For a while, I approached Hashimoto’s the way many of us do after diagnosis:
I WILL FIX THIS.
Supplements? Ordered.
Anti-inflammatory foods? Sure.
Meditation? Fine.
Journaling? Apparently.
Morning sunlight? Okay, but now this is getting personal.
Everywhere I looked, someone had another thing I should be doing.
Which is ironic, because nothing says “regulate your nervous system” quite like a 37-item wellness checklist you’re terrified of screwing up.
Then something interesting happened.
As I started paying more attention to stress and my nervous system, my thyroid antibody numbers came down.
Was nervous-system regulation the reason? I can't know that. Hashimoto’s is complicated, bodies are weird, and sadly I do not have a laboratory hidden behind my kitchen.
But it made me pay attention.
And I realized something:
Maybe “relaxing” doesn't have to look the way Instagram says it does.
I tried meditation.
Sometimes I like it.
Other times my meditation goes something like:
Breathe in...
Breathe out...
Did I pay the electric bill?
Breathe in...
Why did I say that weird thing to that woman in 2007?
Very healing.
Journaling isn't really my thing either. If it works for you, journal your little heart out. Seriously.
But I've learned that the best calming practice is the one that actually makes YOU feel calm.
And for me?
Give me a cozy mystery.
Preferably one involving a suspiciously high murder rate in an otherwise charming New England town.
Let's hear it for Murder, She Wrote. 👏
Jessica Fletcher calmly solving her 184th homicide while wearing a sensible cardigan does more for my mood than somebody telling me I need to “create space for stillness.”
I AM creating space for stillness.
Jessica is handling the murder.
I'm on the couch.
We all have our jobs.
Find your version of Cabot Cove.
Maybe yours really is meditation.
Maybe it's gardening.
Walking the dog.
Painting.
Baking bread.
Sitting outside with coffee.
Reading trashy novels.
Rewatching a show you've seen 46 times because your brain finds knowing what happens next incredibly comforting.
It doesn't have to be productive.
It doesn't have to improve you.
It doesn't even have to make sense to anyone else.
The point isn't to perform relaxation correctly.
The point is to notice:
What actually makes my body go, “Ahhhhh...okay”?
And then do more of that.
Living with Hashimoto’s already comes with enough things to track, research, change, swallow, eliminate and worry about.
Your relaxation routine does not need its own spreadsheet.
So tonight?
I'm regulating my nervous system.
There may be a murder involved.
I'm fine. Really. 🙃
This is my personal experience with Hashimoto’s, not medical advice. Changes in thyroid antibodies can happen for many reasons, so work with your healthcare provider on testing and treatment. Cozy mysteries, however, I prescribe enthusiastically.
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