Where Health Really Starts

One of the largest, albeit less discussed, benefits of building a healthy lifestyle of fitness and wellness is not just the physical changes, but the psychological changes.

At first, most are focused on the smaller details: getting up early or adjusting their schedules to allow them time to work out; shopping for healthy foods and removing processed ones from their diets; or simply focusing on getting through each workout in one piece.

Adjusting habits and making a course change towards fitness is a challenge. Their rewards are more energy, strength, endurance, and positive body composition changes. Most people are familiar with these changes, and at the outset, that knowledge is sufficient for pushing them over the edge to making the time and financial commitment to start the journey.

After a few months though, other benefits start showing up, subtly at first, and much more pronounced as the months turn into years and the years turn into decades.

People start to notice their attitudes are generally better due to the stress relief that regular workouts and a healthy lifestyle provide. With a better attitude comes an increasing ability to manage stressful situations better, thus helping improve their personal life, family life, and work interactions. With better relationships and decision making at work, they start to get ahead of decisions that might have previously been made hastily due to interference from brain fog, stress, and anxiety, and now many situations begin to be remedied before they even appear.

It’s a snowball effect: the more we focus on our health, the more we grow our capability to deal with life in healthier ways. Our hormones are more well balanced, our thoughts are clearer, and our bodies function better, and when life throws us a curveball, we can much more readily take a deep breath, get a few thoughts in before making a decision or saying something we might regret, and take on the challenge more productively.

Burpees, row intervals, long, grinding workouts, not eating that bowl of ice cream, or eating a little more veggies all are conscious decisions where we have to stop, think, and decide we’re going to take the slightly more difficult route, knowing it’s better for us.

As we make these little decisions, this resilience grows slowly, steadily, and the next thing you know, you’re choosing to do the hard, but right thing - taking on a new project at work that might be outside of your comfort zone, opting to learn something new through a bit of struggle, and having those tough conversations with friends or family members you might have avoided in the past.

These changes are some of the most impactful, and they all result from resolving to take small steps in your wellness, be it nutrition, fitness, or mental wellness.

In summary, spending time on your health can change the course of your life. It all starts with small, seemingly trivial decisions and the next thing you know, you’re looking back on the person you used to be in amazement. It’s worth the journey!

Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.”

Proverbs 14:23: “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”