Happy Mind, Happy Life!

I remember coming home exhausted from long hours at work 3 weeks ago. It was 1 am and heavily snowing then. "Long night?" The cab driver asked. I took a heavy sigh and replied, "Yes. And it has been like this for 5 straight weeks. I feel so dead tired already." He looked at me through his front mirror and with sincerity, he said, "I am sorry to hear that Miss. But you know what, everyday we should be thankful we still have a job. Just remember, somewhere around the world, a young lady like you is battling for her life from a terminal illness right now."

'Wow!' That really struck me. This man was sent from Heaven that very moment to awaken my tired spirit.

If only I could always have that positivity and relentless spirit after constant long hours of stress and anxiety.

While I know I should keep a positive spin on things, I also have to learn when my body starts giving the negative responses to prolonged stress. You see, I have always pushed myself hard to deliver, giving my 101% in all I do. That is just my character. Sadly even at the cost of my health.

I may have pushed myself too hard and I had reached my limit that it was almost a point of no return for me. I was suffering from severe anxiety attack. At one point, I could not even sleep for 1 whole day. Yes! I was awake for almost 24 hours! It was really that bad. The sleepless nights continued for weeks. I even started suffering from intermittent migraine which I have never even experienced before. And ultimately, I started losing appetite while at stress. All these almost had me to a point of total breakdown.

So for the last 2 weeks, I took conscious efforts to rest my mind and body. Sleep and sleep. Yes, i will be sleeping after this :). Do the things I missed doing for the last 6 weeks.  Get caught up with my life. Discover new things like baking. Cook more keto dishes. The kitchen has become a therapeutic place for me, thank God! And thanks to the support of my family, boyfriend, friends and colleagues, I hope I am on my way to full recovery.

I didn't really realize the impact of stress and anxiety on me until recently. I got reminded that my mind and body can only do so much. Constant exposure to stress deteriorated my resiliency over time and thus my threshold reduced. Lesson learned: health and well-being should come first. Health is wealth. Work to have a balance of things in your life. Strive to achieve a healthy state of mind. Happy mind, happy life, indeed! At the end of the day, my well-being matters more than anything else.

Take care everyone!