The Enemy Within
Self Care is another word for Wellness, I believe, in that Wellness arises from Self Care. We are quick to think that other people are our main problem with Self Care but I beg to differ. We are our main problem. We set the priorities in our lives. We can change them.
Early Life
Sometimes, I believe, our priorities are set early in life by our families or other environments that we may grow up in. Seldom is self care instilled into a young child as a desirable goal. More often than not, children are taught basic hygiene but never instructed in how to be healthy otherwise. We grow up thinking that our bodies will just maintain themselves, in spite of neglect and abuse. We see other people overeating, drinking and smoking and for a while they seem to get away with it. In the life of a child, a few years is a long time and the human body is fearfully and wonderfully made so, for a while, the abuse doesn’t take it’s toll. By the time it does, the impressionable child may have grown up with the idea that it was okay. If we see this behavior in our childhood, we may arrive at adulthood with a warped perspective of what our bodies can withstand. We may have missed learning about taking care of ourselves at this stage of life. But, now we are accountable. Now, we know that there are choices that affect our longevity and the quality of our lives. Now, we have no excuses.
The Basics
Before everything else, we must provide a safe, healthy environment for ourselves. This was quite a challenge for me. I stayed in a very unhealthy relationship for many years because it just seemed like that’s what I had to do. Guess again. Life is short. Fix your life. The sooner you can truly relax when you are at home, the healthier you will be. There’s a calm and joy that settles on us when we are relaxed at home. Provide this environment for yourself. Without it, the rest of your attempts towards healthy could be much more difficult and even fail. Get yourself together and fix it. You already know what “it” is, now set about to put it in perspective.
As David teaches, Rest, Nutrition and Exercise are the building blocks for a healthy body and mind. These three things have to be in order for us to be our best selves. I continually work on these areas of my life. Sleep is my most difficult challenge and I work on it all the time. Until I attain regular, quality sleep nothing else will be at it’s best. Good Nutrition is critical to our well-being. I track, track, track in order to keep my calories in the best range for me. Get a good fitness app and keep up with what you’re eating, avoid added sugar, let me repeat that…AVOID ADDED SUGAR. Sugar causes glycation in your skin and makes you look old. Just stay away from this consumate evil. Not only will your skin look so much better, you will also be much thinner and possibly avoid a multitude of health problems that may be exacerbated by sugar.
Eat enough to fuel good hard workouts and work out! There is only one “fountain of youth” and it’s strength training. Any exercise is better than none but if you are able to do some form of resistance training, it will do so much for you. You will be strong and toned with an air of confidence that makes a way out of no way for you. People will recognize your strength and automatically respect you. Having this kind of relationship with the world is a win/win situation. You are strong enough to do the job and look good doing it, such a good rep for any place that you work for. Weight Training changes everything in your life, including your personality. You automatically become your best self, capable of leading, with confidence to spare. Take advantage of this powerhouse and after consulting with your physician before beginning any exercise routine, get ripped!
Coming Up
There is so much to talk about concerning self care. It involves not only our health but protecting that health and fertilizing it and cultivating it and watching it grow and thriving in it. It is a lifetime responsibility. How do you want to age? Do you want to live independently? Do you want to remain ambulatory, if you are now? Do you want to be able to take care of your personal hygiene needs? Do you want to be able to work until you don’t want the extra money? We will delve deeply into these issues in the articles to come. Stay tuned. Life is truly what we make it. Let’s make it good. I am growing and learning right along with you because self care has been my lifelong passion. I frequently miss the mark but I always try again. We will pursue the ultimate goal of perfect health and making the most of what we’ve got. We’re in this together and we will be successful, even if we get a little fanatical…and if we do, just know this, we will look good doing it. ;-*