Is This Just How I Feel Now? (It Doesn’t Have to Be)
My hair is falling out. Like, a lot. I used to sweep the bathroom every couple of weeks, but now I do it every other day. Handfuls come out when I comb it. The drain looks like I’ve adopted a long-haired pet I forgot to feed.
Thankfully, I was born with thick, fast-growing hair. So I’m not panicking about bald spots. Yet. But I am paying attention.
So what’s going on?
First, it’s summer, and mammals shed in the summer. (I am a mammal. Check.)
Second, I’ve been on a GLP-1 for about six months, and getting adequate protein intake is hard. Really hard.
Third, I’m a couple of months out from a big, scary health scare involving my spouse. Stress like that doesn’t just evaporate.
So: chronic low protein, major stress event, seasonal shedding. It adds up. I’m currently giving our cat a run for her money in the household hair loss competition.
And it’s not just the shedding. I’ve been tired. Not "oh-right-I-do-night-shifts" tired. This is bone-deep, nap-on-contact-for-two-whole-hours tired. The kind that laughs in the face of caffeine and ignores all my well-intentioned supplements.
Still, I kept going. Work, gym, sleep, repeat. I wasn’t sick. No unintentional weight loss, no fevers, no new lumps or bumps. Normal labs. I’d had my annual physical. No red flags.
So I did what many of us do: I told myself, 'I guess this is just how I feel now.'
But I’ve recently realized: I don’t want this to be how I feel now. I’m too tired. Too depleted. Too dulled down. I’m not sick, but I’m not well. And that’s not good enough for me anymore.
So I’m trying new things—not a complete overhaul, just gentle pivots:
* I’m eating more from the garden, less from a wrapper.
* I’m tracking my calories (turns out, 500/day isn't a flex).
* I put “meditate” and “stretch” on my calendar. It’s real if it’s scheduled, right?
* I started baking again. Small joys matter.
* I booked an acupuncture session and tried a Thai massage with a 15-minute Reiki add-on. (Verdict: heart chakra = wide open; everything else = a bit of a traffic jam. More on that another day.)
Our bodies are always signaling. But most of us, especially those of us trained to override fatigue, pain, and gut instinct, are too busy thinking to listen. And that’s a disservice.
My brain, brilliant and overfunctioning, ignored what my body was whispering until it had to scream through fatigue and hair clumps. Even then, it took vanity (and a broom) to get my attention.
Brains love routine. They crave predictability, even when the predictable thing is low-grade suffering. But your body? Your body wants to feel better.
So here’s what I want to ask you:
What has your body been trying to tell you lately?
Are you tired? Meh? In pain?
Do you want to stay in survival mode? No judgment if you do. But if not, are you ready to try one slight shift?
You don’t need a master plan. Just one thing to try differently. If it helps, great, do it again. If it doesn’t, try something else. This isn’t about perfect; it’s about curious. It’s about engaged. It’s about refusing to let your body’s wisdom get lost under your brain’s to-do list.
You deserve to feel good. At the very least, you deserve to try.