The Super Flu kicked my ass and this is what I learned

Life Lesson courtesy of The Super Flu:

The Super Flu kicked my ass…again and again and again over the course of more than a week.

And it all happened because I neglected to do this one thing.

It was such an important epiphany, I made it into a Baby Step…so read on.

(#lesson learned) Image created by Deb Plotkin

LESSON

If you’ve been keeping up with my adventures, you know about my Mold Monster saga. With such an extreme mess to deal with, I was spending every waking moment (and there were a lot of them) going and doing and cleaning and purging and running through my elaborate hazmat routine every day while I was still working two jobs. That left very little time for sleep and zero time for enjoyment. Obviously, living in stress mode did absolutely nothing for my health.

Just as the Mold Monster was on its way out, the Super Flu made its way in. I became extremely ill. I hadn’t been sick to that degree in a very long time so it took me off guard. I was shocked at the intensity and insistency of it – like those potential spam calls you see pop up on your phone every 30 minutes.

My body was in full rebellion mode.

Every morning I thought I’d feel better, but my body was like: “Nope, not today.” In hindsight, I now understand I was being given an opportunity. Though, at the time, it felt like a punishment. But once I sat with the illness – without judgment and with genuine curiosity – I learned a priceless lesson:

Take better care of yourself, or your body will step in and shut your foolishness down.

In other words, STOP

• Overdoing

• Overthinking

• Overreacting

• Overcommitting

• Overanalyzing

• Overwhelming

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with kicking into high intensity mode once in a while when the circumstance warrants it.

BUT, your body and brain are not meant to sustain that kind of pressure.

BABY STEP

So, to learn this lesson and avoid another ass-kicking, I devised a Baby Step reminder. I know it will benefit me. Hopefully, it will keep you from an onslaught of aches, pains and a variety of the most unattractive symptoms (mucus, mucus and more mucus).

This one question will help me Baby Step my way to the best choices I can make for my own good:

Does this contribute to my well-being? Will this help me to be well?

And with that answer, I can calmly and confidently move toward a more beneficial outcome. Because in the end, there are very few things that matter…

1. My health

2. My relationships

3. My happiness

And when I’m focused on well-being in those areas, then I know my experiences will most definitely be golden.

FEEL BETTER

PS If you, too, are sniffling and hacking the day away, perhaps this will help...

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