Tracking

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, one of the things they advise is tracking what you eat. Either by writing it all down or these days, an app can be downloaded on your phone to monitor it all. This way, you have a better idea of what you are consuming and what needs to change. 

Let me just say, I hate tracking.

There is something else that we would benefit from tracking: how our bodies respond to stress. When you’re in traffic or behind a slow driver, are you holding the steering wheel so tight your knuckles are white, or you’re screaming at a driver who probably has no idea they are being yelled at? Perhaps you are watching the news and the more you listen, the more you just start feeling weighed down? 

If we do the work of tracking for a while, discovering what is going on inside our body and how to respond has great benefits. This is a type of tracking I’ve been working on.

I recently had a phone conversation with someone that left me feeling like I had just put on about 20 layers of winter clothing. I felt warm and so heavy with the weight I could barely go on to my next task. In fact, I physically could not. 

Thankfully, I had some tracking experience under my belt and understood what was going on, and more importantly, what would help me move through this. I needed to move and also to cry. So I did.

I stood up and shook my arms and my body, kind of like what you see when someone gets out of a swimming pool to shake off the excess water. And then I started crying. It felt both awful and good at the same time. I also talked with a trusted person, another thing that helps me.

Having done the work of tracking in the past, I knew what to do so the experience of that day didn’t throw me into an emotional dark place where I made choices that weren’t good for me or caused me to say mean or hurtful things to those around me. 

So even though it was a tough experience, I’m able to look back and recognize the small victory I had because of learning how to pay attention and track what was going on inside of me. I see that as a win.