Move it or Lose it!

I want to change things up a bit! I usually provide tips and ideas on how to attain better mental health which I believe is crucial to peaceful living, however, the truth is physical health is just as important as mental health. As a matter of fact, mental health and physical health go hand in hand. It is much easier to be physically healthy if you are mentally healthy and vis versa. I find myself to be very fortunate in that I have been athletic and active my whole life. I still run and enjoy being physically active. I strongly believe that living an active lifestyle helps me attain better mental health. My favorite form of physical activity is running. Many people do not care for running at all. I hear lots of comments like, “I don’t run unless something is chasing me.” That always cracks me up. I am not saying that everyone needs to be a runner by any means but I do strongly recommend being off the couch and doing something. Gardening, yard work, walking, playing with pets, cleaning the house are all good ways to get up and get moving. There is a well known saying, “If you don’t move it, you lose it.” I believe that 100%. If you don’t move your body, it will start to decline is strength and ability. Even on days that I don’t feel like running I still make myself go, if only a mile or two. Being physically active produces endorphins in the body which, I call happy hormones. These endorphins are our body’s natural happy pill. So many times I hear people saying they are just not happy and don’t feel motivated at all. Pushing through the sluggish feeling of just wanting to sit around starts the process of feeling better. It takes a physical act to make any kind of change. If you are not motivated, feel sluggish and actually overall a little unhappy, it could be as simple as making the choice to get up and walk around the block that gets you feeling better emotionally. If you are unhappy with your current status, take a look at your behavior around your physical health. I’m willing to bet that you could do a few things to become a little more active. All it takes is one choice and small steps to get going the right direction. It is easy to feel totally discouraged and overwhelmed when it comes to trying to attain better physical health. The key is one step at a time. Literally! My coaching style is to encourage every small step towards the goals that my clients make for themselves. We tend to get too hard on ourselves and not even recognize the small things that we do because it doesn’t seem like enough. When you want something bad enough, it takes making one action each day toward that goal. Ten pounds is lost one ounce at a time.