When The Body Speaks First
Before my mind calls it anxiety, my body has already begun speaking. I’ve learned to notice this moment — the quiet shift that happens before worry forms.
At this time of year it often starts with what we call “getting sick.” A heaviness in the body. A low, quiet ache. A subtle tickle at the back of the throat. Tiredness arrives first. Then the thought follows: Oh no… I’m getting sick.
That thought is often where anxiety begins.
Much of the anxiety around getting sick comes from what I was taught to fear — that illness means weakness, that slowing down is failure, that the body is becoming unreliable. We’ve been conditioned to believe that a capable body should always be productive, available, and unaffected.
When that fear takes hold, my instinct has often been to silence the symptoms. We reach for over-the-counter medications to calm what the body is expressing — so we can keep going, get to work, take care of our children, and move through our to-do lists. But many of these remedies don’t actually support the body’s natural intelligence; they simply mask its messages. In some cases, they may even interfere with the body’s innate healing response.
When I choose not to immediately silence symptoms, I can ask a different question: What would support my body right now? Often, the answer is simpler and more nourishing than we expect. Warm herbal teas that gently support immune function. Honey electuaries made with powdered herbs and adaptogens. Simple daily rituals begun before we feel run down — not as a reaction, but as care.
Things like a morning cup of warm water with lemon, ginger, and turmeric, or a daily dose of fire cider (link to recipe). Immune-supportive teas blended with cinnamon, astragalus, peppermint, holy basil, or echinacea. Cooking regularly with oregano, thyme, and black cumin seeds. Adding elderberry, nettle, or rose hips powder to honey — or working with tinctures of these plants when extra support is needed (link to electuary instructions).
These are not quick fixes — they are ways of partnering with the body, trusting its rhythm, and offering strength rather than suppression.
Seen this way, fatigue, aches, and early symptoms are not failures. They are signs of resilience — proof that the body is strong enough to recognize something that doesn’t belong and respond accordingly.
I suppose this also asks me — and perhaps many of us — to reassess the deeply indoctrinated belief that we must always keep going, that achieving and pushing through proves strength, while resting has somehow become a sign of weakness.
For a long time, I wondered if this struggle was just me. But the more I listened — truly listened — the more I realized it wasn’t. Many of us were taught to override the body in order to meet expectations at work, in caregiving, and in daily life.
What has changed for me is this: I now make decisions in service of my body’s wellbeing.
Not because I’m giving up.
But because I understand what the body is.
The body is not an obstacle to life — it is the sanctuary that allows life to be experienced. It is the vehicle through which we feel, love, work, rest, and heal. It is home.
And when the body speaks first, it isn’t betraying us. It’s telling the truth.
I choose now to be a commitment to my home.
Thank you, Madeline.
