ADAM OLSEN -- I’m certainly not going to unpack it all here right now, but this post was inspired by a thought I had mid-downward dog as I worked out my inner yogi and the flexibility of my hamstrings
Coming out of the Spring session this past June, I was wholly
dissatisfied with my overall health and well-being. There is no comparison to
much of the state of my affairs throughout my thirties, however I could see
three years' effort beginning to slip away.
2016 was a turning point for me. It started with one of those brutally
honest conversations with my mother. For those of you who know her, you will
know what I mean. I deeply respect her willingness to say it like she sees it.
It was January and I was growing frustrated that the BC Greens would not
hold a nomination for Saanich North and the Islands. I had just spent the
better part of two years acting as the Interim-Leader and the 2017 election was
little less than 18 months away. I wanted to be the candidate and to start
campaigning! However, they weren’t ready and it was not happening.
Look after yourself!
“Get over it,” my mom said. “They are not ready and neither are
you. You need to take care of your own business first. You need to look after
yourself.”
It might be a surprise to some of you who have met me in person, but I
have never been a tall man. And at the time of that conversation I was carrying
at least 45 pounds of extra weight.
Short and wide!
My mom was right. I was going to stand in front of my community and ask
them to trust me to look after their affairs and yet I was barely able to look
after my own. I was making a litany of poor choices.
Even though I functioned quite well in public and at events through my
thirties, I suffered from depression. It was never a medical diagnosis but it
was very real and extremely debilitating. I’m certainly not going to
unpack it all here right now but this post was inspired by a thought I had
mid-downward dog as I worked out my inner yogi and the flexibility of my
hamstrings.
Stretching out
What is the difference between me now and January 2016, before my honest
talk with Sylvia? My choices. Salad instead of fries and walking instead of
sleeping in. As I’ve shed light on this in previous posts, it all started with
minor tweaks.
My mom’s forthright critique of my physique motivated me to begin
turning all that potential energy that I was storing around my midriff into
kinetic energy. As I took care of my physical self, my mental, emotional and
spiritual well-being also began to improve. No surprise, it’s all connected.
Briefly, the paralysis of my thirties was centred on an overwhelming
fear of death. While exhaling a little deeper into my down-dog I remembered the
dangerous script that once consumed much of my private thoughts. I associated
skinny with sick and so, according to my twisted thinking, if I stayed overweight
then I was less likely to die of cancer.
Clearly, there is nothing rational or scientific about this. The
decisions to consume soft drinks like I should have been drinking water in
order to prove to myself that I was not sick, was exactly the thing that was
making me sick. Just a different kind of sick.
We all feel depression
Back in 2016, my mom saved me and her advice, now three years old, came
to the rescue once again. Coming out of the past Spring session, with high
stress political drama, tension and brinkspersonship, I felt it all slipping.
Sloppy eating and excusing a second day of no exercise, for example, were all
leading poor communication and sloppy work. I was emotionally fragile and
spiritually drained.
I’m committed to a higher standard and I know I cannot expect that of my
colleagues if I’m not going to be accountable to myself. We are hardly going to
convince our constituents that they have little to worry about for the future,
if the self-care of the people making decisions on their behalf, advising them
and administrating the governance is anathema to the culture of politics.
MLA Adam Olsen, Saanich North and the Islands |
So, I continue my cat-cows, and I am warrior-ing up, choosing salad
instead of fries and walking out my angst in the beautiful Brentwood mornings.
Whether I feel like doing it or not, I’m always more inspired when I get home.
Just as my poor health was produced by poor choices, so is my good
health. I can’t say that it will produce more decisions you agree with but I
will be at the table better prepared and informed, with a clearer, more rested
mind and an increasingly open and flexible posture.
Adam Olsen ... is a Green
Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Saanich North
and the Islands.
Born in Victoria, BC in 1976, Adam has lived,
worked and played his entire life on the Saanich Peninsula. He is a member of
Tsartlip First Nation (W̱JOȽEȽP), where he
and his wife, Emily, are raising their two children, Silas and Ella.
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