The Chemical Imbalance Proclamation
Restoration becomes a requirement for a temple after a few decades. All that smoke, all those people coming and going, the sun exposure, the rain washing away the glow, takes a toll on the facade. You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit that you received from God. - Corinthians 6:19. I remember hearing the phrase about body and temple and I’ve just found out that it came from scripture. How conscious are we to know that our vessel is a gift that we use, we abuse, we indulge and we revere. There’s so much wonder, strength and tenacity from every fibre of our being and yet we know so little about it. Instead of trigonometry and logarithms, I wish I paid more attention in Biology. In fact should it not have been compulsory for all of us to learn it? Why was it an elective? Why did I have to learn about basic skin care from YouTube videos? Why did we not put more importance in the Shape and Colour of our POOP? Should we not all have studied Medicine 101? Heck, let’s make our kids do gardening 101.
Tend to your plants. Check their leaves. Are the roots outgrowing the pot? What is the remedy for yellowing leaves? I kid you not. I paid more attention to myself because I took care of my plants. When they got fussy, I brought them more sunlight, or watered them more frequently or gave them some boosters to help them be more comfortable. Unconsciously, I was learning that I wasn’t putting in the same effort to keep my own self alive. While they were starting to thrive, I asked my ageing self, why did importance in their growth and not in mine. When I got plants, I doom scrolled and binge watched every gardening videos you can imagine and read conflicting articles or care techniques and had many conversations with friends who were on the same boat and learned from shared experiences. I’m far from being the subject matter expert on plants, I assure you, but I know enough to know what works for my green babies.
I circle back to restoration because I’ve started on the journey of conservation earlier this year when I threw my back out (L5 protrusion). I was searching quotes about youth and blindness and came across this Margret Atwood zinger: When you’re young, you think everything you do is disposable. I can’t help but feel angry to be honest. The knowledge of self care pulled right out under us. Or perhaps it’s a uniquely Singaporean experience of having accessibility. The doctor, dentist, pharmacy, drugstore are just around the corner, in the neighbourhood. Or is it a habit of laziness we have inculcated to even care for ourselves when our insurance premiums do a better job of it. I come from a perspective where the strength of my youth is weaning off. The privileges of my youth are being pushed into the shawdows as the new youth come into the light. Now I need to keep up. Slow the roll. Still be relevant. Part of my conservation journey made me look into nutrition. I feel like I’m eating better than before, but my hair was thinning, my energy was draining easily, my skin had weird rashes etc etc. What was missing? The consistent intake of Vitamins. My body was the laboratory and I started putting things in it and on it. It took a while before I found what was right for me. I’m still figuring it out. The test results were evaluations of pee colours, poop viscosities, skin dexterities, hair textures, weight fluctuations, sleep patterns and fluid intakes. Honestly who has time to focus on this when the Bene Gesserit are on HBOmax. Perhaps by placing more attention to ourselves we might be considered as being vain, shallow or growing our ego. At first, making a conscious effort was exhausting. I was forcing myself to do things I never use to. There were days I would slip up. But I have somehow managed to train the voice inside my head to tell me to go for the long walks that would clock in the steps or take my vitamins or eat better cause you had a shit meal the night before. I find myself putting in effort like I have never before. Having a skin care regime was not new to me, but to be consistent about it was fresh take I admit. There are days where I step out of the shower and refuse to place a drop of moisturizer on me, anywhere - I know cardinal sin. But I need those slip ups so I can remind myself the next day that I need to give myself that push. Consistency is a lesson here I’m learning about. 2025, I want to take advantage of being consistent. May the strength and persistence of being a balanced being prevail over those goddamn Bene Gesserit.
-T
