More often than not people will identify themselves by their body. With labels of tall, short, thin, muscular, curvy, healthy, and unhealthy and the like, there are actually very few who are able to step outside of these ‘traditional’ definitions we have adopted so readily. Our flesh holds a blessed vehicle for us to carry with us our personal joys and troubles, our victories and our challenges.
Why not take supreme and ultimate care of the wonderful vehicle your body actually is, instead of defining it, allowing that definition of tall or short, thin or curvy, to completely rule how you ultimately decide to treat your body?
Let’s use a common metaphor for the human body, a car. They’re both vehicles which if taken care of will last you a long time. A car, no matter what style or model, will get you where you need to go. Your body, if taken care of, will do the same.
How Do You Treat Your Car And How Do You Treat Your Body?
More often than not, many of us tend to treat our cars better than our own bodies. Our cars get the best gas in the tank, even if it’s more expensive that regular gas. Following this act of generosity towards our car, we proceed to fueling our bodies with food void of any nutritional value. We begin a ritual of washing our cars every week, with the metaphor being a car spa but yet we rarely spend time or money on any ritual of basic self care.
When our body gives us nudges such as pings and knocks and other loud, unavoidable signals when something is required, we tend to ignore it. However, the slightest sniffle or shimmy coming from underneath the hood of the car sends us immediately to our mechanic for diagnosis and treatment.
You may very well be thinking how dangerous it could be if you ignore these symptoms from your car. Although this is true, as brakes that are squeaking or an unusual grinding coming from the rear axle could result in an accident, the grunts and groans from your body could be equally dangerous. We’ve each heard those horrid stories of a friend of family member ignoring all the signs until it was too late to do anything about them.
Instead of continuing to follow this path, appreciate whatever shape, form and situation your body is in. It has taken you where you have needed to go, and so far hasn’t let you down. Embrace your healthy whole body as of right now, because while you are much more than your body itself, you just can’t exist and experience life without it.
Some Questions to Consider:
Your car may start to spat and sputter, becoming unable to run or take you where you need to go if you don’t use the right grade of fuel. Are you using the best fuel possible? Drinking more water and replacing those empty calories with appropriate nutrients will feed your body properly so your body will take you far.
Are you noticing the check engine light shining at you from the dashboard? This is self care we are talking about here. It doesn’t have to be massages twice a week or expensive spa weekends four times a year, but if you can afford it, by all means, enjoy! If this isn’t a possibility, go for a walk, enjoy a bubble bath in candle light, schedule a family game night – there are many fantastic ways to take a step back to enjoy your life, find a balance and take care of the signals your body is shouting at you to be recognized.
Taking care of yourself in any possible way you can just makes sense. You know you can do it now and schedule regular maintenance instead of waiting until the car breaks down completely and needs more repairs. Follow up right away when you hear that first sign of a rattle, a skip in the transmission when you change gears, or the wipers only clear the bottom half of the windshield.
As we finish with our comparison, when the tread has worn thin on tires, you replace them. So what do you do when your own treads are running thin? We all need some personal time to make a thorough evaluation of our lives, where we find ourselves now, and where we would like to see ourselves later on. It’s possible for our needs to change over time, and we have to pay attention to these changes, because if we ignore them, we are ignoring who we are, and that’s not a good thing when it comes to our health and happiness.
So, next time you’re at the gas station or washing your car step back and remember that you wouldn’t be able to do any of those tasks if it weren’t for the divine vehicle you’re residing in – your body. Take great care of it; it’s the only one you get.
