It happens...trust me I get it and I’ve been there. It’s tough to make wellness a priority and as a result, your health has suffered in the past few years. Things get in the way and have taken precedence in your life. You have a family, a career, and plenty of other stressors that crop up every single day. In fact, every day is different but the stress doesn’t leave. The stress compounds over time due to lack of sleep, poor health, poor dietary habits, negativity on facebook, and your kids’ sports teams (to name just a few).You put a lot on yourself to take care of those around you and you work hard to provide for them. You always place yourself last because, quite frankly, everyone else matters more than you do. You are not alone in this thought. It is so easy to place your focus on others and I applaud you for that. I see it all the time and have experienced it myself.
I've been there, truthfully I think we all have in some sort of fashion. It's easy to relax and I got complacent and out of shape FAST when my son was born. It’s so ridiculously easy with the lack of sleep, eating on the go, constant stress from a new person living in your house, and a partner that is dealing with some of the same things. I didn't have time to workout, well I actually DID have time to workout but I didn't want to (More on that later). I didn't want to go to the gym or even get on the floor and do some pushups. I wanted to relax when I could, watch television when the opportunity arose, and be able to drink a beer with dinner.
You see, I knew that when my son got just a little bit older I would turn it on again and start lifting. I’d get in shape in a few months because I knew that I would be able to get into a routine when he was sleeping through the night. Can you guess what happened? That routine never came. Instead, I fell into the routine that everyone experiences. I came home from work after eating on the go, spent time with the family and relaxed. I wanted to workout...I needed to workout but I just didn't make the time for it. I mean, I was young (30) and knew that I had plenty of time to get in better shape. In fact, I was never terribly out of shape or had any unhealthy numbers or labs; however, if the trend of no activity would have continued, I was well on my way. I was developing bad habits that would lead to chronic conditions and poor overall health if I didn’t get them under control.
Does any of this sound familiar? This is all too common in our society today and not just in America. Most of us are well on our way to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and worse! Chances are, you know someone with one of the chronic conditions or you may have one yourself! In fact, many experts agree that a chronic condition of some type will directly affect every person living in some way. What is both encouraging and frustrating is that a lot of the conditions could be mitigated with some work on our part. It is encouraging because it doesn't take a lot of effort but it is frustrating because the wellness community makes us think you have to completely change your life.
Here is an important thing to know at this point, It’s completely normal to get into (and out of) routines that negatively impact our health. It happens to every single person in the world (Even guys like David Goggins and Jocko Willink) so you need to understand that when it does happen, it might not be totally your fault. The deck is stacked against us when it comes to our health. I mean, how often do you see ads for chips, candy, and soda vs ads for broccoli? How easy is it to go through a drive through on the way home with your kids in the back needing something to eat quickly. When you go grocery shopping, it’s hard to figure out what is healthy and what isn’t. Besides that, sometimes we just want the candy!
I currently have 3 children and fitness is not only my job but something that I actually enjoy. Guess what? It doesn’t get any easier to fit a training program into your life. It is a massive undertaking and is very difficult to manage sometimes. There are days that I don't train and there are days that I partake in a little too many Reese’s peanut butter cups or trail mix. But that is ok and I am here to tell you that it is ok.
Look, it is hard to get to where you want to be health wise with all of the obstacles you have in front of you. The good news is that it CAN be done and might even be easier than you think. We don't need to over complicate anything or reinvent the wheel. We also don't need to spend countless hours in the gym or destroying ourselves on the treadmill.
I’m going to let you in on the secret but before I do that I want you to know that I believe in you and I know you can do this. I know that you can change your life starting RIGHT NOW. I know that you can get healthy, lose weight, feel better, and improve your chronic conditions by following what I am going to list out below. However, I need to warn you that what I am going to share is guaranteed to work and is certain to get you to EXACTLY where you want to be. I am going to warn you though, while it is simple it is not easy and a lot of people who try this have a hard time. So I have broken it down even further...because I care about you.
Ready?
Are you sure you are ready?
Here it is:
You need to do the following:
Change. One. Thing.
That’s it. That is all you need to do. Well, maybe not all you need to do but it is where you start. So let me break it down a little bit more. While it is as simplistic and easy as just changing one thing in your life we need a little direction, right? Here you go.
Each week for the next 2 months I want you to focus on one thing. So that means I want you to pick 8 things to work on for your health. Some examples can be drinking more water, eating more veggies, walking more, taking time to read, putting your phone down at night, trying to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, eating more protein, or something like that.
As you can see, each of these seems pretty simple right? So what is the big deal? The problem is that we try to do all of them at once OR we try to move on to the next task before mastering the first one. You see, when you only focus on one item per week you end up increasing your odds of “winning”.
Now you have it. Pick 12 things, or 8, or 4, or 1, you get the idea...the number doesn’t really matter. In fact, we all have something we can get better at. Break those down to 1 per week but understand that you might have to take 2 weeks or maybe a month to knock that 1 task down. It may take a month to get to where you are drinking enough water each day. That is perfectly fine, because in a year you will have changed so many things and it won't seem like you changed your life.
Changing one thing might not seem like much, it’s just one thing, right? The beauty lies in what happens in a year. If you took a month to change just 1 thing, you would be completely different in a year. How exciting is that? You would be sleeping more, drinking more water, and getting more movement, just to name a few ideas. THis is how true progress happens and how true change happens. We take our time and slowly build these habits.
Now, it’s your turn. Go build that habit and watch your health improve. If you are interested in a customized wellness program just for you with accountability for your goals, let me know. I am taking on clients right now!