Leading a healthy lifestyle isn’t just about the physical stuff, your mental and emotional health are just as important. This guest post by YouBeThree discusses six ways to empower yourself every day! I’m going to be really cliche here, but…health is wealth. Unless you take care of yourself and lead a healthy lifestyle, your ability to pursue all that you want and see everything on your bucket list is going to be very limited. Many young adults and young professionals think that there’s plenty of time, that we are invincible. Until you come into close contact with health issues, however, you don’t realize that life is short and you have less time than you think. The body is amazing in its ability to heal, but you need to think of it like a machine. Any machine that’s neglected will stop working. So here, in this final part of the empowerment series, I’d like to discuss leading a healthy lifestyle and empowering yourself on all parts of your health…not just physical but mental and emotional as well. (Steps 1-9 are here)

Getting Healthy

First, you need to get motivated to take care of yourself. If you aren’t in the mindset of putting yourself first, and prioritizing your health, then it will be very difficult for you to follow through. So, wherever you are in life, get to a place where you’re ready and willing to make a healthy lifestyle a priority and a habit, not just something you do on the weekends or days off. Once you’re in that mindset, then set about to figure out what your goals are for yourself.

Establish Healthy Lifestyle Goals

What would you like to accomplish a healthy lifestyle? This has different meanings for everyone. For instance, when it comes to physical health some just want to get moving and make sure they are active. Others would like to lose weight; still, others desire more definition. What about mental health? What are your goals there? Emotional health? Spiritual health? Social health? Every part of life deserves some attention and care and balance. But first, you need to define what each of those areas means to you and what you would like each to look like for yourself.

Physical Health

Physical health encompasses diet and exercise, plus relaxation and calm. Between workouts, you need to take breaks; you need to stretch and allow your muscles to heal. Physical levels of activity are super variable amongst people, so how you decide to get and stay active is all up to you. Some ideas to get you started:

• Join a Gym
• attend classes – zumba, aerobics, high intensity training
• yoga – there’s aerobic versions and core power that incorporate cardio and strength training with yoga poses
• hire a trainer
• outdoors: biking, tennis, running, walking
• joining an intramural league for your favorite sport
• dance classes
• pole dancing
• get a Peloton
• watch youtube videos on at-home exercises

This is just a list to get you started and thinking about what the options are out there and get you going. Choose whatever fits with your lifestyle and fitness goals. In the same way, your diet should fit your goals for your health. Are you trying to lose weight? Do you need to reduce cholesterol? Figure out what it is you need to do to be healthier and feel better and then incorporate a diet that helps you in those areas. I’d also like to say that the diet you choose should be one that is sustainable and something that doesn’t make you feel deprived; diets that deprive you ultimately fail because we ultimately cave in to our cravings. In addition, having a cheat day, or a day where you maybe don’t feel like working out or eating healthy doesn’t mean your entire fitness and health goes out the window. You’re more likely to succeed in attaining your goals if you persist; don’t let one bad day continue on into a bad week. Instead, the next day, start up again with your exercise and your mindful eating. So long as you keep going and keep moving forward, you’ll achieve your goals.

Mental Health

I’m a huge advocate for everyone seeing a therapist. I started seeing one about three years ago, and even though she’s told me to stop coming, I still go. Checking in with someone and unloading your stress and receiving solid objective feedback is unparalleled. We don’t talk about or take care of our mental health enough. If you aren’t in a place where you can, or want, to go for therapy, then might I suggest this instead:

• Journaling – writing out your thoughts can do wonders for helping you sort through and deal with your emotions
• Have a friend or family member that you regularly check in with. Find your squad and be there for each other.
• Meditate – give yourself the quiet, mental space to sort through your thoughts and shift your focus so that you are able to deal with them effectively.
• Take regular breaks to reset. Whatever life stressors you’re dealing with, if you don’t regularly take a breath to sort through and let go of the tension that has built up, you will burn out.

Again, these are just suggestions to get you started and hopefully get you through whatever you’re currently dealing with. Seeing a professional, is, ultimately, the best way to get feedback and learn some techniques and tools for coping.

Spiritual Health

For anyone who is religious, or follows a religion: are you making time for your faith? Sometimes the act of praying can be very meditative and cleansing. For anyone who is not religious, might I suggest that you interpret this as getting to know yourself better, understand your own spirit. As time goes on, life changes, and over time, we realize that we too have changed. Check-in with yourself every now and again and make sure that what you’re doing on a regular basis truly aligns with who you are and who you are becoming.

Social Health

It’s important to maintain a social life. Work-life balance is crucial for us to feel like we have control over our lives and are actually living. As we all know, life is short and unpredictable. We have to make the most of our time and of the opportunities that come our way. So,

• Are you making the most of your days?
• Are you taking opportunities for socializing that comes your way?
• Are you filling your free time with experiences that teach you and fulfill you?
• Most importantly: are you making time for and prioritizing social time?

It’s difficult when you’re physically and mentally exhausted from work, but sometimes spending time with friends and family can be the very thing that helps you get out of your own head, be yourself, get in a few laughs and jokes, and truly let go of your stress and help you unwind. If you’re like me and have moved around a lot for career and training, then I get it. Making friends in a new city that you trust and really be yourself with can be extremely difficult. I encourage you to keep trying on that front and in the meantime, utilize all the great resources we have to stay connected long-distance: facetime, zoom, WhatsApp, etc. ????