When I was younger, I looked at health as the composite of two things. Eating a healthy diet and getting plenty of exercise. If you did these two things, you would be healthy. Mother Fran and Papa Jack took care of the healthy diet for everyone in my household so all I had to do was get plenty of exercise. Wait, they helped ensure that as well. My parents were always kicking us out of the house to go and play, go weed the garden, go shovel the dirt around the pond. Plus my siblings and I loved to shoot hoops, ride bikes, climb trees and play catch. Getting exercise as a kid growing up in the 1970’s and 1980’s was easy.
Now that I have Embraced the Gray, I know that living a healthy lifestyle is about so much more than food and movement. These two things are absolutely critical but they are only two pieces of a larger puzzle. I have done a ton of reading on this topic and listened to many podcasts and audiobooks that it is time I summarize for myself (and for anyone else interested) what a more complete health puzzle looks like. This is important to me because energizing others to choose health is part of how I live my life strategically!
Did you ever try to solve a puzzle without looking at the picture first? Did you ever place the last piece of a puzzle only to realize several pieces were missing? When we know what the entire puzzle looks like and are paying attention to the overall picture, solving it is much easier than when we don’t look at the cover and are missing several key pieces. For me, a healthy lifestyle includes “Positive Relationships”, “Meaningful Activities”, “Healthy Environment”, “Exercise/Movement”, “Eat Real Food”, “Mental Health”, “Financial Security”, and “Spirituality”. In puzzle format) it looks like this:
Each puzzle piece represents a different aspect of living a healthy life and all are necessary to be truly healthy. Take a look at my puzzle and think about your life. Are there areas of strength, weakness? Where could you start to make changes to improve your overall health? Fill out the comment section below to let me know!
When we only look at health as eating well and exercising; we are missing a much bigger picture. Some people master those things and never consider what else they can be doing to live a healthy life. Think of a body builder who is active and strong and eats a healthy diet. If those are the only 2 pieces of the puzzle he has mastered is he healthy? What if he has terrible mood swings and his wife is often fearful of him. I would argue there is plenty he could do to improve his health.
Some people have struggled for years to eat well and exercise and are convinced that they are unable to make the lifestyle changes necessary to improve their health. They give up because they don’t realize there are other pieces of the puzzle they could tackle first to make improvements in their overall health. Think of a woman who sits at a desk all day for work and grabs take out several nights per week for dinner. She has tried every fad diet and lost and gained the same 40 pounds several times. Maybe if she chooses to address a different piece of the puzzle and makes positive changes she can gain momentum and enhance her ability to address other pieces of the puzzle.
For example, she could prioritize getting eight hours of sleep at night instead of binge watching her favorite television show. This might give her more energy to add a daily walk to her routine and now the puzzle is filling in a bit. She gets ideas of how to make other small changes and incorporates them into her day. Small steps can make a big difference in completing the health puzzle.
It is easy to get hyper-focused on one piece of this puzzle which causes one to exert a great deal of time and energy into making improvements in that area. For example, consider a woman who has decided to get more movement to improve her physical health. She starts going to the gym, exercising, taking the stairs and keeps at it for a week or two. Then she pulls a muscle and is laid up for a while. Forward motion comes screeching to a halt and she return to her life having made no meaningful improvements.
When we decide to make lifestyle changes, each of us brings our own strengths, weaknesses, successes and failures to the table. Choosing Health means making changes to create the best picture in that particular section of the puzzle. Making improvements in one area can give us energy to address another area and another. I can’t choose which area you should address. And you can’t choose which area your spouse, sibling, or friend should address. The best we can do is to get each other talking and thinking about our unique health puzzle and possible changes to make. Let’s give each other encouragement and support to make lasting changes. Health matters!
Think about when you have successfully incorporated positive changes in the past and if there is anything you did before that would help in this new area you wish to address. I know for me, I need to firmly establish a new habit into my existing routine to make it stick. When I don’t do this, all of my good intentions go out the window with a busy, stressful week.
I love to support, encourage and coach people to improve their health because I firmly believe that Health Matters! If you are interested in making lifestyle changes in any of the pieces of the health puzzle, hit the JOIN ME Button below to get notification of new posts.
Choose health!
Lake Girl
