I was “forced” to take a true, honest to goodness break for my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. I got COVID and was in isolation for 10 days.

Just for a little background on what I’m about to explain. Two weeks ago, I got COVID. This was after I had already battled a 3 week E. coli infection that ran rampant in my body and I was treated with 4 different courses of antibiotics for. That was after I had already been healing from a back injury for 5 weeks (still healing from actually). You could say that my body has been through a LOT for about 2 months. You could also say my body had been chatting with me pretty loudly.

During these two months (before COVID, of course), I continued to work full time (three jobs, two of which required physical demands of me…with an injured back). I continued to go out 5+ days per week: spending time with close friends, reading at restaurants with myself, going to the beach multiple days a week (which arguably is actually time well spent for my mental health, but for a couple months I wasn’t using that time to meditate as I always intended), etc. Basically, all of these things were limiting the amount of time I spent with myself to process my own emotions and energy and to tap into my intuition. Listen, I was still taking care of myself in ways, but I wasn’t HEARING what my body was demanding of me. Instead, I was distracting my mind from my thoughts and emotions at every opportunity I got (I can explain why in another blog post if you’re curious, the reason is pretty fucking significant and relevant to anyone who is a human).

Health crisis after health crisis, I kept not HEARING what my body was trying to tell me: STOP, for goodness sake!!!

I was no doubt still embodying some of the practices that I preach, but I was inconsistent and I was using escape patterns, AND wasn’t even recognizing that either! Where did my self-awareness go? I’m honestly not sure. It pains me to say that I simply wasn’t even allowing myself to BE fully self-aware in those couple of months, which is incredibly unlike me. Incredibly unlike me.

HOWEVER, it’s important for me to reflect on this particular Self-Awareness Empowerment Question, as I call them: What did my forced health break teach me? That’s ultimately what’s important here.

1. It reminded me that my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are not to be disregarded or avoided.

2. It reminded me that life WILL force you to stop in your tracks if you choose not to hear or listen to the messages your body and intuition are trying to communicate to you.

3. It showed me that THIS was my blessed opportunity to tune back into WHO I AM at the core, what I LOVE, and to pursue those things authentically and joyfully again.

4. It reminded me to turn inward again. All of the answers are within me. Always. (Ps. you guys have all the answers to your questions and challenges as well, sometimes we just need support to recognize that).

5. It reminded me of the daily practices that really serve me. Meditation, journaling, affirmations for self-love and empowerment, setting daily intentions, setting goals and reflecting on your visions, turning back to your WHY, reading, teaching your mind new things, connecting with your friends across the globe, introspection and getting curious about your actions, physical movement, what you feed your body, practicing daily gratitude, practicing positive self-talk, thanking your body and reminding it that you love it…the list goes on.

6. It reminded me OF my goals, that they exist and they’re MASSIVE, so let’s get to it! But listen to my body while I do so (lol).

7. It reminded me that I really love coaching Speech Pathologists and entrepreneurs, because we relate so well to each other and I help them SO FUCKING MUCH. And that I love coaching period (I had stepped back from doing full time coaching for about a year, after my divorce, and kind of forgot how much I love it. I lost myself.)

8. It showed me that I’m actually supposed to be coaching men too! I want to help men with honing their intuition, authenticity and vulnerability to create more meaningful, powerful relationships and businesses.

9. It showed me that my work IS a form of self-care. That had never occurred to me before, even though I love it.

10. It helped me unblock big, fat money beliefs and really be ready to accept and embrace massive floods of wealth and money coming to me.

11. It helped me become more abundance-minded and impact-driven. It helped me reconnect with my love of service and impacting individuals, instead of what I gain from providing services.

12. It reminded me that, holy shit, I am SO gifted and I get to share that with the world.

13. It showed me that slowing down is actually pretty darn magical and makes me even more powerful with manifesting, envisioning my future, and feeling limitless.

14. It showed me that I can be really happy and grateful spending so much damn time with me, myself, and I for so many days.

15. It also actually showed me how much tuning out the external forces and collective energy can support my mental health and that that time can ground me SO, so much.

16. It showed me how to receive without feeling obligated to return the favor and that your great friends WILL show up for you when you need them <3

Holy cow, there are so many other lessons I took away from this forced health break. I could probably double or triple this list of lessons.

The take away(s) are: (1) read all my lessons because at LEAST one is likely to resonate with you and something you need to hear. (2) We are all human and get lost in ourselves sometimes, and sometimes we just need a LOUD push to bring us back. And (3) LISTEN to your body. It is ALWAYS communicating with you. Go ahead and hear it. (And if you don’t know how to hear or listen to it, reach out to me. It’s one of the many practices I teach!)

With love and gratitude,

Devin <3

P.s. As I wrap up this post, is there anything specific you want to hear more about or questions you’d love answered? Let me know in the comments.