Healthy Mind Healthy Body

Healthy Mind Healthy Body

I think the Peace Corps funk can sneak up on you, follow you around like a shadow then become a grey cloud that weights you down. My Peace Corps funk has been a shadow—for a while now. Then it became a cloud. A cloud that I am going to consciously fight. 

Winter is coming, the days are growing shorter and the nights longer. Its hard not to want to climb in bed come 630 when your house is now dark and cold. Its hard  to get out of your warm bed and face the day until the sun is streaming through your window a good 12 plus hours later. It took me a while to realize what was going on, I would climb into bed with unbrushed teeth and an unwashed face just to “read” come 7pm I was snoozing and would wake up at 2am ready to face the day only to look at the clock and realize what time it actually was. So I would toss and turn for hours only to fall back asleep at 600 when my alarm was going off. Dragging my tired self from bed all out of sorts I would grumble about my life. This goes on for week after week. 

Some time last month, I attended an Emotional Intelligence workshop with the teachers, we had to take self-reflective quizzes. As I looked at the questions I had a dawning realization. I am a different person in Botswana than in America. I already knew that before, but I am different in a way that I don’t like. Here, recently, I often find myself to be loosing identity, self-conscious, lacking confidence, emotional, moody, depressed, overly critical of others…..the list does on and on. I feel like I have lost a little bit of me, the good part of me. People often tell me “you are getting fat” I used to just be able to rub it off—-now… I just hide in my house, isolating and reading bad romance novels. The fact of the matter, I gaining weight, this is something that I am well aware of every time I put on my pants or try to run. 

I need to reclaim that part back. Starting Monday, June 2nd I am undergoing what I call “Health Mind Healthy Body” with the following goals. 

Wash your face twice a day

Brush your teeth twice a day

Work out 4 times a week and bathe on those days

Grow it, eat it, love it

Mindfulness exercise 3 times a week

Positive energy bounces back

Eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner

Drink wine only once a week!

Clean your house—you know it makes you feel better  

Write down your goals and keep them

When you put yourself in uncomfortable situations you grow and change 

Make the most out of the time left

Last year I joked about the coldness and the number of times I didn’t take a bath, all joking aside that was a dirty thing to do to myself mentally. If you live in filth, it over times corrupts your mental health. 

Its already been a few days....I went for the worlds most horrible run this morning. But I did it. I am feeling better about myself. I am feeling better about my future. 

I am going to tackle winter head on this year! And reclaim my missing self!