Silver-linings of COVID
/No matter how much we fight it, the COVID virus is here to stay.
It has been about 20 months since the first surge. Initially we were scared. We didn’t know how to fight this new disease and people were dying. Overtime, we developed solutions to save lives, created a vaccine, and slowly started to work towards normal. 20 months later, we can begin to step back and see the bigger picture, reflect on our reactions and how they are affecting us now, and discover some silver-lings out of all this chaos.
Our reactions towards COVID have affected all of us, good and bad. New and longstanding businesses have been lost, we don’t have enough workers, and our supply-chain is greatly disrupted. These are just some of the negative impacts from our reactions, but its too easy to just sit back and complain about everything that is going wrong. So, what have been some of the positive impacts? Many of us have reconnected to the outdoors and realized how important family and community is.
The main silver-lining I want to focus on is how our own individual wellness has become more important than it has been in the recent past – I mean, this is a wellness blog lol.
Overtime, from talking with clients, friends, and family I learned that people are more interested in taking back control of their health. COVID made everyone feel powerless and we did not like it. We began to realize that taking accountability for our own health will help us gain back some power. The idea ‘survival of the fittest’ began to be the topic of many discussions.
What does ‘being fit’ mean? Most people will imagine the external view of fitness: our physique, but fitness is just one part of the bigger idea of Wellness. Wellness is a BIG field, and it intimidates many of us, so I hope to simplify it into a few categories for you:
- Movement: Keeping our ENTIRE body strong will help us fight illness, prevent injury, and quicken recovery. We need to incorporate weight training, cardio (the increasing of our heart rate), and mobility to reach our strength potential.
- Diet: What we put in our body affects not only our weight, but how the body functions. Processed foods, sugar, and bad fats all increase our internal inflammation, and internal inflammation weakens our body’s immune system and diminishes the strength of our body’s response to illnesses. Below are some examples of food that affects our inflammation (this does not mean you need to completely remove these items but to be mindful of limiting how much you eat of them):
o Processed foods: breakfast cereals, bread, crackers, meat products (bacon, sausage, etc.), microwavable meals, pre-packaged meals (hamburger helper, Mac & Cheese)
o Foods with hidden sugar: pasta sauce, granola bars, yogurt, salad dressing, packaged fruit
o Bad fats: safflower, soybean, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, vegetable oils, hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils, margarine, shortening
- Stress management: stress decreases our immunity, so learning to manage it is a major key to taking back control of our health. Some ideas include mediation, yoga, taking time for yourself daily, breath work, laugh, sleep.
Taking back control of your health will be challenging. Society makes it easy to be lazy, to go for the convenient foods, and to ignore our stress. If we remain vigilant on keeping wellness at the top of our priorities we will be able to stand stronger and longer against the next virus that comes around.
Accountability goes a long way towards making a change. Find a group or gym or even a friend/family member that will keep you on track.
Not sure how to start? I offer wellness coaching that will help you get started AND excel at attaining your goals. Email info@katieschlieppwellness.com for more information and pricing.
