When You Stop Listening to Your Body

One of the first things I learned when I ventured into natural health alternatives was how important it is to truly know your body. Before that, I believed listening to my body only mattered when something went wrong.

Pain. 

Exhaustion. 

A diagnosis.

Those were the moments I finally stopped and paid attention.

What I didn’t understand then was that our bodies speak to us long before they escalate. They’re always communicating. We’re just taught—especially as women—to override the whispers. Push through the fatigue. Silence the hunger. Normalize the discomfort. Keep going.

For me, that looked like brushing off the aches in my joints as “just life.” I kept doing all the things—eating as a junk-food vegan, staying busy, not minimizing stress—until my body made itself impossible to ignore. There came a day when I could barely walk from my bed to my en-suite bathroom without limping.

I was forced to slow down. 

And I was forced to take action.

Over time, ignoring our body’s signals comes at a cost. Not just physically, but emotionally. We lose trust in ourselves. We second-guess our intuition. We start looking outside of ourselves for answers our bodies have been offering all along.

Rebuilding that trust doesn’t happen overnight. It starts small—with noticing instead of fixing.

How do I feel after this meal? What does my body need right now—rest or movement? Am I tired, overwhelmed, or simply thirsty?

These questions don’t require perfection. They require presence.

Listening to your body isn’t about following every craving or symptom blindly. It’s about developing a relationship—one where curiosity replaces judgment and care replaces criticism.

When we slow down enough to listen, we often realize our bodies aren’t betraying us. They’re protecting us. Guiding us. Asking for support in the only language they have.

This kind of healing may look like doing less, not more. Trusting your gut. Honoring the quiet wisdom you’ve always carried.

Your body is—and always has been—on your side.

These are the kinds of honest, grounded conversations Lou and I hold on the Earrings Off podcast. You’re always welcome to join us.

Teresa