After digging into nutrition quite a bit, I have realized that there is a tremendous amount of information out there and we are learning more and more all of the time. There are so many different ways to eat, and things to eat, that I feel like each of them has their own benefits. Sometimes I feel lost in what to do.
It is overwhelming to try to figure out what to do to keep yourself at peak performance. You will find that you should eat meat. You will find that you shouldn’t eat meat. You will find that carbs are good, but not too many, and only certain types. You will find that veggies are important, but you have to be careful eating them raw if you have thyroid issues (do I have thyroid issues?) and even that the way you cook your food can change it’s nutritional value all together. Not to mention the latest research I’ve been encountering – individualized nutrition and eating for your blood type! That swirling door of options and continual growth, with no concrete answers, can feel like chaos. When that chaotic, anxious feeling encircles a choice in your life (whatever that choice may be) I have learned that you have to find your ground before you make a decision. You have to be in tune with your path in order to stay aligned.
After my diagnosis, the doctors and the drug companies took over my life. I did not feel involved in the plan or the choices. There was obviously a set protocol to follow with MS that began to fall into place, and the drug company was calling me on the regular to get started on their medication. For some reason (god, intuition, fate whatever you want to call it) I just couldn’t go along with it right then. I wanted to take a minute. Everything was spinning so fast, and I just wanted everything to slow down for a second. I wanted a moment to breathe and to let this all sink in. I wanted to learn about what was happening to me. I wanted to think about what it was going to mean to put injections into my body everyday, or leave my children for hours at a time for infusions. I wanted time to understand the short-term and long-term effectiveness of some of these drugs. I wanted time to look at side-effects like nausea, respiratory infections, liver complications, and even brain infections and death, and make the decisions that were best for me and my family. I ended up going on a different path than the doctor suggested, and whether or not it’s the best one according to other people (doctors or not) it seriously doesn’t matter because it is the best one for me. I feel like my life has been successful these last 3 years because I listened. I am giving my time and energy to the things that truly matter to me, and therefore my life is being lived in alignment with my soul.
Deepak Chopra’s The Book of Secrets has an excellent section about this idea. He discusses how your choices are obviously important. For example, if you are trying to decide how you are going to nourish your body, that is important. But ultimately, there is a set of deeper level questions that matter more to your living than which diet you choose.
“Does this choice feel right for me?
Am I interested in where this choice is leading?
Do I like the people involved?
Is this choice good for my whole family?
Does this choice make sense given my stage in life?
Do I feel morally justified in making this choice?
Will this choice help me grow?
Do I have a chance to be more creative and inspired by what I am about to do?”
He continues on, “It’s when these things go wrong (the situations listed above) that choices don’t work out. People who can assess their choices at the deeper level of awareness are aligning themselves with infinite intelligence, and thus they have a greater chance for success than does someone who crunches the numbers.”
I am not writing on this blog to tell someone with MS how to live, or the path that they should follow. Every single person will have their own. I’m not sharing my knowledge about nutrition because I have one perfect diet that will make perfect health. There is so much we have yet to understand about nutrition. I am writing because I’m encouraging you to find your own way with the path of your life. We are inundated with information. Our society is expanding and curious, and has lots of different answers for everything. I am not here with the answers, I am here encouraging you to take a moment before you make your decision, to close your eyes, to ask yourself those questions above, and then to listen. Follow that spark inside you that is leading you on your path, a path of contentment and peace.
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. William Ernest Henley
In being true to yourself you will find that things no longer go right or wrong, things just go. Your life then becomes a journey of learning. “Either it is good for you, or it is bringing up what you need to look at in order to create good for you. Evolution is win-win.” (Chopra, p.97) When we stay aligned with who we are we stand stronger because our true purpose is being pursued. It is when we make choices to fit in or to make others happy, that we start the fall of losing ourselves and things can get terribly messy.
Give yourself a few moments (or many moments if you can manage). Write, draw, think, pray – if that’s what you do. Allow yourself to connect to you. You are the guide of your life. Let your life shine.
