Immunity & Patience
This year I wanted to give each month a theme to act as an umbrella under which all the little daily decisions become based around.
Themes are general ideas, or universal messages that everyone can connect with and relate to aspects of their own lives.
I wanted to develop a theme for the entirety of 2024, as well as themes for each month.
The theme for the year is IMMUNITY.
Maybe you’re first thought is Jeff Probst handing you the ever-desired Immunity Idol, phew safe for another week…
But really I’m talking more about the body’s ability to stave off disease, infection, illness, etc… from your common cold to more chronic issues.
To have a healthy immune system means the body is proficient at defending against harmful pathogens leading to infection or disease. Ultimately, the more we are able to support the immune system by way of controlling lifestyle factors, the better it can serve us to keep us feeling well.
The immune system is comprised of many organs and cells.
There are so many things within our control that we can do to positively support our immune systems. Here are some examples:
Consistently get 8 hours of quality sleep to allow our tissues to recover
Eat nourishing foods 80-100% of the time and hydrating properly to provide our tissues with the right nutrients to function at their best
Exercise as much as possible in a sustainable way
Manage stress levels by including nervous system down-regulatory activities during waking hours like meditation, reading for leisure, yoga, creating art, taking a bath or foam rolling
Keeping a clean living environment
Spending time outside everyday
These might seem like obvious or even simple things to do, but to execute and practice them week after week is not so easy for some. We have to purposefully include them in our life.
There are also things outside of our control that can challenge our immune systems. Here are some examples:
you have children that come home sick from school
you travel and get sick
someone at work comes in who is sick
a traumatic event occurs that increases stress levels greatly
Immunity is the theme of 2024 because it is the sole thing that will allow you to have the energy and capacity for everything else you want to do this year.
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The theme for January is PATIENCE.
Patience is the ability to accept or tolerate delay, challenge or suffering without feelings of anger or disappointment.
I believe you can practice patience while also feeling angry or disappointed. If Brene Brown has taught me anything it’s how important it is to welcome and accept the entire spectrum of emotions without letting them derail us from our goals.
So maybe you’ve set some goals for 2024. Amazing. They will likely require patience to achieve. Especially if you are trying to introduce new habits. We talk about this all the time with our clients. Behaviour change is one of the more difficult things to do. Ultimately, the stronger your reason is for doing something, the more likely you are to successfully integrate it into your life. While there are so many things you could focus on that would improve your health and immunity, we recommend giving the most energy to the one thing that will make the biggest impact in your life right now. For example, if your sleep is chronically suffering, this would be a great place to start. Don’t worry about the dozens of other things right now, if you don’t have energy because you’re not recovering well, then you can’t expect yourself to join that club or make better food choices or go out hiking more.
I thought the theme of patience was well-suited for the first month of the new year since it’s a time that many people are trying new things. These things take time and you won’t be perfect, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to identify personally meaningful things that will contribute to supporting our well-being and find ways to integrate them over the long-term.
Let’s be patient with our progress in the pursuit of better immunity this year.
