Simplifying wellbeing for you!
We are in the 5th week of year 2021. Research says that almost 70% of people who make fitness resolutions in New Year give up on their resolutions within 5 weeks.
Wonder why that happens.
It is simple – life gets in the way, the initial euphoria dies and the demands of work, family and commitments become higher priority. And also because maintaining a wellbeing lifestyle looks difficult, it is extra work, additional efforts and when you are tired and under pressure you are more likely to give up.
I invite you to look at key areas of your wellbeing and simplify by setting a system that works in your real life.
Oftentimes we set our targets of fitness, food or lifestyle in a state of highly motivated and supercharged happy mood. When we go in our real life and have a job, family, kids, and other responsibilities, these targets become too big to achieve.
To keep yourself consistent over a period of time; you need to create a system that is not impossible or more likely to fail in your busiest moments and work over a long duration of time.
I am giving you five ways to simply the wellness lifestyle.
Minimise decision fatigue
Every morning when we are just starting our day, the less decisions we go through; the less fatigue we feel. This is critical for you to have a wellness lifestyle because you need a simple, effective system and you will need to follow it over a long period to get best advantage. The more demanding and complex our choices become, the more likely we are to drop our healthier habits and healthy choices in few days.
Decision fatigue is real thing.
It is the reason why Richard Branson said: I just wear the same pair of jeans every day. Whatever I’m doing, whether it’s a speech, whether it’s going to see the Queen, you know, whatever it is.
Barack Obama said: You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself.
Identify the mundane and routine decisions that are taking up a lot of your time and reduce some unnecessary decisions. We are talking of some such decisions below.
Start your day with a clear intention
Intentions help u to align with what is really important and also serve as reminders. A simple 2 minutes of self prep-talk, reading or writing your daily intentions about your health, mental health, well being and fitness routine will give you a boost.
Here is my simple and easy method.
- Stand in front of a mirror and look myself.
- Say aloud a simple statement – I will eat healthy regular meals and have 8 glasses of water today. Today is a good day for me to do self care and the universe helps me to stay good on this intention.
You are welcome to make it as creative and interesting, make it a family project or ally up with a friend or partner. But taking few minutes to do it every day is the key to success, whatever system you set up is your choice.
Plan ahead for your everyday balanced wellbeing lifestyle.
Smart Shopping and Meal Planning
If you do not have healthy meals, snacks and fruits and vegetables in your home, you will eat junk, order unhealthy meals and munch on snacks that are loaded with sugar or empty calories.
Keep healthy food and snacks stored so when it is time to cook or when you are tired, you will not cave in to eat or order less healthy food. This means you need to plan and shop smarter on regular basis.
I buy exact number of apples, pears and pack of mushrooms I plan to eat in the coming week. I kid you not !
Advantage: I never run out of healthy options when I want to do my five servings of fruit and vegetables.
I did a full article on this topic few weeks ago.
Make decision making easier for you.
The less options, questions and choices you give yourself on basic things; in that moment of starting your day, the faster you will start and finish your main tasks and and the less fatigued you will feel.
Go for weekly capsule wardrobes for work out
Let me explain how: If you go to gym or exercise at home three times in a week; keep all things you need to go to gym, workout and return/go to office etc in one place. Hang three set of gym or exercise clothes ready to wear along with 3 pair of socks in advance so when you wake up, you can be ready as quickly as possible.
Eliminate unnecessary decisions in the morning so do not ponder over what to wear; which shoes to choose .
Choose simple, safe and effective exercise routine
Exercise does not need to be complex or time consuming. You can walk your way to wellbeing
A regular walk for 30 to 40 minutes a day is enough to keep your body and mind active and healthy.
Walking is one of the easiest, fuss free, safe and healthy exercises and need preparation other than 5 minutes for you to wear a comfortable pair of shoes. Ample studies available now to show that walks have real health advantages.
Bonus – if you walk in park or nature; you have an added bonus of getting extra mental health benefits too.
In Japan, “Shinrin-yoku” or forest bathing (spending time in forests) is a major practice used for relaxation.
Simplifying our key exercise, lifestyle and health habits free us from danger of dropping out and keep us motivated enough to go on.
Give these tips a try and let me know your thoughts.
I am a Catalyst of Change in essence!
I use my writing to inspire, encourage and engage with my readers. A gender equity and menstrual health advocate, I am an independent publicity advisor and community engagement director.
I create powerful messaging, stories and content to help organisations communicate. I work with non profit organisations to maximize their reach and influence.
