WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

Hey folks, Sally Riggs here, psychologist, fellow long hauler, and your Long COVID Coach, and welcome to another Wellness Wednesday. Today I wanted to talk to you about are you dreaming big enough? And you may be sitting there thinking, "What is she talking about? I have Long COVID, I have newfound debilitating disability. Why on earth am I supposed to be dreaming big, I thought my job was to accept this and start dreaming a little bit smaller". And I'm here to remind you why that isn't true.

So for context, I am feeling bleh today. I have a whole load of things on my to-do list that are tedious and boring. But take detail and attention. And many of them I've been putting off for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks, I'm sure you can relate in your current life or in your former life of to-do lists where we just push the same item over from day to day for months. It's also early in the week, and I find that more difficult than later in the week, usually because my schedule is a little more busy. And I woke up this morning to a lovely message from my primary care physician saying that I shouldn't be doing any exercise that pushes my heart rate over 130 this week because of a new medication. And I'm not happy about that.

And I'm sharing this with you not because I want to winge and moan. But it's very easy on days like this, to get into a pattern of self-criticism and negative thoughts. Nothing's ever going to work out I've been sick for three years, when is this ever gonna get any better, I knew it wouldn't work, all of that nonsense that we have spoken about a lot before. And that type of thinking, while it may come naturally to me, and many of you, I'm sure it's not helpful. And what is helpful to me on a day like today is to remember my dream. And in actuality, if I'm not feeling it with the tasks that I'm trying to get done today, maybe I'm just going to spend an hour dreaming about my dream and reinvigorating that in my mind, and here's why.

You have heard me talk before about visualization and how phenomenally powerful that can be, you know our bodies that when we visualize something, I imagining it as if it were happening right now in our mind's eye, the body doesn't know the difference. Or rather, the brain doesn't know the difference between something that we weren't thinking about from the past something that we're currently experiencing right now, and something that we're hypothesizing for the future. And so it acts as if that future, we're now and at a very powerful level. Even right down to ourselves, things can begin to shift and be different in our bodies.

And yes, we are dealing with a very difficult physiological illness. And yes, that has given us a number of deficits or disabilities, different than what we were able to do previously. But if I spent all my time just dwelling on the things that I couldn't do, that's all I would have available to me the things that I can't do. And so when I say dream big, I really mean dream big, dream impossible. But also dream, something that makes you feel excited, and energized, and alive with the excitement. So when I'm talking about dreaming, and apologies, allergies are insane in New York City at the moment, and despite being on hundreds of histamines, I'm constantly dealing with that post-nasal drip. So apologies. I'm sure you can also relate.

We are thinking about maybe it's a new type of career that you are thinking about. Or maybe it's a new type of life that you are thinking about. When I meet with clients for discovery call, one of the first questions that I asked them is about that dream life. And people will very, very commonly tell me that maybe they want to move someplace different someplace that is more supportive and nurturing of their nervous system, maybe they want a different job, again, something that is more supportive and nurturing of their nervous system, maybe there was something career-wise that they were already thinking about. And now they definitely want to make that change. Or maybe it's a change in relationship, they want a new relationship, or the one that they're in does not feel right anymore.

All kinds of things in your life that you might be thinking about changing or expanding or growing. And that's what I mean dream big about, it could be that trip that you have never taken. Or it could be that business that you had always thought about starting. And you may be sitting there thinking, "Wait a second, Sally, I'm spending most of my time in Immobilization, or Fight or Flight, I don't really have any hope that I'm gonna get better, let alone dreams. I'm trying to grapple with where I am right now. But that feels pretty hopeless. And you're throwing this in my face, which kind of feels a bit painful". Well, we definitely want to acknowledge where we are and validate that.

And again, as you've heard me say many times, if you are stuck in Immobilization most of the time, then sure, you probably won't have access to dreaming a whole amount. And in that case, go back and find some of my earlier videos about being in chronic Shutdown or Freeze response, and how to lean into your nervous system, and all the little supportive things that you can do today and tomorrow to support that state, and eventually build up enough energy to move out of it. And that's a really important stage. And if that's where you are right now, that's absolutely fine. But if you're someone who has already done a little bit of this work, and is beginning to have moments where some of that Rest and Digest shows up, even if it's just temporarily, maybe you have moments of gratitude, maybe you have moments of self-compassion, maybe you have moments of joy, that's when you want to start dreaming big, because that's when you can really tap into all of these things.

And the thing about dreaming big is that it activates all of that excitement and energy in our bodies, just as I'm describing it to you. I can already feel a little bit of a tingling, that tingling, of possibility, that tingling of am I really important enough? And the answer is yes. And a big part of this work that we're doing putting ourselves first honoring our nervous systems, and around all that self-compassion stuff, where we are saying, "Yes, I deserve this. Yes, I am important". And as we tap into all of those feelings, and we kind of trigger them even more, again, at a cellular level in our bodies, something awesome is happening.

So whether you're having a blah day like me, or whether you've just been coasting along with your, "Oh, well, I just be happy if I could maybe make my own dinner once in a while kind of dreams". I'm challenging you this week to dream bigger, because the more you step into fully visualizing that dream, whatever it is, and the more that you get that tingly sensation in your body, the more your brain thinks that you're already there. And it will open your eyes to opportunities for healing and recovery. And it will also open your eyes to opportunities for realizing that dream. But what it also does at a cellular level, in terms of that mind-body perspective, is it gets your body in a state that is closer to being that person. And that person, I'm guessing in your mind is recovered and living a wonderful life that they want to be living. And this is definitely something I have done over and over throughout the last year and more than a year, if I look back at things that I can do now compared to a year ago, very exciting.

Not all of you might be able to relate to this. But yesterday, I went to the big Zara on 5th Avenue, and I wandered around collecting items that I wanted to try on, I stood on line for the fitting room. I tried on multiple items, and then I stood on line to purchase those items. Now you might be thinking, "Okay, Sally, I don't care about Zara". But I bet you there are things that you haven't done in a very long while. And for me shopping in an actual shop for clothing I have not really done since pre-COVID. I have ordered things online and I have with various degrees of energy been able to try them on and box them up and send back again. But going into a store wandering around standing on line, standing again, trying things on that all takes a ton of energy. And then I carried all the things home and here I am still today.

Now not 100%, pre-COVID energy levels, although actually thinking about it when I used to do that pre-COVID It was pretty depleting in those days too. But definitely an enormous step for me. Now, to be fair, my big dream is not buying clothes in Zara, my big dream is different than that. And I'm sure your big dream will be different than that too. But this week, I challenge you to go ahead and dream big. And please feel free if you're seeing this on the email. Or if you're watching it on YouTube or on Facebook, drop in the comments or send me a reply to let me know what your big dream is. Because that will also make me very excited and it will also exacerbate that fabulous feeling in your body and magnify it even more.

I hope you have a tolerable week. I am looking forward to the workshop on Thursday, April 6, which you still have a little bit of time to register for. And we're trying a totally new format this time so please even if you've been to previous workshops, this one's going to be a little different. So I look forward to seeing you there and the link is below to register for that one too. I will see you again for another Wellness Wednesday. Take care.