Roller Coasters (COVID19)

I used to be an adrenaline junkie in my younger days.  The bigger the rollercoaster, the better.  Upside down and inside out – heck yes.  Cliff jumping – heck yes.   I even went bungee jumping once upon a time.  Unfortunately, as I have gotten older, my inner ears have decided that they don’t like those crazy motions and those twists and free falls just make me vomit.  Sigh.  

I know very few people that thrive in uncertainty.   Most of us struggle.  Most of us crave routines.  One of the most common things I hear from my patients is that they do fine eating well Monday-Friday but once the weekends hit, everything falls apart.  That’s because we typically have a lot less structure on the weekends.  We wake up at a different time.  Our morning routine is different.  Our day is filled with a variety of things occurring at a variety of times.  

Late August to early September is usually a very busy time for us at Heartland Weight Loss.  It’s the mom version of New Year’s.  The chaos and unpredictability of summer is over.  Kids go back to school, routine resumes, and we get to breathe a bit and work on ourselves for a few minutes every day again. 

It’s time we started leaning into the chaos.  Maybe we should start trying to adapt and adjust and stop fighting the urge to stay inside the lines.  Maybe we should start working a little harder on resilience rather than falling into anger and irritability.  Maybe we should start focusing on ourselves a little.  

Some of the greatest triumphs have come out of adversity.  I know of no one great that is quoted as saying, “all the things I’ve accomplished are a result of having a super-easy life”.  How we handle discomfort and uncertainty can make us stronger or break us.  

It’s time to stop being a good host.  It’s time to fight back.  It’s time to get as healthy as possible so that we can all survive this roller coaster and get off at the end.  I want to see each and every one of my patients at the end and give every last one of them a high-five, then give this stupid roller coaster the middle finger and walk away.

Let’s learn how to thrive during hard times….

Courtney Younglove, M.D.