Other Health Considerations

Better health isn't just a dress size or how many push-ups you can do. You should consider your health as a multi-faceted system…a system that relies on all the other aspects within the system. For this reason you can't just rely solely on a physical regimen to solve all your health problems. You need to consider how the rest of your life is going and take the necessary steps to improve every aspect before you can expect to be fully satisfied.

HOW'S THE REST OF YOUR LIFE GOING?

Are you generally happy with the state of your life? You probably already have figured out that the motivation to get healthy has to come straight from you, and you can't base it on motivations that may change or disappear. You should also know that you can't allow an unhappy life to stop you from getting healthy. If you are depressed about your current state of life then this can be a powerful motivation to get you into a healthier lifestyle, but a problem arises when the depression you feel is beyond something you can control. If your sadness or depression has evolved into something that rules your life and makes it tough to even get out of bed in the morning then this is something you need to address with someone who professionally deals with these types of situations. You don't have much hope of working toward a healthier self if you are crippled with feelings of depression and sadness.

Once you begin to work on these issues you may find that living a healthier lifestyle is something that you desire more, and also something that speeds up your recovery from being depressed. Many people who have issues with depression find that once they can get to a point where they can live a healthier lifestyle their depression lightens up substantially, although this certainly is not the case for every single person who suffers from depression. You may not even have any sort of depression but instead simply feel like you aren't very happy with how your life is going. If this is the case then you should understand that living a healthier life will assist you with every facet of your life…it certainly can't hurt, right? If you have feelings of hopelessness and depression then seek out proper assistance, but if you just kind of feel sad sometimes and feel as though your life needs some direction then try plotting out a plan to get healthier and see if this helps you to feel better about your life in general.

Figure out what you want to achieve. Some people work just fine without any type of concrete plan in place; they just seem to be able to mosey along in life and not plot out anything. If you are like most people, however, then you need to sit down and figure out an actual plan for what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it. "Better health" can be a relatively vague term, and can mean different things to different people. If you make the vague declaration that you are going to work towards better health you should first figure out what exactly that means to you. Do you want to lose or gain weight? Do you want to get rid of a certain ailment? Do you want more energy? Maybe your aspirations toward better health refer more to emotional and mental health than physical health. Do you want to feel less anxious or sad throughout the day? Do you want to be able to relax easier and fall asleep at night without your mind racing for hours?

Maybe you just want to look in the mirror and like what you see. Whatever you ambition, you need to figure out exactly what it is you want and then go about figuring out your plan of attack for achieving your goals. You will probably have to revise your plans a few times as you figure out what is working and what isn't. You can't decide to only eat lettuce and cucumbers as a means to lose weight and expect that to last very long (besides the fact that it isn't a healthy plan to begin with), so you should be willing to revise on a continual basis. As you begin to see results and figure out what works best for you, it will get easier to figure out what you should be doing and what isn't working at all. Any plan for getting healthier simply isn't going to work if you don't first define what "healthier" actually means to you.

If you aren't able to enjoy life then there needs to be a change. Is your unhealthy lifestyle stopping you from doing things in your life that you may otherwise enjoy if you were healthier? For example, if you are overweight you may find that you decline invitations to the beach or other places where you may have to show some skin. Or maybe your unhealthy status stops you from joining friends on physical excursions like hikes or bike riding. You may have convinced yourself that you aren't missing anything by declining these invitations, but deep down you probably know that you are actually missing something and it's because of your unhealthy lifestyle that you miss out on all the fun. If you are in this situation then this can be a fantastic means of motivation.

Make plans with your friends to join them on an upcoming expedition. Give yourself enough time to get fit enough to be able to join them and still enjoy the experience. A few months in advance should be enough time for you to plan out what you need to do to get healthy enough to join your friends for whatever it is that you're going to do, and by doing this you have two things working for you: you have a definite goal that you can work toward specifically, and you also can have a group of cheerleaders in your friends because they are aware of your goal. You need to realize that nothing is impossible as long as you are willing to work hard toward your defined goals. That means that even if the thought of you rock climbing with your friends seems like a completely ludicrous concept because you are currently out of shape, this is not an impossible goal. You just have to want it enough to actually work toward it.

THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU

What do the people around you think of your efforts? Whether we like to admit it or not, the people around us have a huge influence on our activities and what we think of ourselves. Take a look at the people you surround yourself with. Are they encouraging you in your efforts to get healthier without pushing you too hard? If you are in the situation of being surrounded by people who not only love you but who also encourage you in your efforts without being overbearing then you should consider yourself quite fortunate. Not everyone has this sort of support, and it can certainly make a huge difference between your potential success or failure.

As long as the people around you have your best interests in mind you can trust that they will try to help you as best as they can while also keeping you accountable for your efforts. If they see you slacking off on exercising then they should point it out. If they notice you aren't eating good foods like you should then they should be the ones to bring you back to where you should be. You need to learn to trust other people to help you when you're trying to make a big life change because sometimes the people around you can see things that you don't really see. It's easy to sometimes slip in and out of healthy habits without ever really noticing that you're doing it, and that's where your trusted loved ones should step in and help you realize that it's time to get back on track.

Are the people around you healthy? Now that the discussion has been had about trusting other people to help you in your quest to get healthy, here is a disclosure: if the people around you have absolutely no idea what it means to be healthy and are constantly pooh-poohing your efforts then it may be time to lovingly ignore their advice. You'll notice that the term "lovingly" is used here, and here is why: not everyone knows what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle, but that does not mean that these people don't love and adore you.

Just because you have decided to make some healthy changes it does not mean that the people you love are going to hop onboard and make similar changes. You'll probably just have to accept that this might be a solo mission on your part. If this is the case then just try to smile and listen to what the people around you have to say ("You used to have such a healthy appetite, why aren't you eating?" or "You need to quit taking those vitamins because everyone knows they're worthless.") and then promptly disregard their advice. These people probably have your best interests at heart, but you can't allow them to derail your efforts. You can't stay motivated if you are constantly taking into consideration what the naysayers are telling you.

Are the people around you good influences? Beyond the question of whether the people around you are healthy or not is the question as to whether or not the people around you are good influences. It's one thing for the folks around you to unknowingly pass on erroneous health advice, but it's another thing entirely if the people you socialize with are not only unhealthy, but proudly so, and also attempting to sabotage your efforts. Friends who you used to indulge in unhealthy behavior with (drinking, smoking, drug use, or whatever else used to float your boat) might secretly resent the fact that you're able to turn the other cheek to these activities now and they may try to derail your attempts by luring you back into the bad behaviors.

If you find that the people you spend time with are constantly goading you to have a smoke, have a drink, or do something else that you have decided to lay off in an attempt to get healthy then you will either need to put your foot down or just stop hanging out with these people for a while. You need to decide what is important to you: your health or these so-called friends. Remember that friends come and go, but you'll have to deal with your own health forever. How are you supposed to stay motivated to be healthy if all the people you spend your time with are doing their best to get you to fall back into unhealthy habits?

Better health is more than numbers on a scale or your outward appearance. Your health should be viewed as a huge system of interworking elements. If one element is off-kilter then the rest of the elements simply cannot function as they should. This is why you need to take into consideration more than just your physical health when you are trying to get motivated to improve your health. If you consider every element of your health then you have a much better chance at succeeding.

On the next page we will talk about how Self Esteem and Stress Issues affect your Health.