_{Canva was used for this design, which you can see here. Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay}

Greetings fellow colleagues 🤗

Hello fellow health enthusiasts! As the year is coming to its end, the MED-HIVE community has launched an excellent prompt to help us think about how to improve our health. You can see all about it here!

I've had previously thought about some things related to my health that I wanted to change next year. Unfortunately, this week I'm going through, yet another, neck pain crisis _{(note to self - and a damn strong one 😰)}. A while back, I've shared some of my struggles with this health issue on this post and I'm afraid to get into the same pain cycle again.

Therefore, this post will turn out to be a great opportunity to do something about it. Let 2023 be a healthier and happier year!

What I want to keep doing

New Year Illustration GIF
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So, before I talk about the things I want to add and improve, I would like to discuss a bit of what I'm already doing and want to keep.

I will continue to work on my mental health.

My plans for 2023 are to finish my anti-depressive medication as things are going well and I don't longer need it. I'll keep my psychotherapy sessions a little while longer as I drop out of medication to make sure my mental state is regulated.

Resting

As crazy as this might sound, at least it does to me, resting and recharging is a big issue for me. I tend to overwork and overcommit things. Being driven in doing things can be a good personality trait but it can turn out bad if we push ourselves into burnout.

So, for 2023, I plan to keep checking myself up and making sure I don't do more than I can handle. I also have a strategy in action that is adding to my work schedule some free time blocks to do whatever I want at the moment.

Now, on this point, I've regressed in the last months and haven't placed those blocks for a while. That leads us to the other section!

3 new year resolutions

_{Picture from Eliza on Pixabay}

Here we go! For 2023, I'll be adding one resolution towards my mental health, one for my resting needs and another aiming to improve my neck pain crisis.

1. Mental Health

I've discovered Irene Lyon's work through my wonderful friend Hive account@consciouscat _{(note to self - thank you so much!)} and it's been sort of the missing link on my mental health struggles. You see, dear reader, I've always had this feeling of being trapped, caged, out of place. A knot is in my throat, always there, when I try to confront someone or some situation or when I try to sing and express myself.

I'm still trying to understand but basically, Irene's work is focused on releasing the stored childhood or past trauma in our Autonomic Nervous System. I believe my feelings of being trapped might have something to do with this.

So for 2023, I'm focused on growing my capacity to stay connected to my body, my surroundings and the present.

And who knows? Maybe my truer self will pop up to finally shine and be free! _{(note to self - uh, maybe to philosophical for this type of post... )}

2. Resting

On this matter, there are a few things to be done to improve. One of them is getting back to booking my free time blocks again on my work schedule to make sure I have recharge moments.

On the other hand, I should get a better sleeping routine. I usually go to bed between 1 am/2 am. On average I get 6/7h of sleep which is decent but I know my system needs a little bit more to feel fully rested. To give you an idea, on the days I sleep without an alarm clock I usually sleep 10h. That might be a bit unrealistic for the week as I would have to go to bed reaaaaally early.

So for 2023, I'm aiming at getting at least 8h sleep on average, so my bedtime will have to be 00:30 am.

3. Neck pain crisis

Currently, my neck pain crisis is the health issue most impacting my quality of life. It stops me from being able to work, rest or do anything I would enjoy. When it happens, I'm stuck on my neck on all sides and directions. I'm in pain either lying down, sitting or standing. There's no escape.

Therefore, for 2023, I'm going to do a strengthening program to improve my posture, work on my mobility and make sure my body is strong enough to handle the physical workload that being a physiotherapist brings.

I'll be doing 2x/week, 20 min. of strength exercises and 1x/week, I'll do 45 min. of yoga. This might not seem a lot but I'm trying to be realistic with the free time and energy I currently have. _{(note to self - yeah, better start small!)}

Final considerations 🙌

That's it from me today, dear reader! What about your new year's resolutions? Is any one of them related to improving your health? Feel free to share it with me in the comments!

Thank you so much for your time and company today!