Summer is in full swing, so it’s a perfect time to step back and see where your health lands on your priority list. Chances are that you may not be #1 right now. Are you too busy? Too stressed? Too overwhelmed? Too focused on others? Too scared to admit that you are worth the time investment? If this resonates with you, here are 6 tips for taking your health off the shelf in order to put yourself first.
1: Make and keep your doctor appointments
Call your general practitioner, dermatologist, gynecologist, mammogram center, and dentist to set up your next appointment. Many people skipped appointments during Covid and have fallen behind on check-ups, so make it a point to get back on track. Get lab results when you can and look them over carefully. Also, weigh yourself, like it or not, and get an accurate, honest idea of where you are and what your body is telling you. This allows you to have a starting point. In fact, these results wake-up can come as a wake up call for getting your health in order as soon as possible.
Use the Information as motivation to change habits and be kind to yourself! Use it as feedback from your body so that you can honestly see where you are.
2: Assess your exercise activity
Be honest with yourself and list what you are currently doing to move your body. Being transparent about it will help to decide your next steps. It’s great if you track your movement on an app, a paper calendar or an electronic list because this helps you to look at what you actually do to exercise. Next, choose a new small goal and put it on your calendar. Treat your exercise like a paid appointment and honor it. Stick to doing it and check it off when you are finished. You are worth this investment of time! A suggestion is to pick a type of exercise that you like to better buy into the value of doing it.
3: Take note of what’s in your closet
What clothes are hanging out in your closet? When you walk into your closet, does it feel like a lovely boutique or the remnants of a tornado? Do you feel excited to choose an outfit or do you feel discouraged and overwhelmed with the clothes that you see? It might be a good idea for a closet makeover which will help you to be more motivated to get healthy. My favorite way to refresh a closet is to take everything out in order to start with a blank canvas. You’ll make 3 piles of clothes: one for items to keep, one for items to donate, and one for items to throw away.
Detach your emotions from each article of clothing as you put them back in sections in your closet (i.e., pants, long-sleeved shirts, short sleeve shirts, etc.). I also go one step further by organizing each section by colors. My blue short sleeve shirts are hung together, etc. This organizing skill definitely gives it a boutique feel. During this process, let go of clothes that don’t fit well and that you don’t like wearing. They no longer serve you, so out with the old and eventually in with the new! Buying new clothes is a sweeter reward than candy.
4: Clear the clutter
This strategy encompasses several areas: your home, your pantry, your car, and your mind! Less is often more, so approach this action step with the goal in mind of simplifying your environment. This might include throwing away junk food or food that is tempting that you are trying to avoid. In its place, stock up on healthier options, such as fruits and veggies. You can’t eat what’s not in your house. Clean out your car and vow not to eat while you are in it to avoid mindless consumption of calories. Organize your home to be free of distractions and unneeded objects to cut down on the overwhelm and to allow your brain to free up energy for concentrating on your health goals. In fact, this is a helpful strategy for any goal.
5: Be mindful of what you consume (other than food)
You are a reflection of who you spend time with and what you focus on. This is empowering to know because it reminds us that you are in control of where you spend your energy. Ask yourself what kind of people you surround yourself with and really examine how they affect you, what their mindset is, how active they are, what their eating habits are, where they hang out, what they believe, etc. Are you socializing with people who put healthy living first? Are you making human connections or are you lonely? Are you being dragged down by negative people? Are your friends closed-minded? Get real about where you are wasting time. Are you wasting precious time on social media? Do you get lost scrolling through posts that make you feel down on yourself? Do you feel like what you see on social media makes you feel inferior? If so, time to put some boundaries around your social media time. Clear the clutter to free up energy and brain power to live a better life.
6: Get support
It’s very possible to learn and grow on your own with so many available resources. Have at it, if that’s your style. If you do better with support and a sense of community, there are many options out there. For example, find an online expert and take what you can from their free content.
Many of us coaches offer free resources on our websites, such as I do, so take what is gifted to you. Sign up for an online course, masterclass or enroll in a coaching program. Find an expert who reflects your style and who is a good fit for you. Join a Facebook community that offers resources and discussions to help you. Look for in-person groups where you live if face-to-face connection is your preference. Listen to podcasts that will help you learn about healthy living, such as how to eat well, intermittent fasting, and sugar consumption, as a few examples. The options are numerous nowadays, so tap into the type of support that will best move you to your goals.
The whole process of shifting to a healthy lifestyle is as customized as is choosing from a menu in a restaurant. As you look inward to decide the path of healthy improvements, be gentle with yourself and candid in order to move forward and to take your health off the shelf sooner than later. I promise that you will be pleased with investing time and energy in yourself! You’ve got this!
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!
Georgette LePage, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Georgette LePage is a certified Health and Life Coach who empowers women all around the world to lose their mental weight first in order to then lose their physical weight. Her approach is honest, real, clear, and genuine with transformational habit change and mindset reset methods. Georgette’s energy and enthusiasm are contagious. Her focus on a healthy lifestyle inspires her clients to leave behind old diet culture thoughts and patterns in order to embrace fresh and simple ways to live their best lives without diet drama. Empowerment, self-confidence, and self-care are cornerstones of the programs that she offers. She helps her clients to get the results that they want with realistic, real-life strategies. She lives her own life the way she coaches others. She listens to what her clients want and guides them with compassion and accountability as they achieve their goals. She works with people of all ages (teens to seniors and every age in between) who are ready to live a healthier, more joyful life. Georgette also hosts the talk radio show WHY WEIGHT? with Dr. Pat Baccili on Transformational Talk Radio. In addition to speaking English, she also is fluent in French and Spanish. Georgette has 32 years of experience as a World Language Teacher, as well. Her coaching motto is: Feel better. Look better. Be your best self!