Becoming Healthy and Happy
Hopefully, now that we’re well into January, our New Year’s resolutions are still in full swing! I find it funny in myself that when a new year rolls around I get way excited for like 2 weeks, and then I have to kick myself in gear to keep the momentum going! I’d have to say that out of all the topics we decided to write about for the new year, I’ve really struggled with this one. For me, becoming healthy is truly a work in progress. It’s not going to happen overnight and it’s not going to come without a lot of effort. Being happy is easy for me.
When I was younger and before I had children, staying healthy was rather easy. I had always been aware of my diet and kept a good handle on how often I was active and exercised. Shortly after we were married in 2001, we decided to start our family. Then, we went full force and had 3 kids in 5 years! I will admit, that between pregnancy and the new shift of focus on these little ones, that I’ve forgotten myself in the process. I’m still relatively healthy and I’m only packing on a good extra 6 or 7 pounds than I should be. But, I’ve definitely only done the bare minimum to get there. Right after having a baby, I hit the gym hard for a good 6 months, and then when the majority of the weight is gone, I get lazy again! For me, the being happy part is so much easier than the becoming healthy part! Bear with me as I share a few things I’ve learned along the way that can help us get closer to finding a balance between health and happiness.
One thing that’s important to come to terms with is finding out what truly motivates you to be healthy. Is it the mere fact that you want to be healthy, or do you like working towards a goal? I’ve found for me I function so much better when working towards a goal rather than just wanting to be healthy. I know that’s not the ideal situation, but it works for me. If I have a clear goal that I’m working towards, that requires I be active and healthy to achieve it, I will work much harder at it. For instance, this last year I had a baby in March. I came home from the hospital with about 25 pounds to lose to get back to my ideal weight. I knew we were seeing some old friends from college in October, so I set my sights on reaching that goal by then. We joined a gym in July and I exercised like mad and cut out all the fun greasy food I love to eat so much during pregnancy. By October I had lost 20 pounds and looked good for our little trip out of state. Since returning from our little getaway, I’ve had to force myself to go to the gym! It’s silly, but it’s true. I like to use the holidays and sick kids as my excuse, but the fact is, I still have those last few pounds and my diet stinks!
This year I set my sights on participating in and completing a triathlon. Since I’m already in pretty good shape, I figured it was time to push myself and do something really hard. This will take a lot of time and energy to train for. As I’ve begun training for the running and biking parts, It’s really made me focus on my endurance and how long I can run or bike. It’s totally taken the focus off losing weight and shifted it towards finding out what I can do athletically. This has made a huge difference in my desire to work out. I’m doing it now to get ready for my big race and to get myself to the pool when it starts warming up next month. (I do live in Arizona and can swim outside in February!)
One thing that’s really helping me stay focused on eating right is simply feeding our children. I don’t want to help facilitate bad habits and poor health for them, so I’ve always given them the best. Lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. It’s so much easier to control someone else’s diet than your own! I’ve made myself treat myself like my children and take care of me accordingly. I really want to be around to see them grow and horse around and play with my grandbabies. Taking care of my health is the only way I can increase those odds.
The road to becoming happy most definitely starts with your attitude. I truly feel that we choose to be happy and we choose to respond to anything that happens to us in whatever manner we want. It’s rather easy to blame our moods and attitudes towards things on our childhood, a bad job, or whatever, but the bottom line is that we make a conscious choice to be happy or not. I’ve always felt happier when I know I’m doing my part to be healthy and active. The two really can work together. When we feel unhealthy and overweight, it’s easy to be crabby. You’ll find as you work toward happiness, you’ll want to be healthy, and as you work towards your health, you’ll be a happier person. The key is finding what works first for you. For me, the happy part comes first. When I’m making a conscious effort to be happy and be an enjoyable parent and spouse, I want to put the extra time and effort into my personal health. For others, after putting the time into their health, the happiness follows. No two people are the same.
Set clear and realistic expectations of yourself on this journey to health and happiness. You can start small and as you achieve your smaller goals, move to something big. Put into place a method of following up on the goals you have set. Progress is motivation in and of itself. By checking up on yourself you are doing yourself a big favor! Remember that your loved ones want to see you happy and healthy and that you are more than worth the extra time and effort it takes to get there.
