Is it easy to be healthy?
No! Not at all! Being healthy is dam hard work. There is a lot of planning involved, a lot of preparation and many sacrifices have to be made. Being healthy is a daily choice. You have to get up each morning and choose to make choices that are good for you…..all day. And then, you have to get up the next morning, and again choose to make choices that are good for you…..all day.
And this goes beyond just choosing to eat healthy food. It includes choosing your thoughts. It includes choosing your attitude. You can even choose how you feel…..independent of what is happening in your external environment. It takes commitment and it takes a bit of conscious hard work.
But like everything, as you learn to do something, and then repeat it over and over again, the neural connections in your brain rewire and it becomes easier to make the choices and complete the behaviours. You end up creating a new state of being. You end up being healthy.
I know that people look at me and think that it’s easy for me to be healthy. That health comes naturally to me and I don’t know what it’s like to be unhealthy. That I don’t know how hard it is when you’re not feeling well, when you’re feeling anxious or when you’re feeling overweight. I know this because people have said such things to me.
Well there is some truth in that and there is some untruth. Yes it is easy for me to be healthy because that is what I have chosen to be, and I have repeated these healthy choices over and over again. And therefore I have wired my brain to be healthy. It means the daily choices are easier and more familiar to me. But there are times when it’s not so easy and when I have to make sacrifices. Sometimes it’s not much fun. Like on our recent holiday, I had to stop drinking coffee and alcohol. I was on a beautiful island, celebrating my birthday and I had to make a choice to stop drinking the stuff that I enjoy immensely. Why? Because I started to feel anxious and unsettled. We were in another country, with our young daughter and there was a hurricane coming. We had to be on alert, continually assess the risks and make decisions about what to do. With that going on in the background, I realised I couldn’t handle other stimulants, so I stopped drinking coffee and alcohol for the last few days of our holiday. Did I want to? NO! The margaritas were amazing! But it was a choice. A choice to stay above the emotions of fear and worry and choose what was best for my mental and physical health.
So what are you going to choose today? What state of being are you going to choose? What actions are you going to choose? What behaviours are you going to choose?
If you truly want to be healthy then choose it. If you truly want to change, then become aware of your thoughts, your feelings and your choices. Do the hard work to make the necessary changes. Then repeat them over and over again.
And, if you want a greater commitment to the changes, write them down. Write the choices you want to make this week. And, write down the choices you don’t want to make. For example;
drink at least 1 litre of water per day.
stop complaining about my boss….actually just stop complaining.
get up and walk during every lunch break.
And then revisit this list every morning, BEFORE you start your day. Get the choices clear in your head and your heart and then go about your day. Don’t wait to see how you feel before you make the choice. Create how you feel by making these choices and then go about your day.
And then, do it again the next day.
In health
Jac Edser.