When I was young, my older brother would occasionally grab my arms and proceed to whack me with my own hands. Quit hitting yourself, he’d tell me, as big brothers do. When he stopped, so did I. I wasn’t really hitting myself, obviously, nor did I want to.
To this day, I still don't want to whack myself in the face, so I don’t. It’s not a complicated concept. It’s silly to think that if we are perpetuating a behaviour that we wish was not a part of our repertoire, that we are somehow doomed to repeat it. So, if I really want to stop biting my nails, or start exercising, why don’t I? I’m fairly convinced that it’s simply because I don’t want it enough.
When we don’t want to rock the boat, when we’re satisfied with the status quo, we choose the easy road. We medicate in various ways. It’s easier to treat the symptoms of our problems than it is to solve them.
I was raised in a family that didn’t believe in pills. Growing up, when I fell sick, I stayed home from school, slept, and maybe had some cough candies. Today, my illnesses last longer but I’m sure it’s as a result of my approach to healing. I drag myself out of bed, drag myself to work and drag myself through my day with the help of some bright orange day-time cold relief pills the unnatural colour of Cheese-Whiz. What I should be doing, what my momma taught me to do, is stay home and let my body recover. Instead, for some reason contrary to good sense, I pride myself on not being phased by obstacles. Suck it up and power through. Crash when the weekend starts. I never liked to miss a day of school, and now that I’m free to make my own choices, I’m free to make bad ones.
There is no cure to the common cold. What we have is an arsenal pills that treat the symptoms instead. Pills don’t make us better, they make us feel better. If you have a runny nose, or a cough, or a headache, or a sore throat there are all kinds of choices you can make to stay your symptoms. Pills of all colours. Green, orange, purple and red. A rainbow of quick fixes.
What you really need is sleep. Kill the lights, drink some juice for vitamins, some Gatorade for electrolytes and come chicken soup for sustenance. Give your body what it needs. If you can’t sleep as result of your congestion or cough, try classic red Nyquil. A shot of Jack Daniels yields the same result with less chemicals. But Nyquil won’t heal you, and neither will whiskey. There is no cure, recovery comes from your body. Give it what it needs: Food and rest. Almost everything else just gets in the way by making you feel better than you are.
A habit, every habit, works the same way. Can’t sleep? Take a Unisom at night and coffee in the morning. Stressed after work? Have a beer. No time to cook? Take out. No time to exercise? Just don’t eat.
Or maybe, you need to stop looking for quick fixes. Maybe too much coffee is making it hard to sleep. Maybe your poor diet is the cause of your weight gain. Or maybe it’s stress. Maybe alcohol is making your sleep less restful and making you irritable. Perhaps you’ll be better off without so much help. Black coffee, Red Bull, Pabst Blue Ribbon and the golden arches. Different rainbow, but quick fixes just the same.
Try listening to your body. Cut the crap you’re putting into it. If your line of work is the cause of your disharmony, due to long hours and high stress, you’ll never have the clarity to realize it until you listen to what your body has to say. Putting yourself through Hell with the help of chemicals is still putting yourself through Hell. Seek clarity of thought, then seek a better path.
Find it tough to stop drinking? Need that coffee in the morning? You’re not too weak. Want it. Don’t stop trying. You’re in control. Your hands are free. Stop hitting yourself.
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