When I began this journey, the first thing I cared for wasn’t my mind, my career, or even my body as a whole. It was my gut bacteria. My biome. That invisible little world inside me that decides how I feel, how I think, how I live.
I treated it like my own child. I didn’t hurt it. And if something did, I was strict — I removed the insult immediately. Junk food, late nights, alcohol, meat — if it harmed my gut, it had no place in my life. Because I knew if this part of me weakened, everything else would collapse.
As children, someone always checked our poo. Parents noticed colour, shape, smell — adjusting food until it came out right. When a baby struggles, or when a dog leaves loose stools, or when someone disabled needs help, carers watch closely and make changes. That’s love. That’s protection. That’s responsibility.
So why are we treating ourselves so badly?
Why do we stop watching once we can make our own choices? Why do we give more care to a pet’s digestion than our own?
Do you notice when your stool streaks the bowl, when it crumbles instead of forming, when it smells different after a night out, when your energy dips after struggling to go?
These are your body’s whispers. Fatigue. Skin flares. Heaviness after food. A racing heart. Shallow breath.
Are you waiting for illness before you start listening?
Because the mind is greedy. It wants more — more food, more scrolling, more work. It never stops. And the body pays.
But when the body finally gives up, it drags the mind down with it. Into depression. Into pain. Into illness. Suddenly you’re fighting on two fronts — trying to lift a body that won’t move and a mind that refuses to rise.
Look around: adults in their 60s and 70s living with fibromyalgia, endless pain, Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, diabetes, hypertension. Many of them never learned to feel their own bodies, never noticed a racing heart or shallow breath.
This is why so many arrived at hospitals only in late stages of Covid. This is why we meet stage 4 cancer more often than stage 1. The whispers were ignored until they became screams.
Care for your gut, and watch your whole life change
But it doesn’t have to be this way. When you listen to your gut, to your body, the greedy mind quiets down. A rested body softens the mind. A nourished gut clears the chatter. A deep breath steadies the heart.
Can you imagine how different your life would feel if you treated your body like a child — with care, protection, and respect?
Because here’s the truth: you’ve been given only one body in this life. Isn’t it your duty to get to know it?