<aside> <img src="/icons/chat_blue.svg" alt="/icons/chat_blue.svg" width="40px" /> As an international athlete at 19, I did everything right:
Trained hard, perfect diet, daily cold plunge, optimising sleep, I even wore compression leggings around the house.
My white blood cell count was so low doctors were testing me for leukaemia and bone marrow disease.
I felt like the life has been sucked out of me, and yet, nothing was ever found.
It was at this point that I understood the power of the mind and the nervous system.
When you are chronically trapped in a state of survival, your sympathetic nervous system is tapping into vital resources to keep you functioning optimally.
In this state (know as fight-or-flight) your body neglects “less essential” functions such as immunity, digestive function, and even creativity (with circulation shifting to the hind-brain to prime your instincts).
Stay there for long enough; you start to decay.
Due to our large brains (as humans), we are also capable of thinking about problems, reliving past events, and forecasting future situations—producing mind-created stress.
The kicker: Your body doesn't know the difference between these real and mind-created events.
Together they chain you into a physiological prison. Your life force is draining out of you.
Your destructive thoughts trigger a chemical reaction called an emotion; which furthers feed destructive thoughts.
You're wearing further and further down with each emotional-thought loop.
You can't cold plunge your way out of this.
What you need is to step back, to relax, to create an environment of safety...
Enjoy your life a little bit.
After being forced into rest as an athlete, pulling me out of competitions that I’d trained many years for; the season was almost over.
I considered taking a step back for the rest of year.
Instead, I decided to come back and “care less”.
I took all the pressure off myself, enjoyed the process, and ended up skyrocketing my performance.
The results poured in without even working towards them.
This is why, as a health coaching and nutritionist that's published an Amazon Best-Selling diet & nutrition book, helped 1,353 people heal their gut, and more...
I will still tell you:
Sometimes a beer on the beach with your mates is the best thing you can do for your health.
You cannot always chase good health or performance.
Allow it to come to you.
</aside>
