Physical fitness is just one part of our whole health journey, and I’m just going to say it: it is the EASY PART. Sure, workouts may be difficult, but all we have to do is show up and do the work. The hard part? That would be navigating all of the information in our brains.
Our emotions are what presents the biggest challenge to our whole health. Left unchecked, they can sabotage all of our hard work. When we respond to them with unhealthy coping mechanisms, we create strong habits. When we feel tired and drink more coffee instead of rest, when we feel happy and crack a beer, when we feel sad and rip open chips, when we feel proud and eat more than we have earned…it’s not just one emotion that can do this. It’s all of them and it has everything to do with how we practice responding.
So the question is, how do we train our brains to react to our emotional states with more healthy behaviors? Just like a workout, we do it one rep at a time. Again, like workouts, we will not get results that very day. Over time, as we keep linking the chain of healthier coping mechanisms together, we find the they start to become our go-to response; we begin to replace the long and deep tracks in our brain that the unhealthy coping mechanism left behind.
Every meal is not an opportunity to celebrate, it is a time t nourish and revitalize. Every bout of sadness is not an excuse to eat crap, it is a time to feel and understand. Above all, these moments are opportunities to be aware of our response so that, over time, our emotions stop controlling our behaviors.
Above all, my wish for you is a lifetime of health. I see my role as helping people find the most effective and “do-able” way to make health happen. I don’t expect anyone to be perfect. No one is. And yes there is a time to celebrate, just make sure it is actually time so that the response you have to your emotion is worth it!
To your heath,
Coach Michelle