Self-Bossing is the New Black!

Six Steps to Empower your Inner Boss...

It has become apparent to me that we are all guilty in some capacity of trusting others to make our decisions for us. Whether those decisions are about childbirth and prenatal care, nutritional choices, or even when choosing a mortgage lender, we tend not to think for ourselves in many cases. We’re all guilty of it because it’s easy to go to someone who has been through it before.

So why do we surrender the ability to self-boss?

So what does self-boss even mean? In my opinion, it’s all about doing your own research, listening to whatever opinions you wish, but in the end making your OWN decisions. As a society we need to take back our ability to boss ourselves and run our own show in the important aspects of our lives. The most important aspect, and the one in which I can logically speak of, is healthcare

When you walk into your chiropractor’s office, I so very hope that you feel empowered to take possession of your healthcare. You are the boss. Ina May Gaskin has a quote that drives my point home, “Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.” I think she means that we are so perfectly designed to be self-healing organisms, and that we are capable of so much. This specific statement is meant to be the empowerment every expectant mother needs to dig deep within in order to see that she holds the power to have her child without the need for all of the medical interventions. It is a natural born ability to birth a child, so why do we as a society question it?

Because we have fired our inner self-boss.

We have gotten so far off the beaten path that our ancestors originally created for us. They believed in the power of trusting our bodies - that we have what it takes, our bodies won’t fail us if we treat them with respect and love, and nurture them as the life-giving system they are.

When we have sick fish, do we take them out of the water, medicate them and hook them up to IV?

No, we work to balance their environment in order to allow for proper healing. Our society is at the point that we actually doubt a woman’s ability to birth her own child - that she instantly requires a medical provider and interventions, regardless of her and baby’s health. In fact, we go as far as to decide when the baby should be born and if that baby doesn’t come on that estimated due date, there must be something wrong with mom’s body. Further, modern medicine dictates that we better inject and expect. Why? Since when have we as a human race changed so much that we require all of these injectables in order to GET HEALTHY?

My goal in writing this post  is to offer empowerment to the people of our community to self-boss when it comes to healthcare decisions for them personally and for their families. You are born as pure as you could ever be. Why would you ever want to cause immediate imbalance to you or your child’s body without a real and eminent threat? As society we have started our own downward spiral of health from the get-go, even inutero. Stand tall, take it back, educate yourself. Read articles, reference resources, look at research and journals.

1. Believe in your abilities

Understanding that you don’t hold the same educational level as many or possibly of any of your providers; you can learn about your body and its ability. Understand your body’s immune system, understand how the birth process works, understand what a fever is and what it is for. What is your body able to do? Once you have the facts, the next step is believing that your body can actually self-heal. Also, understanding when it won’t self-heal and when a medical intervention is necessary.

2. Don’t Dr. Google

Everyone runs to the internet with symptoms to diagnose. Have you done it? You know you have! Don’t. Research, get educated, but stick with the facts. Know how to triage a situation. Have a good healthcare team so you can determine if you can self-heal. If the situation is emergent, you should have the appropriate healthcare team in place to assist in determining an emergency and treating the condition. An optimal healthcare team would include natural providers like a midwife, chiropractor, acupuncturist, functional medicine physician, and/or massage therapist. Ensuring those physicians hold working relationships with local specialists and have the appropriate resources for lab work, imaging, emergent referrals, and surgical interventions when necessary. It is logical to hold a primary care physician within your team to assist in diagnosing.

3. Garbage In, Garbage Out

Self-boss your nutrition. Poor nutrition is an express ticket to poor health. This is common sense. Although it can be considered expensive, it isn’t with proper planning and preparing. When you provide proper nutrition to your body, you will see the results in various aspects. Your energy level with increase, sleep improve, physiology work optimally, let alone showing any little people in your life how to eat for optimal living.

4. Social Media is Entertainment

Remember that changing your status to reflect your child’s current temperature and bathroom habit is not self-bossing. It just isn’t. Yes, it takes a village. However, this is not the village I’d primarily suggest. Find helpful groups with like-minded families, viewpoints, and healthcare beliefs. Also remember that whatever a non-physician may recommend, is just that a recommendation or opinion. Continue with your research, your knowledge and your healthcare team to determine what is best and appropriate for your situation. Desperate times do not always call for desperate measures.

5. Mind. Body. Souls

Self-bossing isn’t just holding control of your health in an outward manner, not just the ability to say “I know”. You need to have a healthy mind; Even if you’ve never meditated, there are simple beginner methods, my favorite is to lie in bed before fully waking, picture yourself in your happy place (mine is a beach). Then pull in your 5 senses, so for example you’d see the birds diving into the ocean, hear the waves crashing into the beach, smell the chicken on the grill down the way, feel the sun as it heats up the back of your neck and taste the salt in the air. Then you’re done, but you’ve successfully disconnected from the present. Body; take care of your body. You only get one! Seriously, work out, even for 10 minutes. Time is the worst excuse ever. Wake up early! There is always time. We are all tired, we all work hard, we all have a to do list longer than our driveway is long. Excuses. Move your body. Souls; Get spiritual. I don’t care if its church, yoga or reiki. Get your soul nourished. Take care of your body and it will take care of you.

6. You don’t know what you don’t know

We can’t know it all. It’s okay to not have an answer. Any successful boss can tell you that they have others they lean on for support, advice and opinions. They read books, listen to podcasts and take part in seminars. Every successful boss is always working to soak up knowledge from others and never afraid to admit when they don’t know. Self-bossing is the same, you are your own boss, but know when you need to seek outside advise or just say, I don’t know what to do. That’s okay too. That is why your support systems are in place.

You can do this. Self-bossing is becoming more and more popular in the healthcare world, unfortunately, many are being excused from their medical practices because of their self empowerment and decision making. This is the opportunity your community should be embracing and building upon so every person doesn’t feel the pressure or fear in their decision making, yet feel empowered. Take it day by day, self-bossing is a process of small steps but will yield great rewards!