How ‘Present You’ Can Radically Improve the Well-Being of ‘Future You’

Self-care strategies can be transformative, especially with an autoimmune or chronic health condition

Effective meal planning means you don't have to a chance on hidden triggers in fast food instead.(Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock)

I have seen one clinical pearl repeatedly stand out in my 20 years of treating patients with highly complex and chronic autoimmune conditions. Those who plan their self-care fare better than those who don’t. While this insight is centered on those facing illness, the observations that follow have universal value.

When you have a chronic health or autoimmune condition, such as Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, multiple sclerosis, or rheumatoid arthritis, feeling better comes from staying one step ahead of your immune imbalance—no matter how small that step may be. The autoimmune and chronically ill patient must navigate the minefields of immune triggers in the world and learn through trial and error what can send them into a relapse.

Common triggers are certain foods (such as gluten, dairy, corn, and sugar), chemicals, conflict, toxic relationships, over exercise or under exercise, or even being overly negative. Sometimes self-care can mean making big life changes, such as leaving a toxic job or relationship. But for the most part, it is the minutiae of daily life that the autoimmune patient must more carefully consider.

And this means planning ahead. I consider planning ahead in terms of a few characters we all have living within us: “present you,” “future you,” and “past you.”

The Seductive Now

“Present you” has things it wants now. As an example, “present you” may be sucked into a Netflix show, or TikTok, and neglect going to bed on time, even though you know sleep deprivation is highly inflammatory.

“Present you” knows you have a long day of running errands tomorrow but feels too lazy to pack something safe to eat, taking a chance on hidden triggers in fast food instead.

“Present you” doesn’t make a few phone calls before a trip to ensure the air in your Airbnb rental isn’t saturated with a toxic plug-in air freshener.

“Present you” may feel too harried for a morning meditation, an evening yoga class, or a daily walk.

“Present you” is a natural born salesman, masterful in its persuasion, and seductive with its promises of ease, pleasure, and indulgence.

While these small battles are something most people contend with to some degree, “present you” is especially powerful when you feel lousy. The most common symptoms in those with autoimmune and chronic health conditions, are fatigue, low motivation, pain, depression, and other consequences of excess inflammation in the brain. An inflamed brain slows conduction between nerves, which in turn, depresses brain function, and leads to general malaise and the inclination to take the path of least resistance. But self-care is easy when you feel good and are full of energy.

Gifts of Love and Healing

When a patient, newly diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, is confronted with the dietary and lifestyle changes their condition may require, they often feel daunted. The key is that, instead of throwing a barrage of protocols at them, I look for the primary area of dysfunction and start there. This can mean reigning in high blood sugar for one patient, prioritizing brain inflammation in another, or addressing immune reactions to chemicals that are triggering symptoms in a third.

With this initial course charted, our goal, as a team, is for my patients to start having “present you” exert small, consistent efforts that lead to huge rewards for “future you” in a self-perpetuating cycle of positivity. These are the gifts of love and healing that “present you” can give to “future you.” Imagine the delight of “future you” waking up fully rested and feeling great throughout the day. That Netflix series doesn’t seem so important now.

“Future you” is suffused with relief, knowing that “past you” has already packed some healthy food the night before that won’t trigger a flare, cause gut problems, or tank your energy as you’re running out the door. Or “future you” arrives to the Airbnb feeling safe and confident, because the room is not laden with a heavy synthetic scent that would have triggered symptoms and ruined the trip.

Rewire Your Brain, Reset Your Immune System

Managing an autoimmune or chronic health condition, requires tending to multiple nuts and bolts of the physical body. This can mean lowering inflammation, removing triggers, balancing blood sugar, cutting out sugars and junk foods, and developing an exercise habit.

To the initiate, these strategies may sound punitive and austere. What works better is to look at the ways in which lovingly planning ahead for “future you,” sets in motion a neurological and biological alchemy. For instance, daily acts of self-care can rewire your brain and reset your immune system in the following ways.

Promote Anti-Inflammatory Positivity

The love and security “future you” experiences, thanks to “past you” planning ahead, creates feelings of positivity, which research shows is anti-inflammatory.

Build Healthy Dopamine Activity

Each time “present you” forgoes an easy pleasure, to instead work for the needs of “future you,” this promotes healthy dopamine activity. Dopamine is the brain chemical that governs pleasure, reward, and motivation. However, effortless pleasures (smart phones, social media, binge watching, etc.) can turn dopamine into a downward spiral. Pleasure won through effort or discipline, on the other hand, promotes healthy dopamine activity.

Starting small with self-care, and experiencing accomplishment, is what lights up your brain with dopamine and other feel-good chemicals, building your dopamine reserves. The result? Expanding motivation.

This means picking one small act of self-care you know you can accomplish (success is a vital part of the process): prepping your food for the next day, going to bed on time, or going for a 30-minute walk. With each successful accomplishment, you’ll find that your ability to add more self-care to your daily routine grows organically.

Build Positive Neuroplasticity

In addition to supporting healthy dopamine activity, each act of self-care builds healthy “neuroplasticity.” Plasticity is the concept of creating new neuronal pathways in your brain through repetition, so that your brain becomes more efficient at that task over time. These neuronal pathways also trigger associated neurochemicals and hormones to support the process. By starting small, and reaping the rewards of daily success, you start turning your brain into a well-oiled self-care machine.

Find One Small Thing

I hope this article helped you to see self-care as something more magical, and neurological, than aggressive workouts or candlelit bubble baths (though both can certainly be acts of self-love). If you take anything from this article, I hope it is this: that it is meaningful every time “present you” can find one small thing to do as an act of love for “future you.”

This is true of everyone, but maybe even more so for those facing an autoimmune condition. Many of my autoimmune patients are extremely deficient in two vital nutrients: self-worth and self-care. They have a history of childhood abuse or trauma. They have taken a back seat to the needs of their families (more than 75 percent of autoimmune patients are women), or it has never occurred to them to prioritize their well-being. These are not patterns that are going to change in one fell swoop, but instead, through small, persistent efforts.

Also, addictions are another beast altogether that require more concerted efforts beyond the scope of this article. If you are fighting that battle, please exercise self-care through getting appropriate help. In the meantime, I hope “present you,” “future you,” and “past you” can put their differences aside and start working as a team in service to you. Your health is worth it.

This article was first published in Radiant Life Magazine.