Even I forget to listen sometimes
How often do you do things because you ‘know’ they’re good for you? And how do you ‘know’ that? Is it because you’ve read about the benefits of this superfood/exercise/fasting regime, or because you’ve actually tried it and seen the benefits for yourself?
Sometimes we blindly follow advice, often because it doesn’t feel like advice anymore, it seems like fact because it’s been around so long, or because so many other people say it’s good for them. Things like:
“Brown bread is better for you than white bread.”
“Caffeine is bad for you.”
“Cold water swimming is good for your mental and physical health.”
I’m sure there are lots more!
Well, let me start by saying that it turns out that white bread is actually better for ME than brown (I’m talking homemade, preservative-free, proper fresh white bread), because I can’t tolerate the husk of grains very well. Who knew?! It also turns out that I find a little bit of caffeine is beneficial to me… if I have one cup of coffee, before I need to really focus on a task on the computer, it really helps. And as long as it’s in the morning and if I don’t do it everyday, then it doesn’t have a negative impact on my sleep.
Lastly, and this was the prompt for this post, I have pretty much decided that cold water swimming is NOT for everyone, despite the ‘known’ health benefits. It isn’t for me. I had been a few times since summer 2021, but not really through last winter… then I went recently, in the first week of November… and it hurt. The only good bits were that I had the company of friends while we stayed in for a full 5 minutes and that the sun came out momentarily which really helped, but I couldn’t join in with the whoops of pride when I got out. I didn’t feel it. I just wanted to get home. I won’t be going again until at LEAST the spring, if not early summer. I never got the ‘high’ I hear others talk about. Instead I felt drained for days, both physically and emotionally. What’s worse, is I had a feeling before I went this time, that it wasn’t going to do me good – a gut instinct if you like – but I ignored it and replaced it with thoughts like, “everyone says how great it is” and “it’ll do me good.” Hmmm…
Don’t get me wrong, I love a challenge and I’m certainly not one to shy away from exercise, even when I don’t fancy it. I’m well-practised at tuning into myself and (usually) knowing the difference between times when I need to give myself a gentle nudge, and times when I need to listen to my resistance but this time I got sucked in. I’m still a work-in-progress after all. I don’t listen to my intuition ALL the time (read my blog post on Perfectionism!) but I was putting pressure on myself because I had enjoyed it before (my last outdoor swim was September and that was chilly but invigorating), and because I had never heard of anyone say they knew it wasn’t good for them. You usually get two camps of outdoor swimmers; those who definitely don’t love it and those who definitely do.
So, hurrah for me for listening (even if it was too late this time) to my intuition and accepting that it’s OK for me not to love it. My decision was cemented when a few days later I went for a brisk walk in the wind and rain and absolutely LOVED it.
So folks, my message is to tune in each day with mindfulness and keep practising listening to yourself, just like I have to.