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I see a lot of weird ideas and bad takes on tumblr every day, but something I’m really worried about is this concept health doesn’t matter and your body is a foreign object that has little or no relation to what you ‘really’ are.
Now - I just had a very serious health scare so let me be the mom friend for a second here: that concept is not only bullshit - it’s dangerous bullshit. I don’t know where the idea came from, and tbh I blame the putrid bog of Christian sects and post-Christianity lots of Americans have been steeped in for almost three centuries now, but the depressing truth is that, as far as we know, there is no soul. We’re pretty sure that we’re not ‘stuff’ trapped in a body. We are a body. The more studies we do, the more it emerges that even a lot of what we consider ‘mental health’ is actually physical health, because hormonal imbalances, lack of nutrients, lack of sunlight, bad digestion and a thousand other things have a direct and tangible effect on your mood, your decision-making, and in fact your entire personality.
All of this to say: you need to look after yourself properly, and that means looking after your body properly, and you need to start today.
One thing I’m learning about growing up and growing old is that it never gets easier. It only gets harder. There will never be a magical moment in your life when you’ll suddenly have the time, the energy and the will to exercise and cook kale. It will not happen. So I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you need to commit to taking care of yourself the exact same way you commit to any ‘real’ engagement. Don’t just say, ‘This week I’ll exercise’. Find a moment in your calendar and take it seriously. As I said, there is a very toxic tumblr culture surrounding this issue, and we’re basically back to believing our body is this temporary meat prison we can ignore, mistreat and mutilate in our quest towards our ‘true self’, but that’s not how it works at all. We are our bodies, health is a real & definable concept and good health is better than bad health. Pretending otherwise is dangerous and, to be perfectly honest, selfish af. We stay alive and well for ourselves, but also for each other. So look for the red flags, and please unfollow, block and blacklist your way out of this echo chamber.
I did a lot of reading and researching over the past few years, and it seems the vast majority of modern studies agree on the same two or three things. I’m sure it’s not news to anyone, but I’m sharing them anyway.
- Don’t eat too much, and choose mostly natural, plant-based foods.
- (Btw ‘There are no bad foods’ + ‘Everything in moderation!’ are lies corporations have been pushing for decades and some people are happily spreading for their own purposes. There absolutely are bad foods, you know exactly which foods are bad and you need to stay the hell away from them.)
- Don’t eat too frequently: give your digestive system long hours to rest and your body time to do some deep-cleaning and rid itself of bad cells. Intermittent fasting is very nearly a miracle tool for good health.
- Obviously stay away from sugar, alcohol, tobacco and drugs (and that includes cannabis, unless actually prescribed against pain).
- Find a healthy way to cope with stress. This is perhaps the most difficult thing you’ll have to do in your life, but if you can develop good habits, or rewire your brain towards good habits, it will make a world of difference.
- (Also no, emotional eating is not okay and not healthy.)
- Sleep enough - eight hours if you can, two of them before midnight. Also ‘No screens before bed’ is a great rule.
- Meditate in some way. It does’t have to be ‘proper’ meditation - the idea is to ‘turn off’ the brain regularly. Some people do this by praying, others by cleaning or knitting or walking in nature. If you’re new to the concept, you can start with a simple breathing exercise, five to ten minutes a day.
- Exercise. I know this can be annoying af, but you can grow to enjoy it, and virtually every study out there will tell you 150 minutes of high cardiac activity every week will help you to stay fit, live longer, and avoid major diseases.
- (Don’t forget weight lifting! Especially as you get older, lifting weights will help you preserve muscle mass.)
- (Also walking. We’re wandering apes and we evolved to walk. Walking, especially outside and near trees or water, is also linked to happiness, mental clarity and creativity.)
- Keep your brain young by learning new things. It can be a foreign language or a new craft, or you can simply read books, do crosswords and puzzles, and practice looking at the world with naked and child-like curiosity.
- Cultivate deep and loving real world relationships with people.
- Let go of negative feelings.
- Finally, be as consistent as you can: a lot of our fitness, brain plasticity and gut health can be lost in a surprisingly short amount of time if you don’t work on it.
I know this all seems like a lot, and there are days it’s difficult to even get out of bed, but again - I’m begging you to take this seriously and make your health a priority, right now. Too many people, myself included, only start caring when something goes wrong. Sometimes it’s too late to fix it, and even when it isn’t, it’s really, really hard to claw your way back to good health. Don’t wait until next week, next month, the end of your studies, or whatever else.
Change your life now.
Choose yourself now.
This is it. I’m sorry if I sound preachy or patronizing, it’s not my intention at all. I spent the last two weeks half-convinced I was going to die, and it’s a feeling I don’t wish on anyone. Please - don’t make the same mistakes I did and put yourself first right now. Don’t leave it for later. I’m trying to course-correct myself, and one thing I’m doing is a digital detox. I’m tired of the online world, of how much time it sucks out of my life and how often it succeeds in its purpose - to keep me clicking and scrolling, to make me upset, angry, outraged. I’m giving it up for a while, and I suggest you do the same. Go back to books, to poems, to music, to dancing yourself silly and collecting feathers and rocks and knitting a scarf you can give to someone you love. Take some time to breathe.
Much love to everyone and happy journey until we meet again.
