Last summer while strolling the beach solo early one August morning, I came across a lone snail making its way through the wet sand. The snail caught my attention and actually took my breath away because in the precise moment I spotted it, I was listening to a podcast about how we ought to honor ourselves enough to slow down.
The words, “you are worth slowing down for” landed in my eardrums right as I saw this little fella.
Crouched down, I admired the meticulous way he (she?) paved a path towards the vast ocean. I snapped a photo and then took this video - telling myself that I should watch it the next time my nervous system went into frenetic overdrive. I wanted to cement into my brain the quiet joy that watching this brought me. File it away as a digital permission slip. An allowance to myself that indeed, the Universe was telling me I am worth slowing down for.
Then, this past May, while walking my dog early one morning, I made friends with another snail. This one on dry land.
I, again, was grateful not to have missed it (or squash it with my sneaks!) I filed it under an internal memo in my brain titled, Slow your roll, Allison. No need to rush.
The reason I share this with you now is that my body is sending me its own memorandum. This one was delivered by way of the Shingles virus. It’s been an interesting June for me so far.
Shingles presents on one side of your body. Mine showed up on my right leg - via the lumbar dermatomes which is the area of skin supplied by the dorsal root fibers of a spinal nerve. What I thought were bug bites never went away and instead caused intense burning. Within a few days of noticing them, it felt like my entire leg was scorched by the worst sunburn you could imagine. And my right kneecap throbbed nonstop for about 3 solid days.
Because I WebMD the shit out of everything, I came to learn a lot about Shingles these past 10 days. What is pretty wild is that it typically presents on one side of the torso - NOT the leg alone. And mine just happened to be my right side - the masculine side. The “doer” side.
Hmmmm, what kind of message is that?
So, yeah. I’ve had to identify a lot with my snail friends lately. Because I have been forced to slow the hell down. From my daily walks with my dog to the tasks that keep a home afloat, I’m doing less and going slower than I am used to. And I don’t like it. I don’t like having to slow my roll. Because my ticker brain doesn’t know how to slow down.
The brain in my head is lecturing me. Am I forced to a limp now because of all the ways I was kicking myself? Kicking myself into gear to do all the things.
So, this is all I have for you today. Me telling you that I am really taking advantage of this time to listen to my body. And learn from it. Not curse at it. Just let it slow me down. I think it was a lesson long overdue.
I do miss my time on the yoga mat, though. I’m really feeling its absence. If any of you yogis out there have recommendations of what I can do that is easy on the legs (?) I would love some suggestions. I still have intermittent leg pain so need to be tender there. My range of motion on the right is really lacking.
YOUR TURN:
This is so freaking hard Allison and it’s happening more and more as I age 😳 As much as I try to change course in these slower times, I find I’m only successful temporarily. There comes a time when I just want ‘to do’ something!! Why don’t many of us consider slowing down doing something??
💜💜💜
I bet yoga with Adriene has some helpful gentle mat based practices you could try? I love this snail story and how they’re little reminders to take your time and slow down. I’m needing this reminder too. Thanks for sharing this…maybe the universe is trying to get my attention with all these “slow down” posts! 🩷