Over the past few years I’ve had the privilege of speaking with a large number of diverse souls. Due to my profession and personal interests, many of these conversations have been about health, namely that of the other party.
I will usually hear a laundry list of complaints and presumed reasons for these issues. Many times the individual will even verbally acknowledge the importance and impact that lifestyle changes could play in their life.
However, for whatever reason, the disconnect between talk and action remains and the path towards sickness and breakdown continues. Knowledge without action is useless, and in this case, detrimental to your health. Rather than going off and making this a psychoanalytical piece on why people don’t help themselves, let’s keep it positive and focus on how to get moving in the right direction.
First thing that needs to be done is to keep it real with yourself. Take a good look in the mirror and decide what you really want.
Do you really want better health?
I would imagine so. We all do.
Are you willing to WORK for it?
I mean really work. Not for show. Really work on yourself physically, mentally and spiritually. This requires a discipline that keeps you in line and on track when no one else is looking. These are the times that the real changes occur.
What’s your goal?
Is it to kick the meds, normalize your levels, get rid of pain, drop some weight, do all you can to elongate this one shot at life? Be clear on your goal as this will serve as your motivation to start and stick with it, especially early on in the process.
And be clear, this is a process. A marathon and not a sprint. Living like no one else now so later on you can live; no, thrive like no one else. Although drastic results are experienced by some early on, this is no quick fix. The “quick fix” mentality has got us in this mess to begin with by way of pill-popping per symptom and never really investigating or attempting to remedy why the symptom emerged in the first place.
Once you have your goal, investigate the means to achieving it. What needs to be done and in what fashion in order not only achieve but sustain the achievement?
When it comes to healthcare, 90% of the time we are talking about lifestyle changes. Breaking the routine or the accustomed norms. This is where the “keeping it real” with yourself part comes into play.
Is your goal and the means by which to achieve that goal worth more to you than coming out of your comfort zone and breaking the habit?
Is it worth investing the time to plan and prep meals for the week ahead?
Will you follow through and set the alarm earlier or skip that 60 minutes of TV time in order to get that workout in?
Keep it real now. Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Although objectively speaking they do, ultimately this comes down to subjective perspective.
If you find that you are tired of the current state of affairs in your own life and you’ve decided enough is enough, the next step is to formulate a realistic, practical plan. I find this to be another major stumbling block for people. A sense of overwhelm sets in along with analyzation paralyzation.
The trick here is to get with your trusted healthcare provider and come up with a plan together. Never be afraid to start small, as any change, any momentum in the right direction is better than sitting idle. While sustained sweeping changes across the board would be ideal, studies show longer lasting changes occur more often as a product of smaller changes, cultivation over time.
A perfect example of this is my own personal anatomy of a “cheat meal.” This is that meal that diverges from the norm, an indulgence if you will. (In order to have a cheat meal you need to be sticking to clean eating for 80% of your meals or better.)
Through years of cultivation, the cheat meals have evolved from pizza and ice cream to a meal with gluten free rice, or a smoothie with organic peanut butter and heavy fruit. The latest “cheat” dessert has become a bowl of chia seeds with nuts, fruit, peanut butter and chocolate almond milk.
I say all this not to induce hunger, but to illustrate where you can wind up if you simply get started. Make a change here and a change there. Implement another one as you learn more. Once you get that ball rolling down the hill, it can be a powerful thing.
The other initial hurdle is that it is never a good time. Well, when it comes to core lifestyle changes there really never is an ideal time.
Again, they idea is to simply bite the bullet and get rolling. In most cases it doesn’t have to be all or nothing all the time. Just do it. Constantly talking the talk, while constantly finding excuses will leave you wondering where the time went and how on Earth things got so bad.
Believe in the power of lifestyle changes. Resolution of every issue does not have to be another drug. Every issue should not be blamed on genetics, making us all helpless victims. Embrace the empowerment behind epigenetics and realize that lifestyle choices play a significant role as to whether or not certain genetic traits are expressed. We’re talking about everything here from hair loss to cancer and auto immune diseases.
One shot.
One body.
That’s all we get.
The time is now to respect this opportunity and treat your body right. Pick somewhere and get started today. If you would like assistance on this journey, call us at anytime. As we continue our own journey, we would love to be a part of yours.
