It is very easy to take having healthy physical and spiritual routines for granted. As for myself, I even did everything I could to avoid them. I was always thinking about how little time I had in my day, so what was the point of spending time resting?
It was a mental paradox that I never realized I was living in. I didn’t rest because I still had work to do, so I did that work now, thinking that I’d have more time later for what was supposed to be rest.
It was only when my mental health started to break down that I realized something very simple:
The best time to rest is now.
If it is not time to work, it is time to rest.
I was lucky with one of my first jobs. My boss made rest mandatory. He would get angry when he saw someone in the office after hours when there was no reason to be there. When we met our quota, he insisted that we go to a spa. He even enrolled us in a gym. To this day, I regret leaving that job for an offer for more money, it was not wroth it.
Healthy people don’t always realize what a blessing their health is, both mentally and physically. It is like a crown they wear that only those who are struggling can truly see.
I took my mental health for granted, and I slowly ground it down until it became so thin that I could no longer carry on with my day normally.
Luckily, all was not lost.
I had my first coping mechanisms. Now I had to build my mental armor, something that would allow me to slowly get back up and start living again.
I built my own philosophy around regaining stability.
I decided I needed three pillars to support me: Exercise, Spirituality, and Nutrition.
I believed that If I strengthened my body and my faith, the mind would follow.
The first was exercise.
Yoga every morning. At the very least, a 15-minute stretch, but if my schedule allowed it, a full 30 minutes of poses. YouTube was filled with guides. I just needed to find one I liked.
The second was nutrition.
I started paying much more attention to what I was eating and used AI to help me understand my diet and plan my meals. I started eating more balance meals and avoided process foods. AI was espeically helpful, taking a picture of my meals, not to share in social media, but to have AI analze and check for balace and portions.
The third was spirituality.
I started journaling, beginning with a simple gratitude journal. Every day, I would write down the things to be thankful for. Then I started reading a religious book, just a page or two at a time, giving myself something to meditate on.
These were small steps, but they were very hard to get started on.
Sometimes I would feel too tired to do yoga or write in my journal. The new diet was especially hard. I didn’t enjoy boiled eggs nearly as much as I enjoyed a nice cheese omelet. And giving up processed foods was harder than I expected. I never realized how attached I was not just to the taste, but also to the convenience.
But getting through that first month was pivotal.
It wasn’t about suddenly becoming a completely different person. It was about establishing a routine.
I just had to keep doing it until it became second nature.