The Journey to Health

I just wanted to talk briefly about the journey to health and wellness. First, I want to remind you that the journey is not a race, and certainly not a sprint, and should not be treated as such. The journey is different for everyone, and often needs to include baby steps. If your sleep, diet, exercise, and stress-management are all out of whack, try addressing those issues one at a time. Making SOME positive change that you can follow through with, and stick to, is much better than making a BUNCH of positive changes that you can't sustain. Pick one of those 4 areas, and try to make some positive change. Once that change has become a part of your daily life, pick something else to work on. Before you know it, you just might have all 4 areas cleaned up and healthy living will be a part of your daily life.

The other thing to keep in mind here is that we all have successes and failures, and those failures need not come with guilt. Say you find yourself at work without lunch, and you end up taking the path of least resistance and getting lunch from the Burger King across the street. Once you've ate that meal, you could take a couple of paths with the rest of your day. Path 1 is that you recognize your slip up, and decide to get back on the wagon with the next bite that goes in your mouth. Path 2 is that you spend the entire afternoon feeling guilty about your slip up, and when it comes time for dinner you don't make a healthy choice because you've already "ruined" the day. In the second scenario not only did one bad meal turn into two (or more?), but you also caused potentially significant stress on you body by beating yourself up all afternoon. That added stress causes you to store more fat, so the poor meal choices you made are just compounded.

All of this is to say that the path to health and wellness is a journey, and it's your journey! Make the biggest change you can sustain, and avoid biting off more than you can handle. When you slip up (you will, we ALL do!), remember that you're human and change is hard, then try to make your next choice a positive one. Maybe most importantly, don't beat yourself up when you make a mistake. It most definitely sounds cliche, but health is a journey not a destination, and journey's begin with one step.

What one step are you taking today on your health journey?