What motivates you?
There are many, many things in life that require little to
no motivation or encouragement to complete. For instance, think back to when
you were younger, getting ready to graduate from high school. You had the world
at your fingertips! You could go to college, move out on your own, get a job, and
basically do whatever you chose to do at that time!
So let’s say you chose to go to college, and then you
graduate with your degree and get a job in your field. No one was there to tell
you, “now make sure you go to class”, and “make sure you apply for jobs”, and “make
sure you go to work”. You knew that if you didn’t do these things, you would
not be getting satisfactory grades in order to graduate, to get that degree, to
get that job. Then once you got that job, you knew you had to actually GO to
work every day, or you’d be fired! These are some obvious, in-your-face type of
consequences that no one really had to TELL you about! They were a “given”,
right?
Welp, I think it’s safe to say that most people don’t think
of their health and fitness as a “given”. At times, the consequences of not taking care
of ourselves are not immediately obvious! Most times we think, “well, I can eat
this way now and I’ll make up for it later”.
Or “I’ll work out tomorrow.” Then the next thing you know, you haven’t
worked out for months, and you eat like crap more often than not. This
ultimately leads to steady weight gain, unhealthy habits, and a sedentary
lifestyle, right? Things can really escalate quickly, to the point where some
might just give up all together and think it’s too late to do anything about
these unhealthy habits. That can’t be further from the truth!
Treating our health and wellness like our lives depended on
it should be EXACTLY what we are doing as much as possible, because, let’s face
it--our lives DO depend on it! Just because we cannot see the direct effect of
these unhealthy habits immediately or very quickly, in the same way we might
see the direct effect of say, not paying our bills on time, these effects are
THERE!! They can be working against you as we speak if you don’t get them under
control. Now, I’m not saying that means you must adopt ALL healthy habits NOW,
or you’ll DIE!
No, creating healthy habits and sticking to them as much as
possible, and creating balance in your life, is setting the stage for us to
enjoy our time here on earth with our loved ones for as long as possible. There
are so many uncertainties in life, and things OUT of our control, that focusing
our efforts on what we CAN control, setting goals for ourselves, and educating
ourselves on things related to nutrition, exercise, and longevity helps aide us
in living our lives to their fullest, and never looking back on what might have
been.
