Do You Love Your Brain?

Your brain is the power behind everything that happens in your life. It controls everything from your thoughts, actions, feelings and how you behave in your world.

Your brain is the core of everything that makes you - well you!

So, why should you care about your brain?

Well, if your brain literally makes up everything that makes you who you are, then you should pay more attention to its health.

When your brain is working right, you feel good about yourself, and things tend to go well in your life. You are healthy and make good decisions which trickle down into every aspect of your actions.

When your brain is struggling after trauma or injury, it affects your life negatively. You're often feeling the effects through brain fog, sluggish behaviors and delays in your actions. When your brain is not working right, you feel sick, sad and sometimes even depressed. All of these matter in your outlook on life.

A positive brain leads to a happy individual and gives you the best chance to succeed in life. A struggling brain leads to negative thoughts and unhappiness where life feels like you're trudging through treacle rather than sprinting to the finish line.

We all know that trauma and negative experiences make people unwell and can lead to conditions like depression and post traumatic stress disorders. 

Yet, our world is full of trauma. It's everywhere you go and it's all over the internet too. It feels like traumatic events are permeating every single aspect of our society right now. 

The reality is that everyone of us are suffering from scars due to some kind of trauma or negative experiences. We are surrounded by so much pain and hurt. There's no avoiding it.

So, you suffer daily, but it doesn't have to be that way. You do have a choice to change it.

What if I said that there are many things you can do with your life to help you out of this constant suffering?

It starts with cleaning out these negative experiences from your brain once and for all. A healthy brain starts with healing yourself from within and engaging in a much better and positive way of living.

Everything starts with you.

So, how does it work?

It's much easier than you think and most of it you are already doing to some degree, but it's the way you're doing it that matters.

First, you need to take better care of yourself to keep your brain working at its best capacity. After all, you know that a healthy brain equals a better and healthier you - right?

How much sleep do you average each night? Sleep is vital for your brain health because this is when your brain processes everything. If you don't get enough quality sleep, you will feel the effects the next day.

Think about your diet. Are you getting enough nutrients and vitamins to sustain your life through your food? Or do you eat fast food and take out and rely on supplements to make up for the deficits?

Do you drink plenty of water? Or do you drink sugary drinks like soda?

Do you drink alcohol often?

Do you take drugs or smoke?

What are your exercise routines like? Do you have a routine at all? Do you go to the gym / sport regularly? Or do you exercise when you feel like it?

How is your overall health? Do you have any health conditions such as diabetes, asthma or allergies that need regular monitoring and awareness?

Are you overweight? I know many people carry excess weight these days but losing just a few pounds can do wonders for your overall health.

Are you leading a stressful lifestyle? Think about your priorities. How much do you juggle each day and is there any leaway in your schedule?

How often do you stop and rest? Is this even a thing in your calendar? For most of us, the answer is no.

Everything about you matters and affects your brain health.

You are what you think

Another thing that really makes a big difference to your brain health is how you think. I realized quickly that how I was thinking about myself and my world affected everything about me when I restarted my life.

Think about the words that you use to describe yourself. Are they really true? What's the evidence? 

What type of language do you use around your friends and at work? Are you mainly positive in the way you express your thoughts and ideas? Or do you have negative traits in there? 

You have the power to change these easily. But you have to notice them first.

My experience speaks for itself

I left my family when I was eighteen and took a plane ride far away from all the negativity and trauma that I had suffered throughout my childhood. I basically reset my life and started to live for myself for the first time.

Sound selfish? Well, no. If you knew what I left behind then you would say otherwise. I wrote my childhood memoir: The Sex-Offender's Daughter to show the world a harrowing childhood of trauma and abuse. A life that I survived only by moving away.

My life was dangerous up until this point and my brain was struggling with everything that I did. I was living in fear every single day and I had no voice. I knew that I had to leave in order to survive.

It was the best decision I've ever made.

Do you live for yourself, or do you just exist for other people's happiness? Do you take care of others at the detriment of your own health? 

You need to have a balance in your life because it can't just be about other people. You need to start taking care of you as well.

When I left my family and arrived in a foreign world, everything was completely new to me. Imagine that? Being plunged into a world where everything was completely different to the way you were used to?

I had to literally rewire everything that I knew about how the world works and where I fit in it.

I can tell you, it wasn't easy. I was a teenager. My brain had not even stopped developing at that point. I made made mistakes, but I made more good decisions too, and those are what kept me going.

My thoughts followed me from my traumatic childhood, but living in a new environment and being surrounded by different people changed me. It didn't happen overnight but slowly and steadily, I started evolving into someone I wanted to be.

I started living purposefully for myself and discovered who I was for the first time.

Do you know who you truly are and what makes you - well, you?

I started noticing things in my new world that I had never paid any attention to before. Small things like choosing my own food in the grocery store was fun because I had my own free will. I scanned the labels of everything with interest, almost like a child experiencing the world for the first time.

I noticed what people were doing and how they socialized. I listened to people's conversations just to get a feel of how they spoke. My southern twang in my speech stood out like I didn't belong, and I tried to change my words. I wanted to fit in and be part of this new world.

New experiences intrigued me and changed my thoughts as a result. I became happier and smiled more. My voice was upbeat and I had a spring in my step.

Have you ever been plunged into a different place? Perhaps a conference filled with people who you've never met? Or in a virtual meeting with people on the other side of the world?

How did you feel during that experience? Did you notice anything different about yourself in how you acted or spoke?

If you are surrounded by negative people, then change who you spend your time with. Your brain will thank you and your thoughts will improve as a result. I can guarantee it because I've lived it.

I knew that if I stayed with my family or settled near them, I would never be rid of their poisonous attitudes and control. I couldn't live like that and I spent years planning my escape.

I chose my own happiness and health before anything else. You can do this too.

Lived experience trumps books every time

You can read books about neurofunctions, and brain chemistry, but there's no comparison to lived experience of changing your brain health. I know what I'm writing about because I've lived it. I've literally changed my brain chemistry by restarting my life, and it does work.

You've got to be open enough to embrace change for it to work. It isn't easy to change everything you say, do, think and feel. It takes hard work to begin with, to start doing things differently. Making better life choices and slowly turning things around. It's worth it.

Do you have what it takes to start living for the best version of you?

I did it, and so can you.

My name is Lizzy. I'm a trauma survivor, a wife, a mom, a teacher, and an author.

If you like reading my posts, then please follow me.

For more about me: www.elizabethwoodsauthor.com

Support your fellow writer:

https://ko-fi.com/elizabe69245484

Mental Health Matters

https://medium.com/illumination/mental-health-matters-0d145057cf5d

What Do You Overcome Every Day?

https://medium.com/illumination/what-do-you-overcome-every-day-25fd8f06d362

What is Your Inspiration?

https://medium.com/activated-thinker/what-is-your-inspiration-14bb2fdc57db

How Do You Manage Your Stress Levels?

https://medium.com/activated-thinker/how-do-you-manage-your-stress-477b7a66153d