What Does Your Body Have to Say About Your Job?

I’ve seen hundreds of patients experiencing symptoms of stress: headaches, fatigue, excess weight, anxiety and depression. They are worn out, ageing quickly, and frustrated that they do not have the life and health they want. Most of them are using medications, or considering medications, such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds, pain meds or sleep meds. However, these are only a Band-Aid. They are not getting to the root cause.

For most of these patients, the interesting common denominator is they are all well-educated and hard-working. So why don’t any of them have the life and the health they really want? Is it that hard to figure out how to set up a winning situation? Here’s what I have concluded: We’ve been trained to lose.

That’s right. Society and our upbringing have taught us a way of life that is outdated and no longer works.  Here it is:  “Work hard, and you will succeed.”

I recently treated a patient struggling with an autoimmune illness. She is working full-time, nurturing her marriage, and taking care of her home and children. She was  on multiple medications, which were not bringing satisfactory results. When I interviewed Patty, I found she works many more hours than she would like to be working. She also takes her children to daycare, although she’d much rather be taking care of them herself. I asked her why she was doing things this way. She let me know that to pay the bills, including the mortgage on their large home, she must continue working this way.

This is a classic example of a woman foregoing the things that nurture her the most: time to relax, time with her children, and work she loves; while her health suffers terribly. Patty’s body was speaking to her, saying she needed to make a change. Yet, she was searching for a medication or a remedy; Patty wasn’t listening to her body.

Through the treatment with me, she was able to connect with her body’s physical imbalance. She was able to connect with the fact she was working to feed a life she didn’t love. With osteopathic treatment, and some training in self-treatment modalities, her body’s health and energy levels were restored. She no longer has autoimmune illness or fatigue. Patty has found a new job, working part time (something she thought would be impossible.) She loves working part time and taking care of her children. She and her husband decided to sell their large home and move into a smaller one in a different area. They are all immensely happier and healthier than they had been in their prior life. Patty feels as though the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders. She is measurably happier in this new situation than she ever had been in her “big” life.

Sometimes the solutions are so much simpler than we can imagine! This is another example of a patient who basically was working hard, waiting for a future time when she could relax and be happy. That time would never come. It will not come for you either! It is up to you to release the old idea that working harder for more will make you happy and wake up to The Truth: You can have whatever you most want and need, such as ideal health, you just have to prioritize it and let nothing else be more important.

So ask yourself, are you living the life you really love? Or are you working toward that life, hoping that one day in the future you will have what you really want? Doing fulfilling work that you love, for just the amount of time you want to do it, absolutely will bring success. That is only because it is fulfilling in and of itself.

Are you fulfilled in your work? If not, it is detracting from your health. What is your body saying to you about this? Is it happy, nurtured and at peace? If not, take a look at what are you working for and make a new commitment to yourself, your body and your health!