Ep #70 – When You’re Sick

You’re just as valuable as a human when you’re sick.

What You’ll Learn on this Episode:

• How to acknowledge your feelings and make a decision.
• How to decide what to think to get true rest.
• There’s nothing to prove.

Featured on the Show:

• Start working with Christie one-on-one
• Join me on Instagram and tag me in all your favorite Hello, Lovely moments!

Ep #70 - When you’re sick…

Hi lovelies, what are you up to today? It’s a rainy afternoon in GA. Isn’t that a song? It’s a rainy night in GeorgGia, maybe. I just finished lunch and coaching clients, and now it’s our time together. So looking forward to sharing with you today.

So let’s get into our topic: When you’re sick.

Recently, I had food poisoning. It wasn’t pretty. And I was completely laid out. I didn’t leave my bed except to be sick and I also had some important things scheduled for that day. It ended up being a great example of why we need to listen to our bodies and let go of guilt to get true rest.

I’ll tell you my experience and then give you some guidance on how to take the best care of your feelings when you’re sick. SO important.

So I woke up in the middle of the night recently, so sick and it lasted for hours. I knew when I woke up around 8 that I had to make a decision. I had a LIVE class I was hosting that was part of a larger series of workshops. I didn’t know how I would be feeling by the time the class started but this is what I did know: I wasn’t going to wait until the last minute to let people know if it was canceled.

I wasn’t going to PUSH myself (thru sickness). We’ll talk more about that in a bit.

I didn’t want to go back and forth with my decision because that would exhaust me more, and I did not have the mental or physical energy to spend on that.

So I decided that if I did not feel 100% certain that I wouldn’t be throwing up at 2 (TMI but those are the facts people lol), I would cancel and send a quick email to the participants.

At 12, I was still vomiting, made the decision, had my back, wrote a quick email with suggestions on what the group could start on in place of the class and that I’d be back tomorrow.

Went to bed. Spent ZERO drama on having to cancel. Thank goodness I listened to my body because by 2 o’clock, I was still vomiting. Whew.

So here are a couple things to know about this experience. I did feel disappointed I couldn’t meet and see the lovelies joining the class, and I gave myself space to feel it. Acknowledging that of course I’m disappointed and did not make that mean anything bad, about me, about being sick, anything. Just felt it.

I got so much rest because my mind was clear of guilt. I slept as much as I could and got fluids in me.

I compared this to experiences I’ve had in the past when I was managing a team of people at a manufacturing company. I remember I got a migraine out of nowhere on a day we were installing new cubicles.It happened in the middle of the install. I couldn’t see out of one eye, I was slurring, and there was a short window to drive myself home before the pain would have been dangerous to drive. I waited til the last minute, I felt SO guilty, for most of the after noon while I was rhything in head pain, I kept repeating in my mind, ‘I can believe this happened, I’m so sorry, I hope they don’t hate me, this is so embarrassing,’ and as a friend of mine would say, ‘ I digress.’

If this has been your experience, it makes so much sense. There is a culture that you get a badge of honor if you PUSH through when you are sick. Why? Who knows? But it is there. If you CHOOSE to do that, that’s your choice too. But acknowledging that there is a CHOICE there.

Here’s how to do this: 1. Acknowledge how you feel physically. Be super honest with your body and self. What do you really want/need to do? This doesn’t mean people won’t have thoughts about your choice, but answer that question for you. In my case, I didn’t know how people would respond, and I can’t control that. My personal thoughts were, those who are triggered by this wouldn’t have made the most of the workshops anyway. This is neutral to their success. AND This can only be a BIGGER example of why self-esteem is so needed, important, and I can be an example of what’s possible.

2. Allow yourself to FEEL (feelings). Take slow, deep breaths. This is how I feel, and that’s OK. Whether it’s disappointed, surprised, embarrassed, anything. This is how I feel, and that’s OK.

3. Decide one thought you want to think that supports your choice: Here’s an example of that: This is in the best interest for everyone whether they see it that way or not. Absolutely take time to think about that for you here.

4. Make the decision and remind yourself it was the best one as much as needed. Once might be enough. If not, remind yourself again.

5. Ask for what you need. Crackers, someone to hold your hair back, a babysitter, food delivery, a doctor, a ride to the doctor, uber, ginger ale. You don’t have to do it all,lovely. There’s nothing to prove. You’re sick. We all need something when we’re sick. Be honest about that and ask. You can even request for people not to check in. Hey, I’ve got this covered, so and so has it. Thank you. No need to check in. Thanks for your love (or whatever is authentic for you).

So that’s the breakdown and reverse engineering of how to take the best care of your feelings when you’re sick. Let’s run through them again.

Your health matters. You’re just as valuable as a human when you’re in the bed recovering or in the bathroom sick. There is nothing to prove about your worth. It matters. You matter. Take the best care of this body and mind, lovely. That’s a gift we each have.

OK so this is that caveat I mentioned earlier: There are times I DO push myself. That’s just no longer through sickness. There are variables and nuances to everything, but overall I don’t PUSH myself if I’m sick. Things I DO push myself for: when things are hard and I WANT to accomplish it. That’s not always necessary. Sometimes it is,,,, but that’s for another episode.

Have the best week, lovely. See you next time.

The post When you’re sick appeared first on Ms Christie Williams.