This weekend, I had the privilege to participate in an event that honored those who serve us everyday – those heroes that show up everyday as first responders – police, firefighters, paramedics, military personnel, and veterans who risk their lives to serve and save others. This event held a special place in my heart, and I will share that with you in this post. I want to provide you with the tips I offered to those who attended the event as my thanks for the service and to support their health and well-being.
Be The One Honoring First Responders
I am so happy to be here. I am a hometown girl - born and raised in the Baltimore and lived in the surrounding metropolitan area my entire life. So, I am honored to be here to celebrate local first responders. It is truly a privilege for me. I have my own experience with a first responder. My father was a Baltimore City police officer for 25 years.
As you can see in this photo, (and yes, that's me in the fashionable white cape) my father had a young family and yet took on the responsibility as a first responder. There is an overwhelming amount of stress in a first responder's life. But my father lived with gratitude and dignity. I learned the lessons from his life and they have help to shape my own path.
Knowing now that many dis-eases are triggered by lifestyle choices, I now can look back on my father’s life and see how that played out for him. His health problems later in life most likely were triggered by poor nutrition, lack of restorative sleep, and chronic stress. He didn’t eat as well as he could have because his work hours were on shift rotation and of course, his sleep was disrupted by young children who were told to be quiet while their daddy slept because he had to go to work when we were in bed.
But even if we don't have jobs as a first responder, we all have stress in our lives. Now, some stress is necessary to protect ourselves from harm. We need to be able to respond to certain situations for short-term, acute stressful circumstances. But for chronic stress, the type that is unrelenting, we need to learn to effectively manage stress. It may take 2 years or 20 years for it to show the effects, but your body is struggling when you're not feeding it well and when you're not giving it the rest and recovery from stress.
You need to treat yourself as a whole being – body, mind, and spirit. For me, I nourish my body with the best food available. I believe food is medicine. It’s the one medicine most people take three or more times a day. Make it the highest quality you can get. Plus, it’s necessary to calm your mind from the daily stressors, whether they be health problems, money or job issues, or life circumstances in general. These stressors can trigger unhealthy food choices and can even cause changes in your body chemistry.
I learned important lessons from my father’s life. The most profound lesson I learned was of gratitude. Even until his last breath, he was truly grateful for all the things he had in his life. I intentionally put this value into practice in my life – and offer the same advice to my clients. It the foundation to lowering stress.
Some other ways I recommend reducing stress is when you’re in a situation where you can, please ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of self-respect. Asking for help will take you to the next level of what you need to accomplish.
It’s also very important to get restorative sleep. And as a first responder, I know that is very difficult, especially if you are working different shifts. It’s important to find ways to work around life issues so you can rest and recover.
There are many resources available that say that the answer for reducing stress is meditation. But that’s not an easy thing to accomplish. There are people who spend their entire lives learning to master the art of mediation. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes practice and serious commitment.
But taking care of your body, mind and spirit doesn’t require years of perfecting the skill of meditation and doesn’t require hours of time. There are simple things you can do. When stress first hits you, stop – take time to breathe. Take a breath in for 5 seconds, hold it for 5 seconds, and then release it for 5 seconds. Do this several times and allow your body to relax into it. That’s the very first step.
Again, it’s important to eat well. Find a way to eat foods that are high quality and rich in nutrients. Plus, it’s important to stay hydrated with clean, filtered water. I know my dad was a coffee drinker – he drank pots of the stuff every day. But he was not hydrating his body and I’m sure it may have contributed to part of his health issues.
We all have to eat. What I suggest is to take a few moments before you start eating – it will take you less than 5 minutes – and be grateful. Personally, I choose to eat fresh, whole foods. In the moments before I eat, I become mindful of all that has gone into the food that I am about to eat. Mindfulness is just being present in the moment. And in mindfulness, I am grateful to the farmer who responsibly raised the produce I’m about to eat that wasn’t sprayed with chemicals, so I won’t ingest toxins. I also eat grass-fed animal protein. So, I am grateful to the farmer or rancher that lovingly raised that animal. I am also grateful to that animal that gave its life, so I could sustain mine. And if you didn’t make your meal, be grateful to person that made it for you.
That only takes a few minutes but if you do it consciously it puts you in the mindset of gratitude. Take one meal at a time and focus on gratitude, it will begin changing your life in small ways that can lead to lowering your stress. If you put it into practice every single day, every single meal, you’ll find that stress is easier to beat than you think.
Here’s a great quote that shows you have the power within you to change your life:
Develop a sense of mindfulness – being in the moment – express gratitude, and you will find your life will begin to be less stressful and filled with abundance.
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