holistichealth – 360 of my 180

3 Years ago, I was overweight (5’6″, 250 lbs) and diagnosed with heart failure, diabetes type II and high blood pressure.

I am an optimist, a solution finder and can be pretty intense / determined when I set my mind on something. So in a short period of time, I was able to turn the tables around by focusing on my health for the first time in my life. This was at 39 years young. You can read more about it here: Valentine’s day – Part One

Since then, things are going good but I do experience the yoyo effect which I am working on mitigating or maybe even avoiding altogether. Purpose is key to success and I believe fading Purpose is, in part, causing the yoyo effect.

3 years ago, my Purpose was strong, straight forward and came naturally: I wanted to stay alive and get rid of all the meds.

I did it for myself.

Last week, I started the “WHEALTH Foundations” program which appears to be aligned with my current initiative of following the 1% better every day rule after reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear.

Building small habits instead of going all in / all out (yoyo) seems like a smarter long term approach.

In the program, the coaches ask to figure out our “Why”. This brought me to realize what I wrote above and think about my Purpose. My new “Why” for this lifestyle and health journey.

I spun my “Why” many different ways. After overthinking it for a while, it became clear:

“To live a healthy, balanced lifestyle so I can build a family and enjoy the little moments of life with them for years to come.”

So my purpose was initially for myself and actual survival and has now evolved into sharing with someone and growing together.

Thanks to my coach, Stephanie, for constantly helping me figure this stuff out. And calling me out when I need some straightening out haha! 🤗

As I often do since I love music so much, i’ll end this blog with a song from one of my favorite artists, Lindsey Stirling.

Crystallize – Lindsey Stirling

It has a pretty deep meaning,” Stirling said. “Basically, it’s about creating inner beauty in yourself first…”

“When we surround ourselves eternally with positivity and we create healthy and positive environments and we do good things for people and ourselves, we’re made up of 70 percent water so the crystals in your body create actual literal inner beauty,” Stirling added. “That’s what ‘Crystallize’ is about. It’s about taking control of your environment, creating beauty within yourself, and therefore creating beauty outside…”

When you start a journey to become healthier, somewhere along the way you’ll discover the importance of balance. And when you do, if you’re like me, you’ll probably fight it at first.

For those of us who have a perfectionist personality also usually comes the all or nothing attitude.

The more you learn about yourself the more levers you have to play with. Learning various ways to become healthier, physically, mentally and emotionally. It can and probably will be daunting.

You’ll go in full force, pulling down one lever to progress as much as possible, as fast as possible. This will inevitably bring another lever all the way up and cause imbalance.

No matter how coaches and teachers repeat it, us perfectionists stubborn people have to pull on a lever all the way down and get out of balance in order to learn. What matters is what we do with this new information and how we get back up and adjust the lever.

In my blog “Laser Focus” I slowly started to understand the concept of balancing thoughts and emotions. Since then, I read a book by Dr Joe Dispenza called “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One”.

It’s an incredible book that made me realize quite a few things about why we react and act in certain ways and how to find balance.

With time, we learn to pull and adjust each lever slowly, one at a time. It requires a lot of trying, failing, patience, discipline and most of all, self love.

This image shared by Dr. Nicole LePera is the best I’ve seen to represent the various levers to play with and find balance.

Tag: holistichealth

Whealth Journey – A hobbit’s tale (I am short 😉)

Levers