As a kid, I hardly ever got sick, but as an adult, I got sick more often and had symptoms of sickness way more than I was used to. A few years ago, I started to intentionally resist my paradigm surrounding sickness like I had subconsciously done when I was a kid. Sometime after I began that resistance, I sat in a church service where a pastor said, “10 years ago, I decided not to get sick anymore, and I haven’t been sick since then.” This was the same path I had already been on, but the way he said it made the concept so much more concrete in my mind. After that, I adamantly decided that I too wasn’t going to get sick anymore. This decision is pivotal, but you also must back it up with action. Here I’m going to share what I did to stop getting sick.
Before I go further, I want to start out with a little disclaimer: I’m not saying all sickness is your fault, or that you shouldn’t get serious symptoms checked out, or that you should power full steam ahead when you need some rest to take care of your health. Sometimes negative health-related things happen to very healthy and positive people. But I do believe that these 4 things can dramatically reduce how often and how hard you get sick. A lot of it is a mindset and a lifestyle. You don’t have to do them or even agree with them, but I don’t get sick and this is how.
1. I don’t agree with sickness.
During the winter months have you ever heard something like this around the office: “Flu season is here. Everyone’s getting sick.”? Or have you ever been preparing for a flight and said, “Someone on this flight is going to get me sick, I just know it.”? Or what about, “It’s so cold outside, I’m going to catch a cold.” And the most obvious one: “I always get sick,” or “I get sick every year.”? These are examples of agreeing with sickness. Your words hold weight, so when you say these things you are essentially speaking sickness to yourself and into your future. Your mouth says it, your ears hear it, your brain receives it, and your mind agrees with it. So, I stopped saying things like this myself, and I also stopped agreeing with other people who said these things. If someone says, “Everyone’s getting sick,” I say “Not me, I don’t get sick anymore!” And instead of saying, “I’m sick,” I say, “I’m not feeling well, but I’m getting better every minute.”
At my church, whenever someone makes some kind of negative agreement, for example, “I’m such a failure,” you will usually hear at least one person say, “cancel.” As in, we cancel that agreement. This is part of the culture there and is relatively normal. But one time someone at my work said, “Everyone’s getting sick,” and I shouted “CANCEL!” This got everyone’s attention and they just stared at me. This type of mindset is not normal for most people, but you’re not trying to be like everyone else who’s always getting sick. Extra tip: Invest your time with people like those from my church that don’t lie down and let life happen to them, but they make life happen.
Now whenever I experience a mild symptom like a stuffy nose or exhaustion, I intentionally react with shock rather than acceptance because well, I don’t get sick anymore. Even if I had been getting sick, my symptoms come and go much faster and are less severe, because I didn’t agree with sickness.
2. I take responsibility for my mental health.
Your physical health is not just eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep; it’s your mental health too. I used to struggle with terrible depression and anxiety, and it affected my physical health. Agreeing with anxious and depressive thoughts all day long would cause me to feel utterly exhausted, sluggish, nauseous, headachy, crampy, have an upset stomach, etc. Additionally, when you are under the constant stress associated with poor mental health, you become more susceptible to getting sick because your immune system has been weakened. The number of times I took off work or left work early because of physical symptoms caused by poor mental health, is more than I would care to admit.
I understand how tough it can be to break out of these mindsets, but it is totally possible. Once I started taking responsibility for my mental health, my physical health improved too. If you want to see the steps I took to conquer anxiety and depression, click here to get my free guide.
3. I recognize my triggers and know the best way to fix them.
In this circumstance, I use triggers to refer to the alerts your body gives you when you need to take better care of it. The more out of sync you are in terms of health, the more likely you are to get sick. However, your body usually gives you clues when you are out of balance that you can remedy before a full-blown sickness occurs. It’s like the gas light that comes on in your car before you run out of gas. For example, for me the first trigger I will usually start to experience is a very mild sore throat. When that happens, I have learned that it is usually because I am not getting enough sleep and/or I am stressing too much.
So, when that happens, I immediately know I need to make sleep a priority, and do things that promote the release of tension, like doing some yoga, or relaxing while reading a book. This trick has prevented me from getting sick so many times, I don’t think I can even count them. For you, your triggers and the way you fix them may be totally different. Maybe your first warning sign is skin breakouts, and to get your body back into balance you need to get your nutrition back on track. Everyone is different, but know the alerts your body is giving you, so you can adjust and get back to health.
4. I practice preventative medicine.
Preventative medicine is all about doing things that help your health before you need a medical doctor to fix something. A lot of what I’ve talked about already has been preventative health, but in this section, I’m going to include other important ways to practice preventative medicine for an overall picture. Here’s how to build your immune system to be strong:
- Connect with your faith
- Create strong, healthy relationships
- Tap into your purpose
- Strengthen your immune system in community (i.e. in person)
- Take care of your mental health
- Eat healthy (find out what that means for your body)
- Make physical activity/working out a habit
- Get enough sleep
- Manage stress
- Take high-quality vitamins
I’m here to cheer you on as you become the healthiest version of yourself! Comment below which of these you need to implement right away.
Great article! Doing all of these but need to work more on healthy self talk 🥰
Love this! 🥰