I felt like I was getting sick yesterday. The body ache. The sore throat all night.

Are you someone that feels like you get sick easily?  Like, if you’re around someone with germs, you’ll probably get it?

And I realized, I had mentally committed to being full sick. Like I “knew” it was coming, and had already consigned myself to being the victim.

Well, what if that very mentality and acceptance is what allows it to take hold?  Law of Attraction, if I think I’ll get sick, I’ve already set my immune system up to lose the fight.

Life had been busy. I knew I had too much on my plate and was overextending myself a bit. Pushing a bit too hard. Trying to ‘make things happen’ a little ‘faster’…

I’m sure that sounds familiar to you. We’ve all been there.  Afterall, society rewards that.  I believe they call that “ambition” last time I checked.

So, admittedly, catching the flu would let me out of some commitments.  Not only literal external commitments that I would have a ‘perfectly justifiable’ excuse to get out of going to, but also the more impactful internal commitments. I’m talking about the “shoulds” , the “have tos”.  The pressure, the ToDo list, that looms… ever-present… in the background of our minds.  The list we measure ourselves against.  When I’m sick, I don’t measure it. Because, well… I’m sick! …Of “course” we don’t hold ourselves to the same standards when we are sick.

So, there is a part of me that is benefiting from becoming sick.  It is *giving me* something in return.  To what extent does some part of us create illness in the body to finally give us that down time we need so badly?

So, what if I fully internalized with every thought that, nope, I’ll get over this no problem. My immune system has “got this”.

Well, then the to-do list comes back, doesn’t it?

Shouldn’t it be possible to do both?  When we feel ourselves “getting sick”, fully believe and KNOW that your body will “win” before it gets truly miserable BUT know that HOW we allow it to do that is to give ourselves some downtime NOW.  Now, BEFORE we are miserable. That our body is asking for help. It is saying “Hey, I’d have a much easier time tracking down this invader if you stopped distracting me with a thousand other things”.

So I’m going to pamper myself now the way I would if I was “really sick”.  If I want to binge watch some tv, that is what I’ll do.  I’ll take a long hot bath (with mood lighting and soft music).  I will not SHOULD myself, there is NO LIST.  I will just BE.

Because, after all, you’ll be taking this time away from your list once you (inevitably) get sick anyway, right?  But by then, you’ll be miserable. Why not take the SAME time out, now, but ENJOY it. Pamper and relax and thank your body for waging an immune battle quietly inside you.  It is your defensive force fighting a war, right now, in your honor. How can you cheer it on? How can you show your support and appreciation for its efforts? How can you build up its reserves?

So, I’m going to “decide I won’t get sick”, because feeling sick feels awful, yet still give myself *the level of expectation* of myself as if I was.

Yes, we all have things that we really do “have to” do – It is the THRESHOLD that needs adjustment. We treat a lot of things in our lives as “have tos” that really are not.  In truth, a lot of stuff is not as important as we make it out to be.  We need to listen to that little voice that doesn’t really want to go or doesn’t really want to do that – chances are, you don’t *really* “have to” –  and your body is actually telling you that it needs some help right now. Listen to it, its doing the best it can – wouldn’t you stop to help a friend out that needed help? Why don’t we do that for our own bodies?

Btw, I waited a few days to post this article…. And I did NOT get sick. 😉

I wish you thoughts of good health.

-Anastasia

P.S. And if your feeling fearful of a certain virus that is going around … take comfort in knowing that by listening to your body and resting when you feel you need to you’ll be setting up your immune system for its best possible success …. that, and maybe get back to taking that Vitamin D supplement you have for some extra insurance, most of us are low on Vitamin D and this is critical for our immune system function.