When the VCR Ate My Tape (Remember VCRs?)

What Broken Machines Can Teach You About Listening to Your Body

Remember when you popped your favorite movie into the VCR… and it ate the tape?

You’d hear a weird clicking.

Try to eject it. Nothing.

Open the flap and—bam—ribbon spaghetti.

And just like that, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was toast.

Now, you wouldn’t shove that same mangled tape back in and hit play again, right?

But folks do that with their bodies all the time.

They feel stiff, sore, exhausted…

And instead of stopping to ask, “What’s really going on?”—

They power through. Pop a pill. Push harder. Sit longer.

That VCR didn’t die in one day. It broke down little by little from dust, neglect, and overuse.

Same with your body.

It’s not betraying you—it’s begging you to press pause.

To move, stretch, breathe, hydrate, sleep, reset.

You’re not broken. You’re just overdue for a tune-up.

Action Tip:

Before bed tonight, lie on the floor with your knees bent.

Take five slow breaths. Stretch overhead.

Let your body know it’s okay to power down.

Start showing it the care it’s been quietly asking for.