Is your health important to you? Don't answer any other question, and don't think about anything else. Very simple: is your health important?
Now make a list of every excuse you have to:
- Not eat healthy
- Not be active everyday (simple walk at the end of the day)
- Not get enough sleep
- Not reduce stress
Actually make the list, then look it over.
No time? What can you move or change?
I work with a lot of athletes, and I get trained myself at a place called Elite Performance in Winnipeg. It's housed in a place called "The Rink." I was stretching in the Yoga room, when I overheard two parents talk for 15 minutes how they wish they had time to get exercise. We can drive and deliver our kids to the hardest workouts of their lives, and we can watch -- but to go for a walk and relax while they train for an hour or more is a crazy thought?
The coolest mom I ever met created a walking group with football parents. By the end of the season, almost every parent in attendance walked while their kids practised. The Mom was a Yoga instructor. Can you get creative to solve your time problem?
How about eating healthy?
There has to be time where you can prep food. We are fortunate that we can freeze just about anything. Get you meals planned for the week. Take time to either sit down with someone who knows food, or find something on the internet from a credible source. DO NOT grab the latest trendy diet, it won't work and you'll be left hungry and confused as to why your new health kick didn't change your health at all.
I started a program in Winnipeg as part of my One Fit City movement. I'm working with trainers to actually get friends together and learn to cook. I have been shocked over the years at how many people are just as afraid of the kitchen as they are the gym. Here is a video of the first time we ever got into someone's kitchen. We had eight people, and we had them film with their phones what they thought was important... the video is "average at best", but the information is invaluable.
The fear of the kitchen, and jumping on band wagon diets has to stop. Good quality local food is what you need, and sourcing out recipes is imperative. On my Facebook page for One Fit City I connect people to a solid source for recipe ideas, and also trainers to help make it all make sense. I'm trying to use the Internet to its fullest, and social media can't be beat for connecting with people quickly.
Healthy dessert? YOU BET!
Why aren't you sleeping?
I'm always shocked at how little value we see in sleep. Everything else comes first, and no one spends time relaxing to get ready for bed. I'm also curious as to what is so important on TV at 11 p.m. that people stay up to midnight or later then complain they don't get enough rest. It's strange that we make kids go to bed at scheduled times so they aren't cranky and are ready for the day, but as adults we toss that great plan in the garbage.
Get your priorities in check and start living a life full of energy and health.
Look at your list of excuses and start solving each and everyone of them. The benefit of health and an active lifestyle far out ways any reasoning you have to not do something.
You've got one go at this life, make it an awesome, fun-filled adventure.
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