What if being happy and healthy were simple?
What if you could let go of all the b.s., all the angst and all the worry about whether you're doing things the right way according to this nutrition expert or that fitness guru? Guess what? You CAN. After all, who's the boss of you but you?
Humor me and close your eyes for a moment. Oh wait, no. Read this paragraph FIRST and then close your eyes! Here's what I want you to do: I want you to imagine your life right now as you know it. See it? Take note of what you like, what's working. What are you doing right now that is making you truly happy? How hard is it for you to do this? And now: that little bit of angst lingering off in the corner there, that little part of you that's judging you because you didn't get to the gym today or because you ate cake for lunch? Tell it to hush. You're trying to focus right now and that voice is only distracting you. Ok. Hold on to the good but set it to the side. Now look at what's not working in your life. Ooooh, now that's easy! Well, go on, gather it up. Hoo, that's quite the pile. Heavy. Stay focused now. Linger here a little bit, poke around and look at all these things that are holding you back from what you really want out of your life. When you're ready (and this first time, you might not be ready) I want you to strike a mental match and set it on fire. Watch it flame up and then burn out, leaving nothing but ashes behind. Now take a deep breath and blow all those ashes into the ether. Let it ALL go. Right now it's just dust in the wind. And it's right where it belongs.
Did you close your eyes? Did you imagine? When you opened your eyes, how did feel?
Relief. Lightness. Ready to start anew. It's what we need to do if we're going to stop running AWAY from the things about ourselves we hate and start moving TOWARDS that which we know we are capable of achieving. Stop comparing and start accepting. Stop saying "I can't" and start saying "I'll try". Keep moving forward and stop running away. When you strip away all the bullshit it really becomes simple.
I am a student of health and fitness. When you apply this mental imagery to becoming a happy, healthy and balanced individual, the answers become glaringly clear.
Exercise: Start moving in a way that feels GOOD to you, no matter what the latest fitness trend is, what worked for your best friend or what Jillian Michaels told you to do. If what you're doing now isn't getting you to where you want to go, change what you're doing. Experiment. Test it.
Nutrition: Start eating foods that taste good AND make you feel good. Food is meant to be a source of pleasure, not of pain and anxiety. What other culture needs to be told how to eat more than ours? Remember: no one is the boss of you but you. Stop listening to "what you should be eating to prevent obesity/cancer/heart disease!" and start listening to YOU. How does this food you just ate for breakfast really taste? How does it make you feel? Having a hard time remembering? Write it down. Is your pattern of eating making you feel good right now? If not, try something new. Experiment. Test it.
Like I said, I am a student of health and fitness. The more I learn the more I realize I don't know...much. But there is ONE thing I do know for certain: if you change one thing for the better, everything changes for the better. Our lives aren't composed of little compartments, all crammed together but each part kept separate and independent of the others. No. Our lives are messy. Things get tangled, it is a cascade of butterfly effects. You wake up with good intentions every morning. Sometimes your day goes pretty much as planned; a lot of the time it doesn't. What happened though, on the days that did? Maybe that day didn't start great but something good happened to change the tone; and from that moment on your day was better. From that moment on all those little things that might have sent you over the brink didn't upset you so much. Happiness will manifest more happiness and vice versa. How do the good parts of your life affect the bad? I'll tell you this: you want to lead a happy life? Start by doing things that make you happy. Simple, yes? The fact is, life is going to suck sometimes. The more things you can include in your life that make you happy, the less the sucky times are going to suck. Find what REALLY makes you feel good; things that make you proud and you can say "Yes! I did THIS today!", the things you can be happy about with no regrets and no reservations and DO THEM.
Simple, yes? You are worth the time it takes to invest in yourself and find what really makes you happy. I repeat: YOU ARE WORTH IT. Take the time. Try new things and see how you feel. Write these experiments down so you don't forget and over time you can go back and see how far you've come.
Always move forward. Live a life that lets you look back and see progress instead of pain. Simple. Yes?