At Home in Your Body – Do You Need to Pee?

At Home in Your Body – Do You Need to Pee?

I can get so caught up in what I’m doing that I neglect a necessary and most basic human function – the need to pee.

I can be away from home for hours, running errands, picking up groceries, carpooling kids, get home, put away those groceries, answer texts, and start cooking dinner without answering my body’s call to sit down on the toilet and simply pee.

I’m not sure what it is that causes me to postpone this simple act of human necessity; an act that takes, at most, a couple of minutes. The need to pee is something we teach our toddlers to be aware of. We teach them to listen to their bodies so they make it to the toilet instead of making a mess on the floor.

At what point in our lives do we stop listening to this most basic bodily request?

I remember a conversation with a friend years ago when she told me how she would speak to herself by name and tell herself to stop what she was doing and go use the bathroom. We both laughed at the ridiculousness and honesty of that conversation. I wonder if you can relate?

Often, we override our humanity in the name of productivity, responsibility, spirituality, or self-discipline.

Our bodies constantly send us signals: fatigue, hunger, tension, pain, restlessness, relief.

Part of learning to be at home in our bodies is learning to notice those signals instead of overriding them.

As Christians, we believe our bodies matter to God. Scripture calls them temples of the Holy Spirit, which means our embodied lives are not spiritually irrelevant. God can use ordinary bodily awareness: a clenched jaw, a tight chest, exhaustion, or a sense of unease, to draw our attention to something that needs care, prayer, rest, repentance, or healing.

Sometimes I feel tension in my lower back that is different from normal soreness. When that happens, I pause and ask myself, What might my body be reacting to? Often, I realize I am carrying stress, replaying a difficult conversation, or holding fear about something I need to release.

My body is giving me information about my inner state.

Listening to our bodies does not mean treating every feeling as truth. Bodies can be influenced by stress, illness, hormones, trauma, and many other factors. It does mean paying compassionate attention, seeking wisdom, and responding with care instead of dismissal.

I recommend reading The Body Teaches the Soul by Justin Whitmel Earley. This book is full of wisdom when it comes to embodied living and creating habits of the body that teach the soul. Some of what I’ll be writing about this summer is inspired by ideas he explores in his book and how they have played out in my own life.

Learning to listen to our bodies is a powerful way for us to grow not only in physical health, but spiritually and emotionally as well.

Here are some examples of things our bodies may be trying to communicate:

1. I’m physically tired. I need rest. I need to slow down. I need a nap, a longer night of sleep, or downtime on the couch.
2. I need a mental break. No phone. No scrolling. No answering emails. No more seeking knowledge. I’m cognitively exhausted, and processing more details or taking in more information is too much right now.
3. I need alone time. A walk alone, a paddle alone, a movie alone. I’ve been socializing a lot this week, and while I love people, I am overstimulated and need a break.
4. I need food. I’m hungry. Protein, carbs, fat, salt. Fruit, vegetables, or maybe a sweet treat like chocolate or a piece of cake.
5. I need friendship. I’m feeling lonely and need a hug and a listening ear from a friend. I’ve been isolating, and it’s time for community.
6. I need fun. I need to do something playful. Something adventurous that makes me smile, laugh, and feel like a kid again.
7. I need movement. A slow walk, a hard weightlifting session, or a good stretch.
8. I need to pee. I need to relieve myself. I need to slow down enough to allow a basic human function to take priority over productivity and busyness.

Take Inventory

When you sense your body entering overwhelm or exhaustion, take inventory.

Look back on the last week, month, or year.  Consider what you’ve been carrying, the people you’ve been caring for, and the challenges you’ve faced.

You’ll often have an aha moment as you begin to understand the “why” behind what you are feeling.God created us to live in our bodies, with needs, responses, and limitations that are part of His design. It is wise to pay attention to the signals our bodies give and respond with care.

Then ask yourself:

What do I need?

Your body may be telling you that you need rest. You need to put away your phone, sit outside in the sun for an hour, and take a short nap. You need to drink water. You need to eat a savory dinner filled with protein, healthy carbs, and warming spices. You may need physical touch, a cuddle with a loved one or a pet. You may need to watch a light-hearted movie and go to bed early.

If you listen to the signals your body is giving you, the next day you may have energy you didn’t think was possible the day before. I’ve experienced this many times throughout my busy life. My body is constantly giving me information, and the more I learn to listen, the more I feel at home.

This is God’s design.

God created us to live in our bodies, with needs, responses, and limitations that are part of His design. It is wise to pay attention to the signals our bodies give and respond with care.

If we are going to listen to our bodies, we also need to love our bodies. When we love our bodies, we treat them with kindness and respond to what they are communicating.

Do you believe your body deserves kindness?

I did not grasp what it meant to be kind to my body until around four years ago. I was in a deep struggle with anxiety, so much so that I sought both medical and therapeutic help.

In one of my first counseling sessions, my therapist asked if I was being kind to myself in my anxiety.

The question stopped me. I had spent months trying to get rid of my anxiety, fight my anxiety, and fix my anxiety. It had never occurred to me that I could respond to it with kindness. I viewed it as a problem to conquer rather than a signal that something inside me needed care.

I immediately responded, “No, I was not being kind to myself.”

I was angry with myself for my anxiety.

I’ll share more about that in a future post, but this was the beginning of a journey in which I learned to view my struggles with compassion and kindness instead of condemnation and anger.

Are you angry with your body for being tired?

Are you angry with your body for being hungry?

Are you angry with your body for being overwhelmed in certain social or familial situations?

Are you angry with your body for being sick?

Is there a need your body is communicating that you are having trouble listening to?

We are human, which means we will not always listen correctly. We may misunderstand, overlook, or misinterpret what our bodies are telling us.

God is greater than our misinterpretations.

When we commit our bodies to Jesus, we can trust Him with all of our mistakes, imperfections, and struggles. Our dependency is on Him, and He is the One who teaches us wisdom and understanding, even when it comes to our physical bodies.

Our bodies give signals. God gives wisdom.

The signals deserve attention, but they still need interpretation through prayer, reason, community, and sometimes professional care.

I want to encourage you to start small.

If you are just now learning to listen to your body, begin with the most basic signals.

Are you hungry?

Are you tired?

Are you lonely?

Do you need to pee?

As you learn to listen and respond in these areas, you will continue to grow in responding to yourself with love, wisdom, and care.