February 2024 – My Second Water Fast experience
The last weekend in January, a long weekend felt to be the best opportunity to face my next challenge, a 72-hour water fast. As practice I completed a 40-hour water fast the weekend before to prepare my body and mind.
The week leading up to the challenge I was very mindful of nourishing my body with wholefood, paleo and low carb foods with no sugar. I felt this would be the best preparation for me with hopefully less side effects.
On Thursday I could really feel a lot of doubt creeping into my mind, certainly feeling a lot of resistance. But I decided I needed to face my fears and do the best I can. Isn’t that what Susan Jeffer’s book is all about “Feel the fear and do it anyway”? I was feeling confident that I could achieve at least 40 hours, reflecting I can see that my body was trying to talk to me by starting to feel shaky and trauma being felt.
Previously in my old life I had been good at ignoring my physical body’s messages, which I changed about 4 years ago. At the start of 2024 I started listening to Elizabeth Peru and she shared a very interesting insight with 2024 being the 8 universal year and the Physical body is calling to be felt. I am indeed appreciative of this amazing vison and could really relate to it.
Having support from my fiancé Russell was another motivator for me to keep on soldiering on with the water fast. As the time ticked on, I noticed after 24 hours that my body’s hunger pangs did not want to go, they were not subsiding. With reflection I can see that this had been very draining on my nervous system. Just like having a crying baby for 12 hours and wouldn’t sleep so I could have a break.
Going to bed for sleep was something I contemplated, and I was hoping would get me through the night, but the anxiety was heightened to the point I couldn’t even breathe and felt very claustrophobic. Trying to grab tools out of my mindfulness toolbox which was not pacifying me at all.
Finally, I allowed my body to have exactly what it was yearning for, which was food. Firstly, I wanted to nourish my body and I tried watermelon. After giving my body and mind time to receive the nutrients it needed, with no relief. Russell was very obliging to help me anyway he could so at 11pm we were eating eggs, sauerkraut, avocado on toast. Finally, the hunger pangs had stopped but my anxiety was still very much there.
It was time to try and sleep but my nervous system was still not settled. I was like a cat on a hot tinned roof while trying more things in my mindful toolbox. This is an experience that I honestly never want to happen ever again. I am now wondering if I was having a panic attack. All I wanted was this to stop. Alcohol, chocolate, medication or going to the emergency department were the options I was looking at. My goal was to regain calmness, a sensation I doubted I'd experience once more. In my previous unconscious world, alcohol and chocolate had been used to give me this calm feeling.
Natural sugar might work I thought, so I ate a mango at 1am then I put my headphones on to listen to Anti-Anxiety Cleanse music and try to sleep. It was so lovely to wake up at 5:30am for the toilet and then I was relieved that I went back to sleep until 8:30am.
My body certainly was feeling the aftereffects of my cortisol levels being so heightened for so long while having this anxiety/panic attack. Allowing myself to potter and letting my body to be heard again is my goal for now and forever. I am truly grateful for this experience, and it does give me an understanding of how anxiety/panic attacks affect so many humans in this world.
There are many reasons why one week can be so different from another week. Answers might never come but having a holistic counselling session on that Friday was very confronting, plus being peri-menopausal and further along in my cycle also with other stresses present.
Not sure if I will try to do another 72-hour water fast. The jury is out now.