Regardless of whether it is a new training habit or a determination to be technical -free before going to bed, every change is usually stimulated by a trigger. For the then PHD candidate Mamosa Ngcala, a health call she needed was the pressure she needed to revise her well-being. The compromise was better than she could have imagined. Here she tells her story.
The year was in 2019 and I was just moving to Cape Town to start my doctoral thesis at the University of Cape Town (UCT). A new city, a new chapter and a mixture of nerves and excitement. I was first registered with UCT, but later entered through a joint program at the University of Potsdam in Germany, which became a joint doctoral student.
There were a few other stressors who may have contributed: I had just moved to a new city and it was not easy to adapt to the new culture. In addition, I had not applied to campus the year before. When I arrived, I had to try to secure the accommodation on campus. At that time I only ate something without paying attention to the nutritional content or value. For example, it was never a problem to eat white pap because it is something I grew up with the food. Since I was always slim by nature, I had no urgency to deliberately move my body. I only lived my life and thought everything would be fine. But not long after I had settled in Cape Town, I noticed that something was wrong.
The health alarm call
What used to be a short trip to the bathroom suddenly became a one -hour ordeal. I sat and waited, waited, sometimes fought for 30 minutes, sometimes over an hour. At first I thought it was just constipation. I wiped it off. But it worsened over time. Finally, I discovered the cause: stacks, also known as hemorrhoids, swollen veins in the anal area, often caused by tension, diets with low fibers or longer sitting.
How many people my first instinct was to grab a quick solution. I visited the pharmacy and hoped that medication would relieve the discomfort. But nothing seemed to work. One day when I researched online, I came across the possibility of surgical removal … and I panicked. To be honest, I couldn’t imagine carrying out a procedure for something that suspected deep inside that I could prevent or reverse. This moment was my health void.
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How wellness worked
I realized that I couldn’t just mediate my symptoms. I had to change my lifestyle. Yes, I knew that it would not bring an immediate relief, but I was ready to try something to avoid surgery. And so my wellness trip started. I have changed my diet drastically: more vegetables, more fruit, fibrous food. I cut processed objects and drank water how my life depended on it – because it somehow did. And I stopped eating things like white pap and white rice that have little fiber, and switched to brown rice and later polenta as a dad alternative. For breakfast I started eating oats and grain with a high fiber like all the industry flakes. I also started drinking warm water in the morning to wake up, and I tried to drink more water all day long.
I also started to take movement seriously: to take walks, to do home training, even to walk. To my surprise, I started to feel better within a week. While the pain did not disappear overnight, my bathroom visits ultimately returned normally. My body reacted. Everything it needed was care.
A new cadence – for all seasons
Mamosa ngcala
In retrospect, this painful experience became a turning point, which I never knew I needed it. Because a few months – and finally years – the actual test came later: the intensity of my doctoral thesis. Long days. Endless deadlines. Pressure to achieve results. Write chapters and write again. The emotional heights and depths that are associated with academic life. It was a lot and I know that many women, especially those in high -performance environments, can be related. But these wellness habits that I had built? They carried me through. Good food gave me the energy and intellectual clarity I needed. When I moved my body, I increased my focus, kept my mood in chess and gave me strength on the most difficult days. The prioritization of sleep and borders helped me to protect my energy – something that I hadn’t done before. Wellness became my foundation, not something that I only turned to when I burned down, but a daily practice that made it possible for me to fully appear.
A book that had a big influence was Robin Sharma’s 5 -am club. It encouraged the first hour of the day to invest in itself, and that’s exactly what I started to do. I have adapted the concept into a routine that worked for me: prayer and dedication, movement and reading before turning on my phone (to ensure that there are no distractions). This practice became an anchor that I didn’t know about it, and to this day, no matter how busy I am, it is not negotiable.
How wellness paid off
The appearance of opportunities in a way that I never imagined. I not only completed my doctorate (without losing my mind), but the work was also so well received that it was awarded Magna Cum Laude by the University of Potsdam, an academic award. What started as a hard health lesson became a fuel that helped me to be able to thrive just to survive. My wellness trip also developed outside the academics. My love of running became something that I had never expected: I became a marathon runner. I have now completed the full 42.2 km, something that I had never dreamed of I would do it, let alone want to do it again!
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What my health alarm call taught me
For every woman who reads this, I learned here: her body always speaks to them. Learn to listen and honor what it needs. Pain and symptoms must not only be suppressed. They are messengers that call them to pay attention, slow down and do things differently.
We often glorify through, but your well -being is not something to earn after the work is done. It is what supports them while doing the work. Regardless of whether you strive for a doctorate, raise a family, build a career, work long hours or just try to survive the week, your well -being is important. Catch small. Drink more water. Eat foods that you nourish. Move your body in a way that feels good. Say “no” when your body “says enough”. Quiet without guilt.
You don’t need a crisis to choose yourself. Your health is not a luxury; It is the basis of your success. Your health does not have to suffer from your personal or professional activities. And their well -being and their ambitions can coexist at the same time. You don’t have to choose between maintaining and persecution of your goals. The truth is that they will appear more clearly, clearer and sustainable if they choose both. As strange as it sounds, I am grateful for these painful stacks because they caused me to make a version of me that I didn’t know about. And I hope my story reminds you that it is never too late to choose it.
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