OK, let’s face it – walking the health journey can be downright challenging at times. It can take more money that we have to spend (or want to spend and not that it has to), more time than we’d like, hours of reading and trying to understand what should be simple and at times we just want to go through the drive-through and have a burger and fries. At least this is what many of my patients tell me 🙂 Not that I’d ever go through the drive-through for a burger or fries, LOL.
I am a problem solver, and I love finding ways to make things work the way I think they should work. Many times I have gone into a hardware store looking for pieces and parts to build something that exists only in my mind. Of course the guys at the store will just look at me and say, well they don’t make anything like that. And of course, I say, ok, but can I use all of these gadgets to make it? It really seems to bother them that I want to use a thing, clearly designed for a specific purpose, for something else. But, I usually figure it out and happily use my new gadget, made up of pieces of things the makers never even thought they would be used for.
Well, I thought what I might do is start a blog post and ask people to name a challenge they have faced on their journey to health. But then, can you also offer what your solution is to deal with that challenge? Maybe, by putting all our heads together, we can come up with solutions for people out there who start and stop, who never start at all, who feel overwhelmed, and who really, really want to become healthy but are not sure they will be able to walk the path. If you see a challenge listed, but have a different solution, go ahead and add it! Feel free to comment – all input will help someone. I will start us off.
Challenge: Time – I find that eating well, exercising, taking my supplements, meditating, breathing and immersing myself in community takes a lot of time. I used to try so hard to fit in everything that by the end of the day, even though I had done all this healthy stuff, I was so stressed about what I didn’t do that I am convinced I cancelled out all the benefits of the good stuff I did.
Solution: Breathe. I picked one thing off the list and made a commitment to do that every day. I chose breathing because I can use it to center, it is really good for me, it slows me down, I can clear my mind, slow my heart, stretch my back and muscles, realize I am hungry for something good and I have to do it anyway. So, 10-15 times a day, at least 1 time an hour, my alarm on my cell phone goes off and it tells me to breathe, deep, slow, purposefully, for at least 3 minutes. Now I find myself doing that most of the time and I cannot explain but I actually seem to have more time to do everything else. All the other healthy stuff – it works its way in, some on one day, some on another. The most important thing – I am not stressed at the end of the day – I just choose to feel good about what I have done for me and my health today.
OK -your turn! Looking forward to what everyone has to say. EC
