We are on the letter Y! I can hardly believe that we are already at the end of the alphabet! This is the ABC’s of health, let’s get into it letter Y, for YOU – your health, your body.
The reason why I put this one in here is because we’ve talked about this before, we’ve touched on this before, and it’s very easy to delegate responsibility. It’s so hard for people to just take responsibility for their own health and today I really want to encourage you to do just that. To look at your health as your responsibility, to look at your health as something that you have control over, something that you can modify, that you can change, that you can improve, and that you can make worse!
When when talking about personal responsibility it’s so much easier to say I can’t do this because I have small kids or I can’t do this because my work schedule doesn’t allow me to, or I can’t do this because I’m not a great cook, I can’t do this because I don’t have the support, I can’t do this because nobody is doing it with me, I have to do this because everyone else is doing it, I have to order this because everybody at the restaurant table is ordering it, or all of my friends are going to this place so this is something I have to do etc etc. It’s so much easier to delegate responsibility and I want you to do a little something with me:
I want you to close your eyes for a second, and take a deep inhale slowly counting to three, now exhale counting to four. It is important for you to remember that you are the only person in your body, you are the only person that can actually do something about the body you are in, so your doctor, your coach, your friend, your family, all these people can support you. These people can give you information, these people can try to help you, but you are the only person that can actually do something about your health.
Of course unexpected things happen. Maybe you get sick, or there’s an accident, or something with your kids takes up an excessive amount of time for a few days, or work, so yes, there are things that are out of your control, but regardless of where your health is right this moment, from being in great health to not doing so great, the only person that can take action is you. This should encourage you! This should encourage you because your choices are your responsibility, and you get to make the next right choice. You get to choose the next right thing, you get to say yes or no to your next decision. Maybe you’re going to lay in bed for an hour and try to convince yourself into why you should do something or not, that’s fine, but you are the only one who can actually decide to do or not a workout, you are the only one who actually decides what you are putting into your body. What are you going to eat, from an apple to a donut, from a salad to loaded pizza, from a baked potato to fries. None of these are good or bad, they are choices in a wide spectrum, and what are you going to choose? That depends entirely on your goals.
One way to look at it is that nutrition is like a budget. You have a certain amount of money that you make every month and you’re going to pay mortgage, you’re going to pay for your groceries, you’re going to pay for your car, you’re going to save some money, you’re going to pay whatever bills you have, etc. After you’ve fulfilled your obligations, you choose what you do with the leftovers – do you save, do you renovate something, do you go on vacation, do you buy something? The same is true with health, especially nutrition. How many calories are you aiming for in a day? Did you meet your protein requirements (see letter P for more info)? Do I have a leftover budget? Allright, what do I want to do with that? Eat some ice cream, another slice of bread, a glass of wine? With your day to day, what’s important to you? For me I workout every morning, I have some family routines, I have some work routines, and then what do I do with the extra time? Some days there is none! Some days there is – maybe a nap, read a book, watch a show.
When you start owning that your next choice is YOUR choice and it’s not in someone else’s hands you start making different choices.
When you start making better choices you start seeing change.
I want to encourage you with the letter Y that it is your body, is your health, and every choice is the opportunity to move the needle in the direction of your goals. You will start seeing change when you pursue health, when you pursue feeding your body like you love your body, when you pursue moving your body to become stronger and to have a longer independent life, when you pursue the habits that are going to feed your mind and that are going to be productive, when you start doing these things your body is going to catch up.
If you don’t have a specific goal, I have a great free resource to help you, you need to find one, because a goal gives you clarity for action. When you have a goal, every single decision you make, whatever that decision is, you can have a split second thought of is this pushing me closer to my goals or is this pushing me further away from my goals, and then you get to choose what you’re saying yes to. You get to choose what you’re saying no to. There is extreme freedom in that because you are no longer someone’s victim saying oh I can’t do this because it’s not part of my list of foods that I’m allowed to eat, or I can’t do this because it’s not part of the schedule that I saw in this book of the things that I have to do in the morning, or I can’t do this or I have to do this because so and so says.
Take control of your choices, own your choices because when you start owning all of your decisions you will start pointing yourself towards the person that you want to become, and the more you show up in all of these small decisions, the more you show up for the person you want to become the closer you are to becoming that person. The more you show up, the easier it is to sustain that person because you’re doing these small changes and one day you’re going to wake up and you’re going to look in the mirror and you’re going to say: this is it! I have become who I wanted to be.
Keeping it simple,
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