Many years ago, I was like most people. I was not a super-unhealthy person, but I was definitely not considered healthy. My diet certainly could have improved; regular exercise was definitely not on the docket. I just kind of plodded along. Then I started getting more interested in personal development and becoming a happier person, and the first thing I realized is that you cannot just work on your mind. To truly improve and feel good, you have to take care of your body too since both elements of yourself are intimately connected. This was a powerful realization for me, and while I am far from the perfect model of healthy living, I can proudly call myself a ‘’healthy’’ person. Here are three ways that I helped turned things around, and if you employ these tips, I guarantee you will too.
Define Your ‘’Why’’
There is no such thing as wanting something for no reason. That desire gets sparked by something. By acquiring said thing, we believe it will give us something we seek. If you desire better health, there is a reason behind it, likely many reasons. The more sharply we define our ‘’why,’’ the more likely it is we will make the changes necessary to get from where we are now to where we hope to be. Without a strong ‘’why’’, our efforts will be half-hearted, we will give up at the first sign of struggle and we will continue to stay right where we are, even though we no longer wish to be there.
Get Specific
To make any real change to your health, you need to get specific with your plans. It is great to say you want to be healthier, change your eating habits or get to the gym more often. But, vague intentions will produce vague results. When it comes to research on motivation, setting specific intentions and writing them down makes a person more likely to actually follow through. It is often the simplest things that serve as the most powerful tools. So, if you want to go to the gym at least three times a week, decide on what three days you are going and what time. If you want to eat healthier, sketch out how you will make that happen. Maybe it means preparing your own breakfast instead of stopping for donuts, or making a weekly trip to the grocery store to gather what you need to cook dinner for the week. If you plan to reduce stress, how exactly will you do that? Are you going to practice deep breathing every evening before bed or meditate every morning for 10 minutes. It is all about the details.
Forget about Becoming ‘’Perfect’’
Us humans often have an ‘’all or nothing’’ mentality, and it is detrimental to our health. We slip up on our diet and conclude we are weak, and just give up on eating right altogether. We have a busy week and skip on exercise; instead of getting back on track, we just give up . We start off with extreme measures doomed to fail, and when we do, instead of regrouping, we just go back to our old ways, concluding we do not have what it takes. When I let go of the idea that I had to be perfect to be healthy, it was much easier to make the changes I needed. I accepted the fact that I would sometimes want to eat a piece of cake because it tasted good, or that I would be too busy to get in a workout that day.
Changing our deeply ingrained habits is a challenge for sure, but you have to start telling yourself a different story. Stop believing it is impossible, and it will cease to be so. It is never too late to start, so do something today to get you on the right track, no matter how small it may seem.
Kelli Cooper is a freelance writer who enjoys blogging about health; she recommends visiting Kanetix for more information aboiut life and health insurance.
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