If you struggle with chronic symptoms, have you ever considered that an underlying lack of self-worth could be your root cause?
To not value yourself is at the core of almost every health issue I see with the people I work with. They share one common characteristic – or behavior – the tendency to put others or everything else before self. I know because I was guilty of this.
So what is your health worth to you? What do you think it is worth to others who do life with you? I am sure your family or loved ones would agree that WHATEVER you could do to be healthy is worth it. God, your Creator certainly does. Sometimes it’s hard to spend the time and effort on yourself, but you ARE worth it.
A Hard Lesson Learned About Self Worth
For the longest time, I thought hiking, walking, eating what I thought was healthy, living in the country, and things like that were all I needed to do to be healthy enough. Then mold struck again. Why do I say again?
I was conceived in a home with mold and other toxins and lived in that home for the first year of my life. I was born having an asthma attack and had many respiratory infections as a child. This is the way I grew up and continued for much of my life. I thought this was just life, so I just did the best I knew how.
Also, not realizing the impact stress had on me earlier in my adulthood, I lived a very stressful life. Looking back, I did not understand how to set boundaries and keep my stress level down. Stress profoundly affects our health – especially if we have not been taught how to deal with life and stress rightly.
Later, because I love trees and mountains, I moved into a little house in the woods. The area was so beautiful that I hiked every day. But within 3 weeks I was so fatigued and weak that I could no longer get up to go on my wonderful hikes into my beloved outdoors. As it turned out, that house was also moldy.
Before long I could not eat anything without reacting to it. I could no longer learn anything (and I love learning). I could not remember things past or present. I got athlete’s foot. I had body and joint pain and spent years unable to lay still much less sleep. The list goes on and on.
I tried all the things Dr. Google told me to do for my symptoms. I would get somewhat better for a while but then would get worse again – even developing more symptoms.
I kept going for the quick fixes because I didn’t think I had the money. But when I finally got 100% honest with myself, I also didn’t think I was worth the time and effort it takes to be healthy. So I wanted that quick fix.
News flash. Quick fixes don’t work!
Dr. Google can help point you in the right direction but will never be the one to fix the problem. Others might wish you well and want to help, but can’t do it for you. Ultimately, you must take responsibility for your own health.
Are you valuing yourself and your body? Don’t ignore those signs that you are in need.
5 Ways You Could Be Limiting Your Self Worth and Damaging Your Health
We just covered several symptoms that could be indicators of health issues. But really, any chronic symptom can be a red flag because inflammation (the root symptom of all illnesses) surfaces differently for each of us.
So know that with any chronic symptom, you could likely reverse it by taking different care of yourself.
Let’s look at 5 ways (behaviors) that I see this lack of self-worth showing up in people regularly and see if this rings true for you. Do you:
say you don’t have time to cook (meaning that maybe you’re making everything else a priority overcooking)?
skip exercising (meaning that you’re not willing to make time or invest in accountability like a personal trainer?
go to bed late (meaning you’re not setting healthy boundaries to make an early bedtime and good rest priorities)?
work long hours, refusing to delegate or ask for help (usually meaning that you don’t want to be seen as less than).
feel stressed out (meaning that you’re not spending the time or money needed to de-stress, or not setting boundaries)?
The reality is that we make time and we find the money for what is important to us. If your car broke down and you needed to get somewhere, I’m pretty sure that you would find the money to fix it.
In addition, we all have the same 24 hours in our day. But how you choose to use that time is what makes all the difference in the world when it comes to your health.
Now it’s not your fault that you have learned to not prioritize yourself, or see your self-worth. Somewhere along the way, just like me, you learned to not stand up for what you needed and make yourself a priority. This is something that as a society, we started to put shame upon.
That’s why it was so challenging for me to finally make myself a priority. I felt like taking good care of myself was being selfish.
Here’s the truth. Embracing your self-worth and making your health and yourself a priority is far from selfish. It is actually essential for your survival and your wellness. If you don’t help yourself, no one else can either.
I lost my life and myself, but through it, I found out what my health is worth to me and others. Now, at 60 years old, I’m hiking and doing all my favorite things, and eating the foods I love without symptoms. If after years of mold exposure and symptoms, I can recover from mold illness, you can too.
Choose to give yourself proper self-worth. Be good to yourself so you can be good to others. Find out exactly what is wrong with you and what to do about it. Set the boundaries and priorities necessary to be healthy. And remember that without health there is no wealth.
You can get healthier. And I’m here to help. Click here to set up a complimentary Breakthrough call to see if we could work together.
