Living Holistically … You May Be Missing the Mark – If you even check social media once a week… is that even a thing … you are more than abundantly aware that health and wellness are two of the hottest topics out there. Yes, suddenly, in our post-covid world, too many individuals, specifically many “influencers,” are suddenly experts on all issues directly related to your health and how you should be living your life more optimally.
Interesting …
Words like holistic, organic, homeopathic, alternative, Ayurvedic, and many others are getting a lot of attention and airtime. While I’m not going to completely give Covid all the credit for this seemingly sudden and noticeable focus on health and wellness, it certainly did make many of us take stock of just how we are living our lives and the lifestyle choices we are and have been making. So let me ask you…
If you were to take an inventory of the choices you make or have made over the last few years to improve your quality of life and feel your best, where would you rate yourself on a scale of 1-10?
How many times have you decided to do things better with the sole intention of improving your overall wellness quotient? I’ll go first… plenty! Yes, I’m a holistic health practitioner, but that in no way means I have everything completely figured out all the time. Also, keep in mind that as I hover around the half-century phase of my life, the WHAT I need to be doing has changed considerably because my body is no longer that 27-year-old who was able to get away with a lot of things. Life is very humbling, but it doesn’t mean that getting older has to completely suck either. It does require you to be very much aware of what your body is telling you, listening to that, being an active participant in the conversation, and…
Making some necessary lifestyle changes. So, while your favorite influencer may be sharing and highlighting how their celery juice diet has “completely changed my life,” I would ask you to take a moment and just pause.
Do you really want to commit to something like that for several months before you realize you really don’t feel like a superhero and you’re now a bit miserable to be around?
When you find yourself in a place where you are simply not happy with your overall health… maybe you’re struggling to lose some extra weight that crept up on you, perhaps getting quality sleep is now a struggle, or maybe you just don’t feel as good as you want to. Whatever it is that may be causing you to rethink lifestyle choices, I’m going to ask you to get very real with yourself because, in my opinion, this is where living holistically must start.
I just heard you gasp… lol.
Hey, most of us want to live a healthy “holistic” life. I mean, it sounds AMAZING, right?! But what does holistic really mean?
In a nutshell, when we speak about health in a holistic sense, we really refer to the whole person. That includes considering mental, spiritual, and social factors, and not just what we see as far as the symptoms of illness or dis-ease. Alright, so what does that mean? I love this question so much because it allows me the opportunity to challenge people to think beyond what they are feeling physically and get them to really dig deep into the other areas of their life that may be having a massive impact on their physical health.
Kind of trippy, right?
You are a beautiful and intricate individual with systems that constantly communicate with one another and work together to keep you healthy and vibrant—to keep you thriving, essentially.
So, what happens when feeling great starts to slide into, “I really don’t feel like myself anymore. I have no energy, my sleep is terrible, and I can’t seem to maintain my weight.“
While many of us start looking at food and exercise, which absolutely make sense and are great areas to address, what else plays into this harmonious orchestra of living holistically?
How about… what are the thoughts and internal dialogue that play in your mind daily? How about the quality of your relationships? How about… whether you spend a large portion of your day “doom-scrolling” versus reading books to improve your brain health? How about… the time you spend each day actively practicing gratitude?
Did I lose you there? I hope not because it is truly awe-inspiring just how much these other elements play into your overall health, wellness, and the quality of life you are living. If you believe that living holistically has only to do with what you are putting into your body and how you are moving your body, you only have part of the equation.
If living holistically is something that you aspire to, then I would say this…
“Look beyond your body to the other things and the people that you are consistently engaging with. Is there something there that needs to be examined carefully because it may very well be having an impact on how you feel in your body?” And if you think this sounds absurd, let me ask you this…
“After you have a heated argument with a loved one, how do you feel? And how do you feel when you make up and resolve the issue that caused the argument in the first place?”
Perhaps a little reflection will help you get into a better groove of living more holistically.
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