My journey to wellness through the "unconventional"

What happened at the start of the year, and how I've remedied it

Now here’s something slightly different, which falls more into the well-being category, but does feature plants heavily…

Okay, I’ve got a theory, and it’s one I’ve piecing together over the last six months.

Anything that’s remotely good for you tends to look strange when you do it in public.

Think about that for a moment.

Now, as you may or may not know, I have had a bit of a tumultuous first half of the year healthwise. In fact, I’m not sure I can even describe it yet. It’s possibly one of those things I might not be able to actually comprehend for a few years.

But, anyway, one evening in mid-March I basically had a near death experience in my apartment. The heart scare that never was. Again, I still don’t know what it was. But that’s much less relevant now anyway.

But, that moment set off a chain of events which basically caused my body to experience an “acute stress reaction”. I was stuck in a form of shock.

For about 4 to 5 weeks, it was almost unbearable, as all my senses were dulled and/or on high alert, I had a whole catalogue of bizarre symptoms, I had really awful thoughts… I just couldn’t function properly. During those intense weeks, I was worried I’d never be able to work again.

I’m very lucky that that has now faded, yet I’m not symptomless quite yet. I still have weird moments from time to time, but generally I’m living my best life.

But, it hasn’t been an easy journey, and it wasn’t sorted by any magic pill. I basically re-learnt how to make myself (and mostly importantly my nervous system) feel good.

So, right here, I’m going to list out many of the things that I was doing from an early stage of my diagnosis, in order to everything I could to help and settle my nervous system… I needed to let my nervous system know that I was safe, and I didn’t need to be stuck in the shock response any longer…

Anyway, it makes me chuckle now that most of the things I was then doing, whilst incredibly good for you, are things that we mostly feel shame doing. Because they might be seen as kooky or “alternative”…

Society has become so obsessed by status and material things that we don’t really prioritise self-care, all those things that now seem unorthodox. Strangely, these are the things that are GOOD for us, and are the things that our ancestors would’ve been doing centuries ago. Step forward meditation, qi yong and yoga, to name just a few.

Anyway, here’s a bit of a list of the things that I found really useful, and really saved me. Not in any particular order.

Now I’m much better, I really need to make sure I still practice these things, because back then I needed to do them, but now I need to want to do them. And that’s a big difference.

Trust me, they will be making a difference. After all, not all differences are visible.

Enjoying flowers

As I was trying to recover, I really appreciate it having my plants around me. I remember, because I was having a problem with my vision, focusing every day on the intricate detail of the regal Pelargonium I was growing on my balcony, and trying to see if it felt any clearer each day. After a week or two it did. Nature gave me something to focus on.

Equally, my apartment is full of houseplants, I’d like to think they also helped my recovery by being in their presence.

Qi Gong

We all know that movement in the body is good for us, and this shaking of the body seems to move the energy around, and really wake you up. However, it’s another thing that might look strange if your neighbour walks past the window at the moment you’re doing it!