When things go “wrong” with our wellness, meaning we’re feeling ill, have experienced an injury, feel anxious, feel tired, can’t sleep, or feel overwhelmed, it is our natural tendency to want to micro-manage every detail. In modern day, we are well-resourced. We search Google. We read. We see doctors, naturopaths, chiropractors, energy workers, and more. We seek out information at health food and other wellness stores. We take responsibility for “solving” our “problem”. The more stressed or sick we get, the stronger the tendency to micro-manage. It seems we’re almost hard-wired that way, and to a large extent, we are. That tendency is a cultural imprint, much like many of the others we’ve examined previously.
What’s wrong with that? It’s great to be pro-active and use resources to solve problems, right? Yes. The problem is, that we’re actually using it as a form of distraction. What? We are distracting ourselves from the root of the problem by chasing these answers. We are racing around trying to treat individual leaves, making ourselves so busy we don’t have to address the root.
I’ll give you an example. Marie is a 41-year-old, married, mother of two, working in sales, with a limiting belief that she’s not good enough. She worries that she’s not focused enough on advancing her career, because her home life prevents her from traveling to conferences and clients. She worries that she’s not a good enough mother because she doesn’t chaperone field trips, volunteer in the classroom, lead a scout troop, or make it to every sporting event. She worries that she’s not a good wife. She is exhausted at the end of the day and doesn’t have much time for her husband, Steve.
Marie has trouble sleeping, is exhausted, has frequent headaches, heartburn/indigestion, constant nasal congestion from allergies, a tight neck/shoulders, low back pain, and she gets sick all the time. She takes a supplement every night to help her sleep, a variety of pain-relievers for her headaches (rotating them to avoid medication rebound headaches per her research), various acid blockers, inhaled nasal steroids, anti-histamines, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxers. That’s only the medications! She also takes supplements for her fatigue, immune system, allergies, and stomach. She sees her chiropractor and gets massages regularly. She uses essential oils, salt, and infrared light. She does yoga, physical therapy, and Reiki.
Are any of these things bad? No! The problem is, Marie is really busy, so busy chasing each symptom, that it keeps her from addressing the real problem. Addressing the root, her fear of not being good enough, will untangle the rest. It’s like finding the golden thread.
“You need to leave behind the idea of micro-managing your symptoms or finding the miracle cure to make you well. The truth is, it requires inner work, which takes time and effort, fully embodying “Life is about the journey, not the destination.”
Release the Symptoms. Free Yourself.
Are there areas of your health and wellness that you micro-manage now? What might be the root cause of your problem?
Originally published at melissakaltmd.com on June 13, 2017.
Originally published at medium.com