It’s often said that youth is wasted on the young, and now that I’m older, I get it. In my twenties, I felt physically invincible in some ways, while also being lost from a personal growth perspective. I lacked confidence and direction, and it would be a long time before I felt centered. I yearned to find the path to wellness.
Years later, when my life’s purpose began to gel, I wondered where all of the years had gone. In true bait-and-switch fashion, I now had a better mind in an older body.
Looking back, I realize that I took my physical health for granted. It should have always been paramount. Instead, in the process of transforming my inner self, I developed a slew of bad eating habits that would haunt me for decades.
You Only Get One…
If we aren’t living a healthy lifestyle, we can always find consolation in the fact that so many other people are screwing things up as well. There is “safety” in numbers.
For years, I would dance around a healthy lifestyle, but never quite get there. The true impact of all of my mini-health decisions didn’t resonate with me at all.
As I got older though, all of the dirty deeds from my twenties and thirties began to show up in unison. My punishing gym workouts led to a myriad of joint injuries. The after-work carb fix that I came to rely upon to close out particularly stressful workdays kept me knee-deep in sugar addiction. Evidence of the stress that I was carrying was readily available when I looked in the mirror each morning.
Remember that you only get one body, and in order for it to go the distance, you must treat it well. Get real about how you are really contributing to your body’s longevity.
As for me, I knew something had to change, but I also needed to acknowledge where it all started.
High School Confidential
I ran track in high school, and every day my team would practice for two hours. Any calories that were consumed from that little square of cafeteria pizza that I ate for lunch every day were quickly burned off at practice. That alone left me with a false sense of security regarding the impact that my food intake would actually have on my health.
The Twenties
Back when I was in my twenties, there was nowhere near as strong of a commitment to exercise as there is now. No one I knew had a gym membership, and I couldn’t conceive of a time when my metabolism would slow down. If only I had a crystal ball…
Thirty-Something
In my thirties, I still pretty much ate what I wanted. This set me up for a lifetime of rewarding myself with food. Since I didn’t need to consistently watch what I ate, I gave no thought to the quality of the food that I was putting into my body. I was now making more money as a professional and surrounded by all of the great restaurants in NYC, so I treated myself to EVERYTHING.
Full Stop
At a certain point, my metabolism slowed and I began to actively put on weight. By then my eating habits had become a lifestyle, and the very worst of my habits (hello sugar addiction) became hard to break.
I was finally able to make the connection between my crazy eating habits and the energy slump that would follow. After dinner, I would often feel super sluggish when I should have been energetic. It felt like a true hangover, and my horrible eating habits were literally sucking the life out of me.
It was then that I made a commitment to be more mindful about what I was putting in my body. My body needed to be able to go the distance and I was the only one that could control that.
Exercise
Flashback to my thirties when I used to attack the elliptical trainer with a vengeance every morning at 5 AM (pre-kids). I pushed my body to the limits and was able to get up and do it all over again with no repercussions.
Nowadays, I’ve had to adjust the intensity of my workouts. When I tried to work out at the levels that I did when I was younger, instead of feeling rejuvenated I would feel really worn out. It would take me days to recover. As I mentioned previously, this led to multiple injuries which healed slowly if it all.
What really seems to work for me is exercising with low intensity, consistently.
Find out what works for you and stick to it. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, just tailor your exercises to what makes you feel your best.
Stress Management
A big part of your overall health will also be how effectively you manage your stress. Stress will be there, but only you can control the impact that you allow it to have on your life. Focus on getting off of the stress rollercoaster and on with your life.
Be intentional about involving yourself in activities that will actively decrease your stress level. Do whatever works for you. Just because everyone you know is meditating doesn’t mean you need to. Meditation has never really done much for me and that’s okay.
Find activities that will allow you to decompress and stick to them.
Unified Wellness
When your mind and body are aligned in a healthy way, your soul will thank you.
You will be doing these things:
- You will view your body as the vessel that sustains your life and treat it accordingly
- You will be intentional about the food and substances that you ingest
- You will readily incorporate an exercise program that works for you into your life
- You won’t allow outside stressors to drain all of your energy
Approaching wellness in this way will support your overall goals of finding balance and happiness in your life. It will also allow you to be the best version of you.
Sure we’re a little bit older, but it is better late than never. You have to start somewhere right?
If you have a moment, check out my previous post “7 Vital Tactics To Build Your Inner Calm” https://herpicketfence.com/7-vital-tactics-to-build-your-inner-calm/
