Are you feeling overwhelmed with managing your health issues? Does it feel like taking care of yourself has become a full-time job?
It can feel SO empowering when we’ve been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and we begin to learn about the ways that we can use nutrition and lifestyle shifts to support us. Learning about how to support our bodies on a daily basis is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves as humans and as individuals managing chronic illness.
There is no shortage of information about how to use natural healing methods these days which is great! You may find yourself getting newsletters, listening to podcasts and attending summits or webinars about the latest and greatest advancements of holistic health.
It’s very empowering to feel like there are things we can do to support ourselves. But if we spend hours a day researching and stay in this place of constantly consuming information, it can quickly feel really overwhelming and like a full-time job.
Have you ever felt this way before?
I speak to many women who have gotten to this place of information overload and feel overwhelmed and confused about what’s actually best for them. Each new practitioner they follow offers a new, different protocol and it can feel really confusing to sift through that conflicting information leaving them feeling really stuck.
What I’ve come to learn is that while information is power, to avoid the trap of information overload that can put us into a place of overwhelm, we have to be sure that we’re also continuing to connect to our bodies and what’s true for us, and putting this knowledge into action.
At the end of the day, we all just want to feel better. That’s usually what drives us to learn, research, and experiment with anything that promises to help us achieve that goal!
Before you move forward take a quick pause to connect to your body and see where you are at right now. As yourself the following questions:
- How is my stress level?
- How is my energy level?
- What are my symptoms?
- What do I need right now?
Simple check-ins like this can reconnect us to ourselves and give us valuable information about our internal environment that we simply cannot get from external sources. If you ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” and the quick answer that comes to you is, “sleep,” see if you can give your body that.
While it’s important to be informed and have information and inspiration about how to support our bodies, we can’t forget that the most valuable information that’s going to support sustained healing is right here, right now, when we slow down and ask ourselves what we need.
It sounds quite simple but the practice of quieting down, tuning in, understand what we need and then giving ourselves that is a muscle that needs to be strengthened! If we can begin to honor those basic, foundational needs like sleep, rest, hydration, joy, and nourishing food consistently it gives us a much stronger foundation on which to implement other methods of healing.
That being said, I love to learn and am always gathering information about the latest research in the autoimmune world to support my clients. When researching or consuming information about holistic health online my favorite questions to ask are:
- Is this information empowering?
- What am I going to DO with this information?
Those questions will help ensure that you are only taking in information that feels good and empowering to you, and that you avoid getting stuck in the trap of information overload that so many of us find ourselves in. I also make sure to give myself plenty of “technology breaks” to take a break from consuming and focus solely on implementing and listening closely to my body.
If you are in this place of overwhelm right now take a deep breath, know that you are doing great, and that taking intentional time to pause from taking in information won’t derail your health, it will only enhance it!
Leave a Comment