#9: Adira Al-Hilo
“At the end of the day, the only thing that truly healed me was confronting myself and cultivating self-trust.”
Adira is a writer, seeker, and beloved Tumblr mutual. A favorite line from her blog, seaportal: “Nothing you do is as original as you want to believe it is, and that should comfort you.”
At a glance…
Location: Lisbon
Big 3: Capricorn/Taurus/Leo
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
Being in tune with my senses and the environment around me. It’s amazing what going outside and smelling five new things can do for our olfactory senses, or simply meditating to the sounds around us. Our lives are so rushed these days, and the pressure to be fast-paced shortens our ability to register reality and the environment around us. We don’t have time to register the small details. The extent to which a person is grounded in their environment and not living through a screen dictates how in touch they are with themselves and their community. That connection is the foundation of health to me.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
I’m very intellectually stimulated these days, but I’m also inspired by boredom and what it can unlock in me. I feel like I’m in a constant state of transit, so when I land in one place for awhile I spend a lot of time alone. When I do have company I try to be very intentional with who it is and what is discussed; sometimes I just sit in silence with my loved ones, which is very new for me in terms of enjoyment. I used to be afraid of silence in all forms, and now it’s something I welcome. It’s something I’m studying, as well: what it means to appreciate silence in such a noisy world. I made a goal in 2023 to say yes to everything and it really changed my life. I’m saying yes more often, and that also means saying yes to solitude when I desire it.
How do you start and end your days?
I’m just barely settling in at a writing residency, and I’m in a house with eight other artists, so the day starts with us all waking up one by one. I try to stay in bed and not rush to get up, and once I do, I make myself black tea to have with whatever fruit is around. I try to maintain similar routines when traveling that I have when I’m not traveling. I go on long walks, I spend time sitting in the sun when it’s warm, I like to listen to art panels or lectures each day. Right now I’ve been taking music theory courses through Language Transfer. I also recommend Yale lectures on YouTube, and the Louisiana Channel is a great resource to learn about a variety of topics. As freelance work is on pause for me right now I spend sometimes up to 7 hours a day writing, which is honestly such a gift. We have a shared kitchen in the house so we all cook dinner together, which is a great way to bond and discover new things.
“I used to be afraid of silence in all forms, and now it’s something I welcome. It’s something I’m studying, as well: what it means to appreciate silence in such a noisy world.”
Do you have any recurring dreams?
I have a repetitive dream in which I’m out of breath and climbing up a grassy hill toward an abandoned church. I also dream that I’m swimming a lot.
Do you believe in the concept of self-healing, or that one can heal oneself?
Of course. I think we are sold this lie that we can never recover or fully heal, which is how they market so many products to us, but I’ve personally healed from many things, mental and physical. Self healing doesn’t mean we do it alone; we don’t do anything alone, not truly.
I’ve experimented with different things for my mental health, such as micro-dosing — but at the end of the day, the only thing that truly healed me was actually confronting myself and cultivating self-trust, not avoiding or fearing the state of mind that I have been in (and may be in again). As far as physical healing, I recently stopped taking birth control and I’m in the process of getting my body to a place of natural hormonal balance. With guidance from my medical practitioner, I’m taking magnesium and eating balanced meals with proper carbs and I’m trying to keep stress and cortisol levels low.
Was there a specific moment in life that made you more conscious of your health?
I had a back injury in 2020 that occurred during a run and ever since then I’ve been really strict with how I workout. If I don’t have daily movement of some kind, it really hurts my mental state. I enjoy movement that feels natural to me such as dancing, running, yoga, long walks. I’m not a fan of the gym, I find that my mind-body connection suffers because it’s very over stimulating. But a run outside twice a week has completely changed my relationship to my body.
Where do you look to for information and guidance?
I have family members in the medical field so I will typically ask their advice for any urgent medical concerns, but in terms of wellness, I always do my background research on products and any new routines I might implement. Sometimes if a topic really interests me, I will actually read clinical trials conducted around the topic and formulate my own opinion from there. A lot of studies are public knowledge and can be found on sites such as these. The best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten was about anti-nutrients found in some vegetables, and how overconsumption of them can actually disrupt our gut health. So don’t avoid eating carbs, they are good for you.
“At the end of the day, the only thing that truly healed me was confronting myself and cultivating self-trust.”
Fuck, marry, kill: three health trends of your choice.
Fuck: Magnesium glycinate. It will transform your sleep, it lowers cortisol and aids in muscle relaxation after intense workouts. Marry: Hormone-balancing discussions for women given by medical professionals. This is so important especially now that we are being educated on the consequences of birth control [Editor’s note: more on this here]. Kill: Skincare advice, all of it. Skincare advice is medical advice and the average person does not have the qualifications to be giving that out on the Internet.
What are some of your grocery staples? What meals do you find yourself returning to?
I cook a lot of Middle Eastern dishes because it’s what I was raised with. One of my favorites is dolma, which is stuffed grape leaves. I would say my grocery staples are dates (all fruits really), homemade bread, and tinned fish. I feel like I can do anything with bread, herbs, and tinned fish.
What do you think is the most pressing health issue of our time?
Climate change. The earth is our shared body, it’s our consciousness, and I think everyone needs to ask themselves how they can advocate for a healthier world. I worked with farmers all of 2023 and I thought I understood the condition that our planet was in before, but each day I learned something new that at once filled me with horror and hope. It wasn’t that long ago that the average person knew how to care for a plot of land, and where are we now? Agriculture has been overtaken by corporations, and this is one of the most crucial concerns on the topic of health — if not the most crucial concern.
What advice would you give to the person reading this?
Stop giving advice and start listening to the person across from you, to the world, and to yourself.
