Habits that stick

When you have an unpredictable health condition, sticking with routines can feel impossible. But over the last 15 years living (and might I add f’ing crushing) lupus, I’ve learned that when you pair down your routines and focus first and foremost on nervous system regulation, those habits stick even on low energy days.

I don’t say this lightly but I’ve mastered the art of autoimmune living and not for the reasons you might think.

It’s not the outside stuff, remission or helping others - it’s fully because I accept my diagnosis and my life. Everything else has become extra.

This body I live in is the same body that “betrayed me” at 27. The one who couldn’t walk, think or feel. Seriously, holidays made no difference. I attended funerals early on in my diagnosis and I was unable to feel “normal” emotions. It was wild. In hindsight I was completely stuck in fight or flight. And that didn’t start at 27. My anxiety started years of not decades earlier.

Now that I’m approaching 43 and the years where my friends systems are changing yet again, and mine probably is starting to as well, I almost think that I feel better than perhaps I ever had. And for one simple reason.

My nervous system is sooooo chill. Even when it gets disturbed, annoyed, down or out, I can quickly become aligned and center. I know how I want to feel in my mind and body and I use mindfulness tools to quickly get there. That’s the power of these evidence-practices. They work. They change your brain, nervous and immune systems.

Imagine having those tools earlier on? I used to wonder what would have happened but now I just take a deep breath and find relief in knowing that I’m sharing the tools with others, including my kids and future generations who will need to learn how to quickly shift their moods, perspectives and state of being to feel their very best.

While symptoms may change unwittingly, your mind and body will follow suit. Learn how to settle in and react less. Your inflammatory markers (and kids) will thank you.