During my intercession, the wellness retreat, Victoria Kirby came and spoke about everything from stress to how to practically achieve goals. Kirby was a family practitioner for over 20 years before she started to pursue functional medicine. Functional medicine is a holistic approach to wellness that focuses on preventing sickness before it starts and improving overall health. A quote on Kirby’s website by Stephen C. Paul shows this well: “Remove the rock from your shoe, rather than learning to limp comfortably”.
She started by talking about stress. Stress is one of the most toxic things in your body, so managing it is an important thing you can do for yourself. Stress causes a nervous system reaction, and in turn things like hormone changes and headaches can arise from being in that flight or fight stress mode.
Everyone has anxiety and stress to a certain degree, but anxiety has greatly increased for my generation. Even though we have more education around mental health, Kirby says, pressures and stress are much harder on this generation mainly because of the rise of social media. Social media is known to worsen someone’s inner critic. Your inner critic is that voice in your head that says you are doing something wrong. And although this voice started from a good place, to keep you away from trouble, it has become a toxic aspect of life. Your brain doesn’t know everything, and Kirby gives a good strategy to prove this and combat an inner voice. She says to “put your thoughts on trial”, by writing them down and looking at the evidence. For example, if you did poorly on a math test and don’t think you can recover, think about past experiences and see if there is any truth to what your inner critic says.
Your inner critic can also worsen body image. Kirby says that worrying or focusing on body image takes up thoughts and time that could be used on more important topics. Poor body image is not inherent, instead it is learned over time by your environment, and social media usage helps to dictate this environment. A common opposition to your inner critic is to “talk to yourself like someone you love”, and when it comes to body image this is a very important thing to do. Kirby says along with treating yourself with care, you have to “be your own hype person” and show up for yourself. Kirby also says the best way to achieve goals is to have a good foundation. She uses the example of a house. If a goal is on the second story, a good foundation helps to build and reach it. This includes having healthy habits and managing stress to bring you towards stability and a fulfilled life.
Kirby ended by stating “you are enough right now”. Showing up for yourself and pursuing goals are important, but remember that you are worthy and the place you are now is okay.
For more information on Victoria Kirby, go to her website: https://www.victoriakirbywellnessllc.com/
