About 6 years ago, my husband and I found ourselves stranded at midnight in the outskirts of Portland waiting for AAA to rescue my broken down Jeep. Why? For about 3 months my check engine light kept making surprise appearances on my dashboard. However, between my grad school and his demanding job we went with the “we’ll get to it eventually” approach. Of course, ultimately, things escalated before “eventually” ever came and the alternator gave out on a cold Halloween night.

The response I got from my friends the next day fell into two camps. “Why didn’t you take care of it sooner!?” and “Why didn’t you call me for help!?”

Around the same time that my car broke down and needed some serious attention, my body was also coming up against some hard limitations. With the rigours of my graduate program, and the stress of some health issues affecting my family; all the warning lights on my personal “dashboard” were going off. To begin with, I struggled with fatigue and memory loss. Ultimately, because the particular weaknesses of my brain, I lost muscle control of the left side of my body. Now it was me, broken down and unable to continue until I got the help I needed.

However, in this case the advice I’d been getting up to my physical break down was quite different. “Practice more! You just need to do more [adjusting] drills!” or “Study more! Go through your flash cards until the information sticks!”

While we’re always expected to do maintenance on our possessions (Winterizing our homes, oil changes on the car…), we don’t get the same lessons for our bodies. We are not taught to take care of ourselves in the same way. Outside of dental visits and yearly check ups for children, there is no maintenance program expected for adults. And yet, “burn out” has become a common phrase in our cultural lexicon. No longer reserved for caretakers, teachers, and doctors, adults everywhere are struggling to keep up. Many of us feel there is never a good time to take a break, and never a good time to “indulge” in self care.

Anxiety, depression, digestive issues, recurrent colds and flus, chronic ailments of every shape and size: they are all telling us the same thing. You are out of gas and your system needs some serious TLC.

Let’s see fatigue, lack of focus, body aches and pains, and a host of other ‘minor’ complaints for what they are. Your check engine light is on and now is the time to slow down and fix it before you’re stranded somewhere you don’t want to be.

It’s time to start practicing some regular maintenance for ourselves. Here’s a simple (and in no way exhaustive) list of little things that cost nothing and can be squeezed into even the busiest day. -Saying “no” to what drains you and not giving into obligation.

• 10 minutes of tech free time every day.

• 5 minutes of stretching

• Staying hydrated: the prevailing suggestion is to drink half your body weight (measure in pounds) in ounces every day.

• 3 deep slow breaths that expand your ribcage in all directions.

What would you add to the list? What lights you up and leaves you feeling restored? We can all use a little more of that in our lives.

Always in Service,

Dr. Carly