Listening to your body sounds easy but can actually be a huge challenge. From the time you are a child you are often discouraged from listening to your body. Examples range from being forced to eat everything on your plate to only being able to use the bathroom at certain times during school. For me, listening to my body has taken practice and honestly it has taken living with fibromyalgia. This is my journey learning to listen to my body with fibromyalgia.
Havoc of fibromyalgia and other illnesses on the body
Who knows if it is just my fibromyalgia that is causing havoc in my body. It could be the irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis or the combination of all of them. In all honesty, I wonder how many “diagnoses” I have are caused by one another. There was a time before my hysterectomy that I was in so much pain I couldn’t exactly tell what was happening in my body. Was it an ovarian cyst bursting or was it the fibroids in my uterus? Possibly it was a bowel obstruction or just plain fibromyalgia pain? It turns out it was the perfect storm of an ovarian cyst, fibroids, endometriosis, IBS and fibromyalgia all at the same time. I’m thankful that hasn’t happened again! This is why fibromyalgia can be so different for each individual.
*There may be affiliate links within this post. There is no obligation to make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.*
FibroMomBlog Articles You May Like:
My Love/Hate Relationship With Taking A Shower
The Weight Of Fibromyalgia On My Body And Soul
10 ways to listen to your body
I am certainly not an expert at listening to my body as I still ignore symptoms and push through too much. However, I am learning and growing each day. Here are some ways I began my journey.
- Keep a journal of symptoms – this can help you identify which activities or even how the length/intensity affects you.
- Use pacing to spread out activities while still allowing rest. This is how I started exercising again. I would start slow maybe 5 min and I would alternate days. I slowly built up the time and intensity while still maintaining every other day rest. This can also be used with any activity by allowing yourself more time for the activity and plenty of rest after and/or in between.
- Give yourself reasonable, attainable goals – I like to dream big, but my body doesn’t. You can still dream big, but break your dream into small attainable goals.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself when you can’t reach your goals. Forgive yourself for setbacks and allow your body and mind to rest. Heck- I had to take a semester off from school and work to heal when things got really bad. Point is – I got back up eventually.
- Celebrate when you do reach your goals. If you made yourself a goal no matter how big or small – celebrate when you reach it. That could mean a special treat, boasting on social media or just silently congratulating yourself.
- Use meditation sessions to check in with your whole body (body scan). This has been a huge aspect in my journey. Taking time and practicing listening to just my own body has allowed me to “hear” things my body is telling me when I’m not meditating.
- Use Yoga and/or just stretches to breathe into the body part you are stretching. I’m not a huge yoga fan, but I love to stretch. I spend time each morning doing a ritual of stretches. I take my time, go slow and breathe into the stretch while thinking about the muscle I am stretching. Ahhh, it is my favorite thing to do.
- Keep a food journal to track how certain foods react in your body. This has been so helpful to me. I have tried actual journals and apps. I learned which foods increase my fibromyalgia and IBS symptoms.
- Stop several times a day to just take a couple deep, slow breaths (Apple watch can help). I love this feature on my Apple watch, especially on busy work days. It just brings me back to my own body and reminds me to reconnect with myself and only takes a minute.
- Face past trauma and emotional pain you have been avoiding. This is something I am going through right now. I am actually reading a book that has been integral in this process. How To Do The Work by Dr Nicole LePera. I will talk more on this in another post. (hopefully)
Listening to your body with fibromyalgia
Learning to listen to your body with fibromyalgia takes work. Your symptoms may be wreaking havoc on you as well due to ignoring you. I know for me that was a huge factor. Putting myself through extreme stress, never listening to my body, and never taking care of my body. I have started doing small things everyday to show myself I care about me. Everyday, I meditate for 5-10 minutes, take my blood pressure and supplements. Sometimes I do still forget, but most days at least one of these happens. I exercise about four times a week, except when I am in a flare, then I just do stretches until I feel like my body can’t be pushed further.
Most importantly, I do things for myself now whether it is a refreshing face mask or a nap. I put myself on my “to-do list”. Even if none of the advice above sounds like something you want to do, at least find a way to do one thing each day that is solely for you.
I would love to hear your experiences on how you learned to listen to your body with fibromyalgia, please tell us in the comments.
[…] body part that is bothering you. They may have you do some exercises and stretches, but remember to always listen to your body. The PT is guiding you, but you are ultimately the best judge of what your body can and should do. […]