SUSTAINABLE LIVING: Revelations From A Pandemic

There is hardly anything good you can say about the Coronavirus pandemic, except that for many it kicked us off of the hamster wheel of our jam packed daily routines and allowed us time to reflect on sustainable living.

I have found in conversations with a number of other people a pattern involving this change of routine. If one is fortunate enough not to suffer severe financial hardship from a temporary loss of work and income, this interruption in routine can have a silver lining that can be life changing.

Most of us are so busy following our packed schedules we have not had the luxury to catch our breath and reflect on how we are really feeling and if our lives are in or out of harmony with our natural rhythms. The siren call of technology also complicates the situation by offering to fill every unfilled moment with someone else’s thoughts and stories.

This is my story. Before the pandemic our Chiropractic Practice was very, very busy.

We were open eight shifts per week and I worked all of them plus extra behind the scenes office work and often put in 12 hour days which included driving home to prepare and eat lunch and then going back for another shift. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my job. It is a privilege to be able to interact with people in a healing way and make a difference in their lives.

But what I didn’t realize until I was forced to come to an abrupt halt on March 13^th 2020, was the powerful realization of how tired I was. The depth of the fatigue caught me by surprise as the dust settled around me. It took over a month of not setting my alarm clock and going outside for long daily walks to start to feel my natural energy returning.

My body was talking loud and clear and telling me in no uncertain terms that my previous schedule was unsustainable. If I was going to walk the talk of natural healing and self-care, I was going to have to make some real changes before we could reopen, both to protect our patients and our staff from the coronavirus, as well as changing our schedule to protect ourselves from disconnection and burnout.

In fact, my almost daily affirmation during this pandemic is: “May humanity awaken to all that is unsustainable.”

If you have not already had the opportunity to do so I invite you to give yourself some time and allow yourself review you schedule, your needs, and your boundaries and see what small or large changes your body’s wisdom might be guiding you to consider.

To learn more about getting in touch with your body’s wisdom contact Dr. Deborah and Barry Diamond