What does it mean to be healthy? There are times when I feel bombarded with marketing information telling me what is healthy and what isn’t. Obviously, there are certain things that can be considered healthy such as drinking water rather than soda. But one thing that I truly believe about defining health, is that it is very personal and individualized.
Health has a huge impact on how we feel and ultimately how we live our life. I remember I heard one time that health is not stagnant, it is in constant movement. That movement can either be positive or negative.
I use the following questions to asses my health and help me decide if changes are needed.
- How does my body feel?
- What is my mental state?
- Am I motivated or feeling rather blah?
- What gives me the most energy?
- Am I joyful and optimistic?
The key is to take control of your health and make empowered decisions so that you feel your best. In order to do that, we need to have knowledge to make healthy choices. We also need to be mindful and pay attention to how those choices make us feel.
Ultimately, we have the power to make choices to create a healthy lifestyle. Yes, it’s all about choice!
So, where do we begin? I would suggest creating a daily wellness routine, which are small daily habits that create lifelong results. There is a lot of information on habit forming. Some of it gets complicated, but I found this simple list of 8 steps on https://www.developgoodhabits.com/. You can read all the details on the website, but here is a summary of the 8 steps.
- Focus on one new habit
- Commit to it for 30 days and carve out time consistently
- Anchor your new habit to an established habit
- Take small steps toward a bigger goal
- Have a plan to deal with obstacles
- Create accountability for your new habit
- Reward yourself for hitting milestones
- Move beyond doing it every day to making it part of your core identity
If we focus on creating healthy habits, it will help us create a healthy lifestyle that is based on choice. Choices that we make for our mind, body and spirit to thrive.
“We first make our habits, and then our
habits make us.”
John Dryden