This is your sign to take a sip of water

How did you sleep last night? Have you seen the outside of your apartment today? Have you moved your limbs? Have you… had a meal? When was the last time you drank a full glass of water?

Don’t mean to crowd you with questions, but if you haven’t noticed yet, I’m trying to make a point. If you’re like…well, most, you’re in the habit of ditching your basic human needs during your work day. Project urgency, overloaded days, fear-based office culture, and a work-as-worth mindset all have roles to play in why we often leave the care of our bodies last on the priority list. 

All that, and the fact that resources and collective teachings on the subject of body, mental and emotional health as pillars for the rest of our lives weren’t broadly taught when we (20, 30, 40-somethings) were in school. 

Of course, we grow up with the basics on basic needs. The fact that we can only survive about a week without water has been living rent-free in my mind since the 6th grade. We get that there are some non-negotiables to general human aliveness. Some of us (fellow psych minors, hi!) even got the crash course on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which colors in a ton. It explains, in most simple terms: if we don’t have x, we can’t get y. If we have x, we get y. And up the pyramid, it goes. It’s an incredible conceptual reference, but far less frequently taught as a put-it-into-practice guide.

Links We Love

Do a deep dive into why taking care of your body's basic needs takes care of everything else. What else should we be reading?

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Quench by Dana Cohen + Gina Bria

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor (though this basic need isn’t covered in this particular newsletter, it’s a fascinating addition that demonstrates the sheer power we have to improve our lives with our body’s built-in tool kit)