Throughout the course of my health journey, I’ve learned that diet and nutrition improvements are only part of the battle. The rest can be found in the lifestyle changes that we choose to implement for ourselves.
Our society glorifies busyness, important but stressful jobs, big houses and expensive cars, fancy but meaningless things, managing a full-time job with a full-time family plus tons of activities, and non-stop burning the candle at both ends.
These things might make you appear “successful” by society’s standards, but they are a not-so-secret recipe for sickness, disease, overwhelming stress, the burden of financial debt, and general unhappiness.
Over the past 10 years I’ve learned to let go of the “American Dream” in so many ways. This has been freeing beyond belief. The things that I’ve purposefully cut out of my life and the things that I’ve purposefully put into my life have played a major part in keeping me well.
Just as with my diet changes, it’s been a trial and error scenario to see what changes have been worth making permanent.
My life and my family’s life looks counter-cultural in so many ways (we live in a condo in an urban area, we don’t own much compared to your average American family, our main source of transportation is our legs, we homeschool, etc).
After my illness, instead of simply doing the things our culture and society tells us we should do, we decided to take a step back and examine what was really important to us and what we really want, and most importantly how could we shape our lifestyle in a way that would make life more simple and less stressful.
While my life isn’t perfect, my lifestyle is on purpose.
Here’s a list of ten of the things that have made a huge difference for me in my journey. There will be future posts expounding on these topics, so stay tuned!
Sleep. We don’t get nearly enough of it and it’s killing us. Getting lots of sleep was KEY in my healing journey and remains a priority for me.
Simple Living/Minimalism. It’s true what they say, the more you own the more that owns you, but minimalism is about so much more than what “stuff” you own – it’s a whole mindset.
Simplified Schedule. In our culture we not only pack our own schedule to the gills but we pack our kid’s schedules as well (hello entire weekend sports tournaments?) and it’s robbed us of our time to actually rest our bodies, rejuvenate our minds, and just be with each other.
Physical exercise. My two favorite kinds of exercise are yoga and walking. Yoga was a critical part of my healing and continues to give me strength, flexibility, and a connection to my own body that far exceeds any other form of exercise I’ve ever done. Walking is not just good for the body but SO good for the mind, I believe that walking is the most underrated form of exercise there is!
Reflection. We are constantly taking in information and a lot of it is good stuff that we could use to learn, grow, and improve our lives and the lives of others. The problem is that we keep ourselves so distracted that we don’t give ourselves a chance to process hardly any of it.
Meditation/Prayer/Visualization/Affirmations/Mindfulness. Stress and anxiety management is something we can never stop practicing if we want to stay healthy. These tools are lifesavers. Experiment and find out what works best for you.
Continual learning. Even if we didn’t enjoy learning in school, now that we’re adults, we get to learn about whatever we want! I love learning about history, art, and of course health topics, so I frequently make time to read, watch videos, visit museums, etc. with the purpose of learning more.
Reading for fun. In a world full of screens, nothing settles us down into a comfortably familiar place more than cracking open a good, old fashioned book.
Giving back. Too much has been given, much is required. I was given a second chance at life, and I don’t let myself forget it. Finding ways, no matter how small, by which I can contribute to making my neighborhood, community, and the world a better place has found a new urgency.
Gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude. No explanation needed.
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