Many people consider that the change of the seasons is a dodge time for health. They think they are more likely to get sick at this time. They also think that there are bugs floating around at the moment that are really hard to get rid of. I wonder if our belief systems regarding these matters are in fact what make us sick or make us take a long time to get over being sick?

I have been watching myself this week and as always have learnt from the science laboratory my body is. I have had a few weeks of mental strain in the form of running courses, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone repeatedly and I am now somewhat sick. I am blessed to be ‘the healthiest person on the planet’ or so I repeatedly tell myself. I haven’t ever missed a day of work for illness in 20 years and have not spent a day in bed for illness since I was in junior school. You may think I am bragging, and maybe I am a bit. I just find it so interesting that I have now become a bit sick and I have been figuring out why.

 I do not hold the belief that I can get sick because of bugs flying around, because I trust my immune system totally. I constantly say: I can fight off anything. I think our bodies are being invaded constantly and we have to repeatedly detect and overpower germs and our bodies do this all day every day. I also do not think the change of seasons is too much of a factor, because even although it is stressful for the body to be cold, or to have its temperature regulation ability challenged repeatedly, it is inherently able to cope with this. Unless its adaptation capacity is overridden. In other words the body can cope with a lot, but not more and when we demand constantly we may over-demand and the system will fail.

I watched myself closely last week. I was exhausted and dying for some down time and to have no mental challenges to figure out and nothing to strain my brain over. I felt a bit sorry for myself being so overloaded. I forgot I had some choices and I felt lie I needed some TLC and nurture. Since my inner dictator was doing its usual ‘drive, drive, drive’ thing I allowed a thought to come in to combat this inner message. The thought was that I would love to just have to rest, be unable to do anything else. I felt myself getting sick within hours of this thought. I combated it with plenty of soothing self talk and self support and I got better again. Sunday I taught a physiotherapy course which was a really big deal to my mind and had to be done ‘perfectly’. I was so relieved when it was over and had gone well. I felt I needed to celebrate and relax, but then I thought of my busy week this week and of all I had put on hold to accomplish Sunday, and I felt sorry for myself again. Again I forgot I had choices. This victim mentality started off a post nasal drip again and this time I did not work so well with myself… I got sick because I felt sorry for myself for being tired and needing a rest and being ‘unable’ to take one. 

I am not saying that everyone who gets sick has ‘made’ themselves sick, but I am saying: we have choices and our body is our team mate. If we need rest and can’t see how to get it, our body will ‘help’ us. I just have seen that a rest without sickness would have been so much more fun. My inner dictator ‘thinks’ I have to be a superhero, and I can over-ride this notion if I am wise enough to. So as I get better, I wish you all health!

For all of us left behind after that amazing event called the World Cup, my question is how can we keep the up beat and euphoric feelings coursing through our veins?  I am sure you will all agree that your energy is higher when you are feeling positive. You feel more alive. For one whole month our media sold newspapers that were full of good news. And people bought them and read them with relish. Wherever you went throughout the month everyone talked about all the great and good things that were happening in our country. Let’s carry on…..

We have had a taste of how nice it is when we shine the light on the great stuff.  I do believe we have a choice of whether to go back to our old ways of discussing crime, Eskom etc or whether we continue to look at and talk about all our successes and the great stuff the tourists saw so much of. The foreign journalists have painted our picture in the foreign press as a country with ‘Ubuntu’ and warmth. If we could project our bright and beautiful side onto the world and our fellow countrymen for a whole month, why not continue to do so?

If we can go forward and focus on our brilliance and our uniqueness, we can continue to have energy and zest for living AND we can continue to surprise ourselves and the world with all we can achieve.

Close your eyes for a second and think of the crime situation and then the global economic ‘disaster’. Watch how your body changes when you think of this disheartening stuff. It is amazing how fast the urge to slump comes into play. The tension doesn’t take long to set in and your breathing patterns become shallower and more gasping in nature. Now take 3 deep relaxing sighs out and let that image go. Next, create a new image in your mind’s eye of the soccer opening ceremony or the hours just before it began, when all South Africans were wearing Bafana Bafana  shirts and feeling proudly South African and excited. Really let this feeling grow within you and feel the lightness it creates in your body. You may notice your face break into a semi smile and your chest swell. Your breathing will deepen and your body will relax. This little experiment will show you how powerful it is for you to focus on the good things instead of the less good things. It feels good and so do you!

Let’s keep the euphoria going and create a whirlpool of lightness and relaxation around ourselves!