Wellness is a Balancing Act

When I meet most people, they usually tell me they are just fine; that they are doing terrific. But, as I get to know the person I find out that they are on four medications, have this health concern, are dealing with that disease, and are going to the doctor frequently. It’s amazing how often this occurs. These people are not experiencing wellness.

Many people seem to be in denial when you first talk to them about their health, but as you get to know them you find out exactly what’s going on in their life. The truth of the matter is we are not getting healthier as a society. In fact, we are getting worse over time. Because of our lifestyles and our diets overall, we are dealing with huge problems with our health.

What is wellness exactly?

What does it feel like? You know, many people think that wellness is the absence of disease but I think it’s more than that. I think wellness is when you feel energetic, vital, and playful; when you wake in the morning and you feel terrific; when you can go through your whole day and you have energy; when you go to bed at night without any aches and pains and you feel like you have lived and accomplished the things that you’ve wanted. That’s what wellness is.

THE ALTERNATIVE? TO FEEL TIRED, SICK AND GLOOMY.  NOW, WE ALL HAVE DAYS LIKE THAT, BUT THE OVERALL GOAL IS TO FEEL TERRIFIC, BE ENERGETIC AND TO HAVE A LIFE WORTH LIVING. HOW DO YOU DO THAT? DO IS SOMETHING!

It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s something that is going to promote your health. Taking small steps is really okay. Making huge changes and deciding to totally change your life is the thing that usually doesn’t work.

Let’s look at the small things you can do to change your lifestyle to improve your health and experience some wonderful returns over time.

Now if you are like me, you’ve tried this before. You’ve tried to change, tried to get healthy and avoid eating those sweet treats and have probably failed. How many new years’ resolutions have gone by? How many diets have you tried? How many exercise programs have you started and then you decided not to do it anymore?

THE REASON FOR THIS IS THAT YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF YOUR BOX! YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE. YOU NEED TO CHANGE. AND THIS IS VERY STRESSFUL! MAYBE NOT CONSCIOUSLY, BUT OVER TIME YOU REVERT BACK TO THE ORIGINAL BEHAVIOR BECAUSE IT’S MORE COMFORTABLE.

So what you need to do is come up with a way to overcome this stress so that you can do the things that you really want to do to achieve optimum health. One of the biggest obstacles people have to overcome when they are trying to create new behaviors is they think they have to accomplish 100% of the change. They’ve got to do that diet exactly and work out seven days a weekwithout fail. They’ve got to do something huge…and that creates unrealistic demands on them.

What we want to do is not try so hard to be perfect, but realize we are going to do just the best we can. I call that Strive for Ninety Five. You see, reaching for 95% gives you a little bit of wiggle room. So, if you go to the movies and have some popcorn and a small drink, is it the end of the world? Probably not!

Say one day you just don’t feel like working out after being consistent for awhile. That might be okay, so long as you pick yourself up and start again the next day. That’s striving for 95%. So allow yourself to do the best you can and forgive yourself for the rest. Wellness is just a decision away.