Once you’ve decided to change your life and become a new version of yourself, you think… What does that even mean? Well for each person it’s different, for Joe it could be waking up 30 minutes earlier and meditating. For Jane it could be reducing her sugar intake, Helen, better flexibility, George, increased creativity, Jacob, more focus, Tom, new PR in his favorite exercise, Anna, completing her first marathon.
No matter what the desired result is, any improvement in your life is that next step in the journey. It could be the first step, 30th or 10,000th step, ultimately you have chosen not to remain the same.
It’s my belief that we as humans are meant to move. Every movement requires our internal systems to work together to achieve a common goal, survival, of that may be a bit strong of a word, maybe I should say, picking up your foot and placing it further in front of you to get that first step toward that goal of completing that first 5k.
So back to that new version of you, whatever that is I can honestly tell you that where you end up will not be what you envision. Let’s use, for example, reducing our sugar intake. First, you have to establish what your current intake is, do you need to examine every item of food, every sip of drink, no, but you have to be honest with yourself about what you consume and the types of food that contain sugars. You start researching this a bit more and realize there are multiple types of sugars, that the food manufacturers use over 100+ names for sugar, this leads to other changes in your diet as well. Ultimately you start eating cleaner overall, reducing your processed food intake, you feel healthier, your blood sugar improves, your blood pressure might drop a few points and you realize, hmmm maybe I should start taking the stairs and bypassing the escalator when there’s an option.
Now, regular exercise, I kind of forgot where I was going, ok I didn’t forget but I took the scenic route to get here. What happens to our body when we incorporate even the smallest parts of physical activity into our daily routines? I will try and stay out of the weeds in my description. When I say physical activity, it can be anything from resistance training with free weights or machines, taking the stairs vs the escalator/elevator, carrying your child in your arms instead of a stroller, rolling out of bed and doing 10/20/30, okay, 2 knee-assisted push ups, forgetting something in your hotel room and sprinting back down the hallway to just save a few minutes, any activity that ultimately increases your heart rate above your resting level will have benefits. With this increased heart rate, your brain could possibly join the fun and it releases some dopamine and a smile appears on your face. Objective achieved. 😉