weeks and that has prompted me to take a fresh look at my situation.
It’s so easy to become complacent but I’m not letting myself lose focus or momentum this time around. I’ve been more open regarding my “situation”, particularly at work and to be honest the reaction and support has been incredible. I’ve given talks at work previously and a group of us are working on a new concept at the moment. I’m also working on a talk for my immediate team and who knows, it may also get air time with the wider group.
I’ve also been motivated by colleagues at work who have taken the initiative and organised a variety of events focusing on Mental Health. So, I thought why not do something myself. After all, the only thing stopping me from doing anything is me !
I took time to go through my notes ( I write….a lot) to see what I was missing. I’ve learned over the years that it’s so easy to get caught up in the big distraction. Whether it’s procrastination, for example, I know that my sub-conscious is very good at distracting me. I knew deep down that there was someting I wanted to try but was always distracting myself with alternatives. So, as I always do when I need to find an answer, I meditated. Then I meditated some more, and so on.
The one thing that kept coming up was “fear”. Fear of what ? Fear of the unknown, fear of the pain ? Fear of trying something and it doest work ? The list is endless, which of course reaffirms that this is what I need to work on. I needed to work on the physical aspect of fear, what it does to your body, how you react in certain situations.
All of this was great but what is the message, what do I need to do. Well, that’s where the magic happens. Meditating with intention is a great tool which I use a lot. So, I sat with the intention of taking back control and along with the subject of fear the following phrase came to mind……”The only way is through”.
It never dissappoints, if you trust and let go the answers always come. The only way is through, it was time for me to face things head on, no more distractions, side stepping and procrastinating. What came to mind was something I’ve thought about and researched at length in the past, but as mentioned here I’ve always been distracted and gone off in a different direction. But this time it’s different, this time I’m completely focused.
Wim Hof, “who’s he” ? you might say. He’s the Ice Man (I’ve put a link at the end) I discovered Wim a few years ago and have watched countless videos and read one of his books – “The Wim Hof Method”. In short, he uses the cold as therapy. The theory is that when you are put in a stressful situation your body reacts physically, tensing your muscles for example. These reactions are completely normal but thousands of years ago it could be a situation where a wild animal is attacking you, these days it could be an argument with your spouse, but the physical reaction is the same.
So, where does the cold come in. Well, if you immerse yourself in cold water, the body will react to that percieved danger by tensing up, the same response as any stressfull situation. If, however, you can control your breathing and relax while you are immersed in the cold rather than tense up against it, you are teaching your mind and body that you don’t need to react physically to stressfull situations. If you expose your body to the cold on a regular basis then you will improve physically and reduce symptoms and pain for example.
I know that my “thing” is fear and I know I have been avoiding it for a long time. But now the time is up. It all makes sense, the only way is through. I need to re-educate my mind and body. I have nothing to be afraid of and I can do something about it.
Actions speak louder than words and that is what this is all about. It’s about taking action, doing something rather than just learing and talking about it. So, a couple of days ago I bought an Ice Tub (there are loads out there as they are quite popular at the moment). It arrived yesterday and I set it up ready for use. This morning I went outside and took the plunge. I didn’t think about it, I just did it. I knew it would be uncomfortable but I knew it wouldn’t kill me. I also knew that this was going to be the beginning of the end. I immersed myself in freezing cold water. I breathed and I relaxed. I stayed there until I was no longer shivering or resisting, I was relaxed, comfortable even and if felt good.
That “feel good” feeling hung around all day. I’m even looking forward to tomorrow morning’s dip.
As I said earlier, tomorrow is the first day of Mental Health Awareness week and I will be blogging each day tracking my progress as I take my daily plunge and face my fears.
There really is only one way and that is through.
Just a Thought 