Less Is More: A Health Check-up

How are you all this weekend? It feels weird publishing blog content on the weekends but I have fallen behind and I like always having at least three posts per week. A lot of the previous posts made were to catch-up for the time and energy management issues I began to run across; and today’s post asa much needed mental and physical health check-up on my part… especially after this week’s health scare.

Less stress, less worry, less health problems includes a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle.

The Scare

From July 3rd to July 6th I was visiting two different parts of my family and I returned to my apartment Saturday afternoon. Sunday everything felt fine. It wasn’t until my consistent sleep schedule for this entire summer thus far was knocked off Sunday night, when I couldn’t go to sleep until 2 am Monday morning. I typically start my day at 4 am and due to dehydration, medicine issues, stressors, and other unknowns- I slept through Monday till 6:30 PM.
I missed my first day back at work and woke up to my phone being dead. The amount of notifications I had were ridiculous. I took a shower and tried to cool down from the night sweats and low-grade fever. I fell asleep at 8 PM that night and slept through a part of Tuesday’s work shift till noon.

I knew something was up and I did the most logical next step: I called my Doctor and got an appointment set for 2 PM on Tuesday. This was the first Doctor’s appointment since 2015 that I walked in completely thrown off by the state of my physical and mental health. From Sunday night to Tuesday, I had felt like I was living in a mental fog of depression, and a heavier fog of anxiety. The Texas trip had set me up for all sorts of emotional stuff to work through and my body & mind reacted after my return.

My Doctor slightly adjusted my medicines and had me get a blood test done so we can check and see how my body’s doing. I hadn’t what I call a “full body blood check” since November 2015 and at the time, we were worried about diabetes, blood cell counts, etc. Fast forward to this week and we were looking at some of the same things- but mainly focusing on thyroid levels, WBC/RBC (White/Red Blood Cell Counts), Electrolytes and more.

My Doctor also sent in a referral to go have a check-up appointment with my cardiologist; whom I haven’t seen since November 2017. I will also have a future appointment in August with an allergy specialist to see if certain allergies exist that I don’t know about. For example, I’m curious to see if I am actually Lactose Intolerant. No one has a confirmation yet but it would be nice to know!

For my cardiologist appointment, the main goal will be to evaluate how my medicines are doing for my heart, as well as possibly scheduling more heart exams and such to see if anything’s changed or improved. I get to bring all my documents & medicines along with a few questions on how I can improve my physical health- especially my heart.

Reality Check

In May, I had originally planned to write about mental health in July. September has typically been my not-so-favorite month of the year, followed up by February’s winter sadness. Recently, I’ve realized that July’s the month where I feel tested my the universe about where the status of my mental health is.

The foggy haze I described earlier had begun to creep in slowly throughout June and for the most part, stayed hidden under the daily operations of life. It wasn’t until a couple of days after my birthday, did everything start to really sink in.

This week taught me a lot and gave me a hard look at myself from how I mentally work my way through self-deprecation tactics, physical health, and how to make both mental and physical health work in your favor- not against.

To help me heal, I watched at least seven TED Talk videos Tuesday night. It dawned on me a phrase I grew up hearing continues to ring true. Get out of your own way, Danielle. This goes for a lot of little areas and mindsets in my life, as I use getting in my way as a way to stay in my comfort zone and to continue doing the same things I’ve done time and time before.

That’s a simple way to look at things: we tend to get in our own heads about the smallest things to stress about and it sends our brains and bodies into overload. How will I cover rent next moth? And the Doctor Bills? Oh great, I’ve been at home an entire week without pay and I’ll be short $300 or more on my next paycheck.

… Get out of your own way. Humans have unique ways of destroying what was positively set in motion by wallowing (unconsciously) in the lowest vibrations that keep us down, keeps us in a self- destructive patterns, and for staying in harmful cycles.

I thought I had worked through all that.

And the universe showed me I still had some wiggle room to grow and get out of my own way.

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