This transformation journey of mine is causing an overhaul of my entire life I tell you. I’m finally getting into self-care and taking it more serious. When I took a moment to reflect on this past year and even years prior when it came to areas of my life I was unhappy about and wanted to change, my overall health & wellness quickly made its way to the top of the list. Everything from my body to my mind to my spirit have needed an extreme makeover and full on reset for quite some time.
I think we all have a way of thinking we are invincible. In the past, I’ve been the queen of making excuses to convince myself that having the piece of cake won’t hurt, the missed gym session can always be made up on another day, pushing myself to stay up late to finish a project even though I am exhausted is ok, forgetting to drink water and skipping meals is normal and the price you have to be willing to pay to crush your goals. My laundry list of bad habits can go on and on and are all examples of how I’d been engaging in an unhealthy relationship with my body. I realize my behaviors had become so common place to my life that I didn’t even recognize them as a legit problem.
But I am now realizing that my health is all I have and it doesn’t matter how big my goals are or how hard I work towards them. The reality is that if I am not treating my body like a temple and making my health and overall wellness a top priority, nothing else really matters.
So part of my journey means committing to improving my health as a lifestyle and not just as something I focus on when it’s convenient such as with a beach vacation that’s approaching or when I have more time. Pumping iron, getting in sufficient cardio, eating healthier, drinking water and being more conscious of my overall wellbeing is no longer an option. These are just things I have to make a priority. Bad habits are tough to break, but this year I promised myself I would establish routines that can help keep me on the right path to living the life of my dreams.
I recently listened to Kris Carr’s approach on How To Live a Crazy, Sexy Life on the Oprah’s Soulful Conversation podcast. Kris is a wellness activist and cancer survivor whose stage IV cancer diagnosis was the WTF moment that sparked her deep desire to start participating in her own wellbeing. In spite of knowing she would never be cured, she knew she could still be healthy and took back control of her life through her relentless commitment to her own self-care. Today she’s a survivor that’s been living with a rare and incurable cancer for well over a decade.
Kris’s story of self-care and learning to live life to the fullest is so inspiring. But it also got me thinking about how quickly life can change and how up until this year my approach to my overall wellbeing sucked and could use improvement. Kris’s mantra “Prevention is the best cure” encourages becoming a student of your health. She laid out The 5 Pillars of Prevention that really resonated with me that I’ve since adopted into my life and want to share:
- What are you eating?
- What are you drinking?
- What are you thinking?
- How are you resting?
- How are you renewing?
These are all amazing questions we should all be asking ourselves. Especially when every day you have a choice to be better than the day before. After hearing this, I knew I needed to start showing up for myself. Doing things like meal prepping, cooking, and getting active could no longer be an afterthought. So a part of my journey means keeping up with my progress right here. As I navigate these lifestyle changes, I’ll be sure to share recipes, work outs and other things I have found helpful along the way.
Have you experienced any challenges with staying on top of your health, fitness and overall self-care? Would love to learn about your struggles and what you did to get on track so drop a comment below.
