How important is health to you? Why do we seem to choose certain things in our lives over health and fitness? Isn’t being healthy, happy and feeling good the most important thing in life? I think most of us want to live a long, prosperous, healthy life but if that is true, then why would we sabotage that with terrible eating habits and minimal to no exercise? When did our bodies become last in line to everything else? When did our health become so unimportant that wasting hours surfing the Internet and filling up our days with to-do lists so long that we don’t have time to take care of ourselves?
It’s 2011 and we are quickly moving into 2012– yes, you all know that and as each year passes it seems like life gets busier and busier. How are we to stay healthy and fit in a world where we are constantly running around and just trying to get ahead by crossing things off our to-do list? I imagine that most of you reading this want to live a healthy, long life and that feeling good is important to you. Probably more important than looking good…even though that is an extra added bonus to taking good care of yourself.
When did the time we spend on other things in our life become more important than our health?? And I don’t mean quality time with your family or friends. I mean filling your schedule up with a lot of menial activities like watching TV, playing video games, spending time surfing the internet, texting, shopping, or anything else that could suck time away without you even being aware. With all the technology in our lives today, it’s so easy to spend 4 hours at a computer and not even blink an eye. That’s 4 hours spent that you could’ve been used to exercise, plan meals and cook healthy food.
When I work with clients, the biggest complaint I hear is, “I don’t have enough time.” And then I ask, “You don’t have enough time to be healthy and take care of yourself?” When I frame it this way, most of my clients start to reconsider and reprioritize their lives. We all know about the oxygen mask in the airplane and that we always put ours on before our own children, and why is that? Well, I think you know. We MUST take care of ourselves before others, and that is not selfish, it’s actually in service to others because then we will be the best we can be to help our kids, our friends, our family, etc.
These days it seems most people want to find a short cut, a quick fix, or some magic potion or diet that will change their life. I can understand that, yet that is not a long-term solution. The diet will help you in the immediate, but will not teach you how to be healthy or live a long life. Educating yourself, and switching your priorities, will. Wouldn’t an hour spent exercising, going for a walk or a hike in nature, running with your dog, cooking healthy, vibrant food fill your soul much more than surfing the net or spending hours on Facebook seeing what everyone else in the world is doing while you are wasting precious time away that could add value to your life??
I know that many of us have kids, and jobs and so many things to juggle, but those are just excuses. We use other people and things in our lives as an excuse. Oh, I have a deadline…oh, I work too much and I want to spend time with my family, yet the same person who says this then goes home and locks themselves up in an office and surfs the net for 2 hours or plops down on the couch in front of the TV instead of making a choice to workout or plan their food for the next day or even week. I am not saying that watching TV or surfing the net is bad, but if you are full of excuses why you have no time, then I ask you to take a second look at your life.
Being healthy doesn’t take a lot of time, it just takes commitment, dedication and a bit of hard work. Yes, there is a learning curve as there is with any new venture you take on. I don’t know about you, but my health is the most important part of my life, so I make sure that I schedule in my workouts every week, do my shopping on a Sunday for the upcoming week and prepare all my food so that I won’t be left at the mercy of “no time.” What choices can you make for yourself this week that will bring you closer to a healthier life? You don’t need to change it all over night. Just take small steps, implement little things into your life that will result in a positive outcome. Start to teach your family about eating healthy, get your friends involved, ask for support. Remember, there are NO excuses and if you think there are, then you don’t care enough about yourself to make a positive impact on others in your life, your family, the world and the most important person, YOU!
Melissa is personal chef , wellness coach and nutrition educator. Check out her website here.
No comments:
Post a Comment