I always heard the well-known expression “Listen to your body” but I never gave it much thought. It seemed like a silly idea to me. For most of my life, I followed whatever plan I had for the day. If I was planning to take a run, I ran. If I was scheduled for a workout class, I worked out. I never thought about how my body felt. I simply pushed through regardless.
In 2020, I stepped out of my car and felt an excruciating pain radiate from my lower back to my right foot. My foot was then tingly and numb. I had massively herniated a disc in my back unknowingly and out of nowhere, so it seemed. As my doctor asked me “Has it hurt when you stretch your right leg recently?” YES… “Did you feel a burning sensation in your shin recently?” YES.. I casually mentioned how I thought I had hurt my butt because I had been walking around with a dull ache in my right upper butt for the past 6 months. The doctor explained that the dull ache in my butt, the hurtful stretch, the feeling in my leg… they were all ways my body was trying to talk to me and tell me to slow down. I hadn’t listened at all. It is as if I had headphones on, blocking out my body’s signals and so my disc ended up herniating.
This idea applies to everything in your life. If a food bothers you every time you eat it, your body is telling you it does not like that food. If you notice any subtle, persistent symptoms anywhere in your body…listen. Mention them to your doctor, functional medicine doctor, acupuncturist, etc. You don’t want to wait until you have a full blown, avoidable and/or treatable issue.
So the next time you say “I keep getting these annoying headaches, or rashes” or whatever it may be, don’t panic but take note and listen. That is your body talking to you.
Your body whispers before it screams.
If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won’t have to listen to it scream.