Hello again and welcome back to our series of Revive and Thrive posts – we hope you have been enjoying them and finding them useful.
This month we are focusing on female health and the minefield of opinions, information, misinformation and ideas that we are bombarded with regarding who we should be, how we should behave, the way we should look and feel. We live in a time where women are encouraged (expected) to be primary care givers but also employees and entrepreneurs. Never has more been required from us and therefore never has it been more vital that we know how to care for our physical and mental health.
We are all so aware of the importance of our physical health and there are a multitude of reliable sources out there to support us. Sadly, we find ourselves in a time when access to a GP can be challenging but we must not let this discourage us from seeking help, Dr Google is a terrible diagnostician with a very sketchy history. Know your body so you can in turn recognise when it changes – as we have said before your body is built to do everything in its power to survive, you just need to listen to it when it communicates with you. Get educated about what it takes for your body to thrive, be grateful that you are able to move in a way that brings you joy – you have one opportunity in the vessel designated to you for living in and if you look after it as well as you might your car for example (if you have a diesel engine car you would NEVER risk trying to fill the tank with diet cola) it will do its very best to do the same.
I often wonder if our bodies had a financial cost would we take our health more seriously? Or if the negative impacts of our choices were as immediately obvious as the instant gratification we feel when we do the things we know our body does not love would we behave differently?
The mental load we carry as women is extensive – we are living in an exhausting gender role junction and paying the price for it. We were raised to carry the brunt of the caring and home making responsibilities but also in a time when women began believing in their ability and right to run the world. Instead of the responsibilities shifting we took it all on. We consistently pour from an empty cup and we need to stop. We need to include ourselves in the care we provide. A common misconception is that ‘caring’ only applies to those women who chose motherhood but caring covers everything from parents to pets to friends and strangers.
We may or may not have to physically complete the tasks on our mental checklist but more often than not we are creating the list, monitoring its progress and taking responsibility for ensuring the things that need done, get done.
This is your reminder that you are on that list – feels like a stretch to say you are at the top of it but in reality that is exactly where you should be. Human’s may be considered the most intelligent species but we only have to look wolves to see where we have gone wrong. The wolves who are most depended upon eat first, they rest uninterrupted, they are treated with care and consideration as the rest of the pact instinctively know that their survival directly impacts that of the entire pack. Maybe we should be more wolf?
The topic of women’s health is far too vast for me to even try and cover in a blog post so I have tried to gather and include as many links as I can to direct you to as much information as possible.
The wonderful organisation that is Action Cancer offer free breast screening for those who do not fall into the age groups covered by the NHS – what would we do without charities!
https://actioncancer.org/services-info/breast-screening/
The NHS website has an abundance of reliable information:
https://www.nhs.uk/womens-health/
NI Direct has lots of information that you may find useful:
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/conditions/ovarian-cancer
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/health-screening
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