Note: This article first appeared in Cincy Chic, an online publication for which I am the monthly Healthy Living columnist.
When it comes to healthy living, sometimes we think we have to be super-heroes or heroines to make the magic happen. Able to work out daily at 5AM without an alarm clock! Able to resist the donuts and birthday cake on every floor of the office! Able to whip up healthy gourmet meals in the blink of an eye! It’s daunting to think that we may be missing some rare gene or bionic chip that is required to live well.
Yet, in my experience, being a superhero is simply not required. Instead, healthy living is all about stringing together small, intuitive, simple practices that together create a rhythm of vibrancy and vitality that will only make you FEEL like you have super powers.
Healthy living is not about extremes – there’s no need for ironclad willpower or a superhuman metabolism. There is no secret formula. It’s not about no carb or no fat or no red meat. It’s not about marathons and triathalons and insane workouts from infomercials. You don’t have to meditate for an hour a day.
Healthy living is far simpler than that. It’s about knowing yourself. It’s about having clear-minded intention and staying focused on how you want to feel and what you want from life. It’s about eating well, and moving your body. It’s about getting adequate rest and making ongoing adjustments to your lifestyle that continually raise your energy level. It’s about learning to be gentle with yourself as you make changes to the way you live.
I am fortunate to spend my days helping people figure out how to integrate healthy living practices into their lives. I’m no superhero and neither are my clients, but together we are able to transform lives, one small step at a time.
If you’re reading this and wondering where to begin, I would suggest you start by choosing one practice you think you can implement with consistency beginning today. Just one.
- Eat breakfast.
- Or spend 10 minutes stretching in the morning.
- Or upgrade your donut to a bowl of oatmeal.
- Or get 8 hours of sleep.
- Or drink one fewer soda each day.
- Or go for a walk at lunchtime.
You probably have a list much longer than this in mind of healthy habits you could do or should do. But remind yourself that you don’t have to do them all at once. Just pick one thing that you believe with all your heart you can do…and see how doing it makes you feel. When you connect your chosen action with the inevitable result of feeling better, you’ll be far more apt to repeat it, and to find the next action, and then the next. On and on you’ll go until before you know it, your life has been transformed. Choose one thing and commit.
You can do it, Wonder Woman.