“Looking at The Medicine Cabinet, You’re 43!”
This is the image that got me serious and recommitted to a life of health and wellness. I was freshly a discharged Air Force Veteran with two kids under two and for the first time in my life, a stay at home mom. These new roles came with many challenges of their own, I was only 26-years-young and my mother just transitioned from breast cancer complications. RJ (my husband) went to work and I found myself the bathroom getting myself together and dressed before the kids woke up for the day. Then I was stopped in my tracks by what I saw.
The majority of my medicine cabinet was prescription medications for various things, most if not all undiagnosed but experiments provided by good ole healthcare. “Try this and if nothing changes, come on back for another appointment.” Was this really how we expected people to get better? Only a small and I mean super small corner of this cabinet was natural and essential oils were not that big of a deal quite yet. But innately and the way I grew up, I knew better. My husband used to laugh because during the brief time my mother lived with us, it seemed she had a tea for everything. Cough, “come here, I got a tea for that cough.” I also deeply trusted my mothers wisdom because not only was she my mom but she was a licensed and practicing nurse and nursing educator that taught others how to become nurses. She still leaned heavily on caring for people and preventative measures from the Earth before relying on what western medicine provided, a diagnosis and a prescription.
When my husband got home from work, I walked him into our bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. I asked him what he saw and how old he would guess we were if he were a burgler that broke in and looked at our medicine cabinet. “Looking at the medicine cabinet, I’d say about 43?!” I knew something had to change because my husband was also dealing with physical ailments in his body that the doctors were saying are idiopathic and they had no understanding of why or where it was coming from but they were willing to write additional prescriptions for permanent use.
I will not forget how after my son was born I knew something was wrong with my body. I had no sensations in my middle. I couldn’t feel if I had to use the bathroom, if I was hungry or full and worst I couldn’t hold it if I had to go which resulted in several embarrassing mishaps. Let me say this first, I fully acknowledge the privilege it is to be able to have medical insurance and see multiple doctors, it is not lost on me that there are so many across this country that have either none or little access to healthcare. For 4 years, I went to doctors for opinions and second, third, fourth opinions. I did bod pod tests and physical therapy, I saw nutritionist and cut out all carbs and sugars. My weight continued to grow and my addiction to tracking every single things I ate and drank began. Yet, I still had no answers to my issues. It was during this time I not only developed some serious body dysmorphia but I also remembered much of the wisdom I grew up with. I had to remember, I am doing my best in a world that created obstacles to my wellness. I also remembered, my health and my wellness is MORE than just my physical body, its all of my koshas (layers) of being. I had to remember and begin the journey to liberation in all of my being and NOT just the physical one.
“There’s a marketplace that benefits off your unwellness.” Kerri Kelly
Oftentimes it is easier said than done when you have grown up in a world where you have been conditioned that your own belief systems or cultural practices are evil, not studied enough to provide evidence based research until it is later packaged and resold to us. But HEY, that’s a topic for another day.