We’re up to step three in my 18-week series, 18 Steps to Getting Out of Survival Mode. Step one was to Be Flexible and step two was to Develop a Sense of Humor. Step three is to Be Open to New Things.
So I know how you feel. I’ve been there before. You’ve tried just about everything you could afford and remotely sounds feasible. You’ve listened to friends and family drone on about how you “should do” this or that. You’re probably tired of people telling you what you should do. I’ve been there so I know how annoying it is to have people suggest the very same things you’ve just tried or can’t afford or are allergic to or whatever it is that prevents you from it.
But here’s the thing. Here’s what I wrote in my original article. It’s not much, but it’s powerful. At least it was for me.
“3. Be open to new things
Sometimes you need to be open to the possibility that something new might help you–even if you’ve tried it before. Sometimes circumstances aren’t right and, as you gain more strength or balance your diet or meds, that new idea might just work.”
Sometimes we get to a point where we just don’t want to hear it anymore, but sometimes it’s the very thing we need to hear…just one more time. Maybe it’s the way it’s done that’s different. Maybe it’s doing it in combination with something else. Maybe it’s just time.
I used to post on Facebook about my chronic health issues and had DOZENS of people PM me with the latest and greatest cure-all, sure-fire method to solve all my problems. I seriously got tired of hearing it. No matter what I did or took, I just couldn’t sleep longer than 3hrs at a time and four or five hours total each night. I tried everything but sleeping pills. One day, my doctor recommended I take a melatonin and magnesium at night. I just about had a purple conniption! I’ve TRIED that before…and Valerian Root Tea…and several other things. But she said to try it again with a muscle relaxer she was prescribing. Well, it works for me! I call it my Triple M! Two things that never worked for me before along with one I hadn’t tried and SHAZAM!
Sometimes you need to stop the madness and not listen to the same things over and over again…to save your sanity. But sometimes, taking the very same thing you did two years ago, just might work this time because your body has changed or because it’s taken differently or with something else. Listen to your doctor, pray, and seek what your gut is telling you. It might be telling you to be open to new things again…or old things in a new way.
