“Soldier on, soldier on….” were the lyrics to a catchy marching tune, which accompanied a TV advertisement for a well known cold and flu remedy back in the 70’s. In other words, take the pills and carry on with life as normal because there is no time to stop. This sends us a clear message that pushing through is the way to deal with our bodily ills. It’s all a simple case of mind over matter!
Do we ever see ads encouraging women to lay down and rest, or go to bed when they have either a flu, any other ailment, or were even simply tired or exhausted? After all, why would women need to rest when there is a commercial remedy to hand?
And yet we have the awareness that something is awry as we take a pill to fix it. Having read the body’s message that something needs to be addressed, we women are choosing to override these messages and have, for a long time, been settling for “fixing the issue” by consuming various varieties of pills so we can just keep going.
Are we fast becoming a society that is avoiding matters of our personal health? Is it possible that the ‘quick fix pill’ absolves us all of the loving responsibility to read the messages conveyed so accurately and consistently by our bodies?
Is our false state of living to be considered modern, advanced or clever in any way or, are we fooling ourselves into deeper ill health by denying what is truly going on? - Serge Benhayon
Pharmaceutical medicine has developed exponentially over the last few decades, and in many ways is very supportive of the increasingly complex array of ills currently prevalent in today’s society. However, could it be the case that this growth is also resulting in more and more sophisticated medications to support our choice of the “quick fix solution”, rather than addressing honestly what is truly going on with our own bodies?
The belief that there’s “a pill that will fix” all physical issues, as well as mental and emotional matters, appears to be taking on a mantra-like status in the minds of women everywhere. ‘Take the pills and carry on,’ is a socially endorsed lifestyle, with women of all ages openly managing the demands placed on them in life by consuming pharmaceuticals and over the counter products. This is a global phenomenon.
In the USA, 1 in 4 women take antidepressant medications and women are twice as likely as men to seek pharmaceutical support for their anxiety. A renowned practitioner commented that we don’t really know why there exist these gender differences, but it is possibly because of the way women take on the role of the emotional management of their household. (1).
Does our voluntary donning of the Superwoman cape and our performance and juggling of multiple roles make us more prone to depression-like symptoms and anxiety? And more likely to reach for the pills as ‘the answer’?
Since the launch of Prozac and its competitors, Zoloft, Cipramil and Aropax, the amount of antidepressants being prescribed to Australians has multiplied sixfold. (2)
Are we unwittingly becoming part of these statistics that clearly indicate the emergence of an economy based upon the management of human sadness?
Could it be we are collectively avoiding addressing some very real issues, which affect all of our lives, and we are still “soldiering on”, regardless of the long term affects on our health?
The relationship between living with stress and the long-term likelihood of heart attack and, certainly, high blood pressure, has been known since the 1970’s. Yet five of the top 10 prescription drugs administered in Australia in 2014 were for cholesterol management, high blood pressure and stomach reflux – totalling almost 40 million scripts. (3)
There are indeed pills to fix these matters of stress related ill health, but is it possible that our mental mantra of carrying on regardless, is not truly supporting our bodies, nor our own connection to a more wholesome way of living?
Moreover, there are many of us who are struggling so much with life, that we abuse pharmaceuticals in exactly the same way that many utilise ‘street drugs.’
Many women and men are consuming pharmaceuticals not because they have a physical illness, but because they perceive they need these pills just to get through the day.
“The Australian Medical Association has recently declared prescription drug addiction a “national emergency,” as Australia is currently in the same situation as America in regards to unprecedented harms being caused by the abuse of prescription medications. Australia’s rate of prescription drug addiction was reported as the second highest in the world last year, only after the United States, and afflicts 3-4% of the population.” (4)
The most commonly abused drugs are tranquillisers, pain killers and those containing opioids, which bring a momentary sense of euphoria. The latter are becoming a popular and safer alternative to heroin. Is this statistic sending us the message that many of our own kind need to sedate themselves, or to seek a sense of chemicalised happiness, in order to get through the day?
Your body knows all from that which it has lived. Wise is he/she who listens and pays attention to it. And foolish is he/she, to the point of unnecessary suffering, who ignores its wisdom. - Serge Benhayon
The most commonly abused drugs are tranquillisers, pain killers and those containing opioids, which bring a momentary sense of euphoria. The latter are becoming a popular and safer alternative to heroin. Is this statistic sending us the message that many of our own kind need to sedate themselves, or to seek a sense of chemicalised happiness, in order to get through the day?
Would it be wiser for us to question how we are living as a collective that we need to pop pills at this ever increasing rate, not to gain a sense of well being and vitality, but just to get by?
Is it not, after all, common sense that when the body sends a signal of pain, it does so because it’s equilibrium has been disturbed? As the ‘bosses’ of our bodies, have we stopped listening to these bodily messages, which indicate that the body has something which needs to be attended to? If a child cries out in pain, we don’t usually just ignore the child and then later give it a pill and tell it to get on with it. But clearly we are doing this when our own body cries out in pain. Why is this the case?
Is this ignoring part of a bigger picture where we are also ignoring other messages from within ourselves? Do we women ignore or override our own feelings about what is needed to support ourselves daily because we have buried our natural state of health under a mountain of multiple ideals and mental pictures we are exposed to, and carry around in our heads, every day? Including the picture that it is not ok to stop and address our bodily and inner feelings because we were born to ‘Soldier on, soldier on…?’
What is it about our current lifestyles and our personal choices that bring us consistently to override what our bodies are presenting for our awareness? Our bodies are designed for an amazing state of equilibrium. They ‘speak’ only when this natural equilibrium is disturbed. Why are we choosing a state of disequilibrium over this natural harmony?
If we were to listen to and heed these messages, what then would be our true state of health?
Would we still incline towards the “quick fix pill solution”, or is the unwarranted and overly eager consumption of pills, actually leading us in the opposite direction from the true health which can be ours when we live in greater harmony with our bodies and ourselves?
Is it time for us to let go of the social mantra ‘popping a pill and soldiering on,’ and commence the simple practice of listening to, reading and honouring the messages of our own bodies?
References:
1.www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/women-and-prescription-drug-use_n_1098023.html?section=australia
3. www.pbs.gov.au/statistics/asm/2014/australian-statistics-on-medicines-2014.pdf
4. www.thecabinsydney.com.au/prescription-drug-addiction-in-australia-is-out-of-control/
