We have reached the last letter in the alphabet! The letter Z in the ABC’s of health is for Zeal.
I chose Zeal because while it isn’t a word that’s used a lot anymore, it was very common in the 1800s, but it’s a good one for Z. It means the eagerness or ardent interest in the pursuit of something. Other synonyms could be passion, or enthusiasm. It means an intense emotion that’s compelling you to action. So the reason why I chose zeal is because when it comes to health we aII see people go through waves of zeal. What I see is that people go in all excited, and get into a new workout program or a new diet and they’re all excited and after a week or two… they just give up. Then another thing comes along and they jump on that boat or that train or whatever it is, and it’s just skipping from one thing to the next.
I want to talk to you about keeping your zeal with balance. We’ve talked so much about this. We’ve talked about our journey, upgrading, we’ve talked about one change at a time, so many letters we’ve talked about practical things that you can do in your day-to-day. We’ve talked about our thought processes, this this series is chock full of things that give you small increments of changes that you can do and I want you to have zeal for these small changes. I want you to have zeal not for the big idea that a certain diet or a certain supplement or a certain shake or a certain timeframe is going to give you a solution. No! I encourage you to have zeal for your complete path, for your life as a complete unit. You are more than your food choices and how much you exercise. And all these things, food, exercise, relationships, mental health… of this is part of you as a whole.
So what does this mean practically? This means that you’re going to find something to be excited about in the process instead of being excited about the tool. So instead of saying “Oh my goodness this new diet that I saw on someone’s Instagram is going to change my life”, or “This new diet that I saw on a magazine is the one thing that’s true”, or “This celebrity talked about this new cleanse“, or “This is how everyone needs to exercise for good results“. Any version of any of these things is not what you should get excited about. I hope I can inspire you to have zeal for the small things that you can change and that you can start incorporating as a habit. The truth is that the things that you start putting in place now, as you practice them every single day with zeal, when you practice them every single day with consistency, soon these things become things that you just do, and then you move on to the next thing that you want to incorporate. But the point is that your tools will change, what works for you in your 20s and single will probably not work for you in your 30s with a couple of kids. What works for you as a student may need to be tweaked to work for you when working a full time job. What works for you in your day to day needs to be adjusted to work during a trip.
Find the zeal for your lifestyle instead of finding the zeal for specific tools or ideas. Find zeal in exercising consistently, at least three times a week, instead of finding zeal for a specific gym or workout or circuit. It’s the consistency that will make magic. Have zeal for incorporating more whole foods and learning to enjoy your treats in moderation instead of having zeal for a specific diet, shake or formula. Your body doesn’t need a cleanse (it does that itself). Your body doesn’t need a reset (there is no reset button in the human body). Your body doesn’t need you to deprive it of things you enjoy on occasion (just don’t do it all the time).
What are some things that you can have zeal for that you would be consistent with? It’s the small things, friends. It’s the small things…
Again, we’ve gone through the entire alphabet with all of these nuggets and suggestions and ideas of small things that you can start practicing. So if you missed anything, if you want to listen to this again, go for it! Go to my youtube channel or my blog and it’s all there, listed for you. Simple suggestions, because when you practice these day and day out consistently you will find change, which will then increase your passion, and you will increase your excitement and enjoyment.
Thank you for following along with the ABC’s of health. You can always reach out with me with any questions you have and I hope that you stick around for everything else I have for you. Subscribe to my newsletter which is the best way to get all of the updated things, go to alinekaehler.com and subscribe. Congratulations to YOU for taking time for your health, for choosing one small thing to change today. It’s cheesy to say this, but it’s true: pursue the best version of yourself, every day choose according to the person you want to become, and soon enough, you will find yourself right there.
Keeping it simple,
Aline