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Lauren Muney at age 40:
Wellness coach and featured in
"Fit Over 40: Role Models for Excellence"

"If I am so smart [in my job], how can I be so dumb in my health/fitness habits?"
by Lauren Muney

In general, most people are embarrassed to go to a doctor, to look at their own aches and pains, and  especially, to consult with a wellness coach such as myself.

We are a delightful society of wanting to solve problems. We really can solve so many problems if we have the knowledge and capabilities. We are smart, media-informed, we have jobs which make us think . . . so what happens about our heath?

This will be a pretty blunt article, so please forgive me. I care deeply for my readership, and I know you care for yourself enough to subscribe to this newsletter! However, I think this subject needs to be spoken! This is another time to wake-up for all of us. DON'T WORRY, this article will also help you solve these issues facing each one of us - myself included!

"If I am so smart [in my job], how can I be so dumb in my health/fitness habits?"

>> DENIAL
It's true. I am so sorry to tell you, but I have done extensive research with clients and others: we see signs daily about what we need to do for ourselves and we DENY that these problems exist. It's easier to close our eyes to our widening waistlines or repetitive infections (examples only), than to make time and effort into finding healthy solutions.

>> LACK OF CONCRETE EDUCATION OF HEALTH ISSUES
The media blares at us, and we are all on system-overload; yet when we need information, how can we find concrete ways of solving out issues? It becomes very difficult to separate the best solutions from media hype or the overwhelming new health developments.

>> HABIT
Habit. "What we have always done": it guides our lives, makes us feel secure about who we are and what we are doing. 'Habit' can take two forms: Habit-energy (momentum of habits) or denial (see above). We LOVE our habits. It creates an IDENTITY of who we are and what we do. It's not always even the identity that we desire, but it's familiar and we understand it.

Think of this example: how many people skip breakfast because they've always skipped breakfast? And now their stomachs "can't take breakfast" from 10 years of skipping a morning meal? They've arranged their morning schedules so they don't have time to have even a 3-minute breakfast?

This is 'habit'. This is an identity that "I am not a breakfast eater", no matter how much magic is contained with the FACT that eating breakfast is good for your fitness.

How many people stick with a job they despise, or a romantic partner who hurts them (mentally and/or physically)? Oftentimes that's part of habit also: the inability to remove oneself (or change) a situation, no matter how harmful it is to remain.

>> THE PRESSURES OF MODERN LIVING: time and energy
We are in a society where we don't have enough time or energy: fatigue and time-pressures close-in, and we decide that we cannot fit our health in our day. Too many requirements from bosses, relationships, kids, work, hobbies, to let us arrange for our health and fitness. Right?

Here's the good part: you can turn ALL this around.
YOU CAN BECOME SMART WITH YOUR HEALTH AND YOUR FITNESS.

-----------------------------

Here's the beginning:

1) Assess yourself, honestly, about what you have been doing. This is an ongoing process, so don't be thinking you have to insult yourself by calling yourself 'dumb' for not doing these things. Carefully, as you discover you are not fitting clothes well, or you feel fatigued, or you have odd stomach aches for several months or several years. GET CURIOUS, not insulting, to yourself. This part is the opposite of "denial".

Here is where you say,
"I smoke", or
"Hmm, I have had daily pains in my hands", or
"My stomach hurts every time I eat, and I spend a lot of money in antacids", or
"I have strange gas pains", or
"I only have bowel movements one time per week", or
"I have raging skin problems that I cover up", or
"I don't sleep well", or
"I feel foggy all the time"...

Realize that the human body is meant to function, 'eliminate', sleep soundly, work without fatigue, and not creak too much.

2) Just watch yourself for a while. Don't judge what you find. Watch what you do, and ask yourself "why do I do this"? Why do you eat sugary food everyday - habit? Craving? When do you get fatigued, specifically? At 10am? After dinner?

It's important that you don't feel overwhelmed about this. Just start with one annoying issue - such as getting cravings - and simply watch when you get cravings... or chart your fatigue levels, maybe in journal format. This will be very important.

3) Realize that EVERYTHING is changeable. Think you don't have time for little changes, or that you feel comfortable a certain way? It takes only a couple of weeks to form a BAD habit, so it only takes the same time to break one and form a GOOD habit! It only take the right technique and support to change a bad habit -- and the realization that you have that habit (or denial).

JUST DECIDE WHAT YOU DIDN'T WANT ANYMORE. One of my clients quit a 2-pack a day smoking habit on his own, finally when he realized that he didn't want sometime "owning" him! He was tired of planning when he could have his next cigarette, where he could have it, whether he had enough money to purchase the packs. He began his own program of fitness which eventually led him to stop smoking. His life, and his health, have drastically improved forever - just by deciding he wasn't going to be a slave to his habit (or his pain) anymore.

4) Know that help and support is available. You can find solutions to your problems. Whether you need to tune out the commercialized "hype", enlist your family to help you, or find a qualified professional, you don't have to make sense of everything yourself, with limited time and resources. It only takes the assessment and DESIRE to make the changes you need, even if you don't yet know what changes need to be made.

5) And, with all these thoughts behind you, you can create lasting, healthful, and joy-bringing changes. Make those changes. Bring health and fitness into your life. You don't have to suffer with ill health or ill fitness any more.

This is very frightening sometimes, to come to the realization that things aren't working... and to try to turn them around. FEAR IS ONLY A SIGNAL THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG.

HAVE COURAGE. "Courage is not the absence of fear, courage is action in the face of fear" (Mark Twain)

Realize:

- you only need to make small changes at a time

- help is available - you just have to be diligent to ask in the right places

- keep looking for new answers, move past media hype, and know that everything is workable.

If you don't know where to begin and/or want to start confidential assistance in making healthful and fit changes in your life, please contact me and we'll find a program which works for you. You just have to decide that you want a new approach to your life.

For more ideas on fitness, health, or "alternative" methods for your lifestyle, contact Lauren for coaching solutions!

ENJOY!