A healthy life is naturally filled with healthy habits. As you may have noticed in your own life, we move through seasons of commitment to those habits. Sometimes we are very committed and other times, resistant.
Things get in the way.
Our healthy habits drift away.
We don’t notice the impact right away, but eventually we do. Maybe we aren’t sleeping as well as usual, or we don’t have good energy or clarity throughout the day.
As far as I can tell there’s no way around these ebbs and flows and highs and lows of life and commitment to habits, yet with this little secret, there is still hope for a healthy life.
The Simple, Little Secret That Will Help You Live a Healthy Life.
This little secret to living a healthy life may surprise you. It’s not exciting enough for magazine covers but it will change how you think about your own potential to be healthy and feel well.
When you notice that you aren’t feeling your best, come back to your healthy habits.
Don’t spend one moment of your precious time beating yourself up for the things that got in the way, for the ebb and flow or highs and lows. Just come back.
Keep coming back for as long as it takes.
If you are wondering how I know about this simple secret, it’s because I practice it a few times a year. This is one of those times. I’m coming back … coming back without guilt or regret or apology or explanation. I’m simply coming back to what I know is best for me.
At first, you’ll experience some struggle because the guilt wants your attention. You may want to blame yourself for feeling down or getting sick. Maybe you’ll blame your body for letting you down or your heart for not speaking her truth. But no need.
The beauty of practicing this simple secret of coming back is that you’ll start noticing more quickly when your habits or routines have fallen away and eventually bypass hours or days of feeling bad about how you’ve been treating yourself. When you realize that indulging in negative self-talk and self-doubt only delays your journey back to how you really want to feel, you can say no thanks.
What do you need to come back to today? Maybe it’s …
- an earlier bedtime
- more time for quiet reflection or meditation
- less comparing or complaining
- herbal tea instead of coffee
- less (or no) alcohol
- more fruits and veggies (me! me! me!)
- less sugar (also me)
- releasing resentment, guilt, or anger
- more moving your body
- less time online
- asking for help
And if you are feeling really good and don’t need to make any changes, send a thank you note to someone who contributes to your health and happiness.
If a healthy life feels impossible due to a scary diagnosis, chronic illness, crushing stress or old habits holding on, still come back. Coming back is your connection to hope, and there is healing in hope.
Whatever it is that helps you feel better in your body, heart or mind, this is an invitation to come back to it. Come back to health. Come back to love. Come back to you.
No RSVP required.