Most of the time when people think about living a "healthy" lifestyle, they think it has to be all or nothing. Counting your calories and macronutrients down to the last number; obsessing about the cookie you had earlier that day and just getting down on yourself. I am telling you life is to complicated already, putting yourself down because you slipped up does not mean you are not living healthy.
I want you to really think about what healthy means to you? This is different for every individual, and you should never compare yourself to someone else. You are unique; you have a different upbring than the person next to you, feelings, and thoughts. Even if they do match up with others; you are individual. You determine who you are and what you want in your life. I want you to really weight that in your mind for a moment. I want you to think of these questions that hold deep in your belly. I want you to ask yourself why is being healthy important? We all know the basic idea of being healthy, eating well, getting your exercise in. There is more to all of this though, that inner voice that holds you back from being independent, tells you that your not good enough. Why? Out of all the experiences we have in our lives why do we focus so intently on the negative?
It easier to put yourself down, than to bring yourself up ; to put that time you need for yourself in is hard, working for what you want is hard. They say if it was not easy then there would be no need to work for it, right? That is true, but why be hard on yourself in the process, why not love the process and know that taking small steps toward the bigger picture will not only help you understand how you deal and work with building habits, but help you understand yourself as an individual.
My father always told me when ever I would obsess about something I did wrong or someone was picking on me at school and I never stood up for myself, he would say " Why kick your own ass, the world is does it for you." That has made a profound impact on how I perceive the way I go about my day, my decision, and how I treat myself. Yes, its going to happen, you will have a day where you loath every single thing. Nothing will cheer you up, and are just dogging yourself. Saying everything in the book to just grind yourself even deeper in that whole. You know what? That's okay, its okay to feel bad, its okay to feel sorry for yourself because we are not perfect. That doesn't make you weak, pathetic, or strange. It is a way to coop, to deal with your emotions at that time. Use that fuel and let it happen, get all that nasty self doubt out of your system. Be that dark emo kid that sits under the blanket, because that's okay.
Once you get all that self doubt and frustration out, I want you to take a deep breath. Not just a breath I want you to breath in through your nose and have that breath resinate inside of yourself. Then, I want you to take that breath out and think that now you are done. Now you will move on from this moment, this moment does not determine your sanity, does not decide your goals, does not make you who you are. Then I want you to take another breath, I want you to think of one good thing that you do. The one thing that you are good at, it can be anything. It doesn't even have to be fitness related. I want you to think about how that make you feel, that passion you feel. The warms inside your mind, the confidence that sits on your shoulder like a long time friend. I want you to keep breathing and focus on that feeling. Replace that feeling with the doubt you just had, tell yourself that you can feel that way about anything! Honestly, anything you want; remember you determine what you do.
Okay, so lets take a step back now. I want you to think about being healthy. Do you realize that emotion has such a big impact on our health? How you feel when you wake up, to when you fall asleep your emotions have a large play in your choices. When you get upset do you eat a lot? Yeah, I totally do too. That is a normal thing, we associate food with community. There is food dealing with holidays, birthdays, vacations, get together with friends and families. Its every where right!? How do you navigate the sea of social eating , and social pressure to be apart of it?
Let me tell you, you can do all those things you just need to have some give and take. Moderation is key, we all want that instant gratification. That's what we are use to these days, but let's slow down. It is better to have something once in a while and really enjoy that moment in time, than to have it everyday. It would not have as much meaning anymore, it would lose its spark so to speak. Reward yourself, you deserve to have that big bowl of ice cream with all the stuff on top! You also deserve to be healthy, live a long time to share those moments with your family and friends.
Small step over time will have a bigger impact that stressing out and trying to fit everything in, it unrealistic, and your just setting yourself up to be put down. You will get burnt out and go back to your old habits, because its easier. The best way to build on habits is to choose one thing, then add it into your schedule a little bit each week. Once you feel like this is not so bad, that you are ready to add something else in then do it! It may sound easy but its not. Life is unpredictable, if you slip up; take a deep breath and move on. you can't change the action but you can change your future actions from having empathy for yourself. Be kind to who you are, love who you are, and intern you will have a better understanding of how you work. How you carry yourself throughout this sea of people.
Bruce Lee quotes, "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water. Now, put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into the bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend." I want this quote to resonate with you when you think about your health, your self as a person not as a body, you are more than a physical form, your are unique and hold so much wonder that you will lever understand. So, be water my friend.
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