How To Create A Lifestyle Of Wellness
March 30, 2020
Article by Barbie Haven of Desired Lives.
With every new year comes a rush of people motivated to set new wellness goals, eat healthier, go to the gym more and lose the extra pounds they packed on during the holiday season. According to a study done by Stastista in October 2019, the three most popular 2020 New Year Resolutions all focused on wellness, with 41% of those polled saying they wanted to lose weight.
While I believe it is important to set health goals that lead to living a lifestyle of wellness, there is more to a healthy lifestyle than losing weight. One of the most common misconceptions I’ve seen is the belief that skinny equals healthy. In reality, the size and shape of your body is not the deciding factor in whether you’re living a lifestyle of wellness. Unfortunately, the constant portrayal of thin women in marketing and advertising has not only led many women down the path of unrealistic expectations but also has contributed to the negative body image problem we are facing in today’s world.
Young girls and women have been trying to live up to the ideals and standards they’ve seen in advertising for decades. So how do you stay body image positive in a world that is constantly defining beauty by the size of your clothes and the number on the scale? And how do you move forward with making wellness a lifestyle and not a diet that needs a New Years’ resolution each year? The short answer to both of these questions is a mindset.
Why Mindset Matters
Before you can begin to create a true lifestyle of wellness that isn’t focused on you looking a certain way you must learn to love who you are right now, muffin top and all. Changing the dialogue you have with yourself starts by what you’re saying (or not saying) when you look in the mirror. Do you look at yourself and see the amazing creation you are, or are you too busy picking apart your perceived flaws and not enoughness?
Learning to love ourselves requires us to pay attention to what our minds are thinking. We must practice the skill of consciously choosing what to think. We also need to forgive ourselves for the times we forget how great we are and slip into old patterns of negative thinking. With repeated practice, increased self-awareness and a new belief that we are already enough, we can then stop trying to be the image we’ve been brainwashed to believe is how we “should” look in order to be okay.
Making It A Lifestyle
Once you have done the groundwork to love who you are right now, set yourself up for success in making wellness a lifestyle by not falling into the most common trap I’ve seen: all or nothing thinking. This type of mindset will leave you taking on too many changes at once, all of which you may try to do perfectly, which ultimately you won’t do perfectly because life happens (for all of us). This leads to burnout, constantly starting over, never starting or simply giving up. Instead start with small changes and adopt the mindset of consistent imperfect action.
Be Ok With Imperfection
In the end, you must know that a lifestyle of wellness does not equate to perfection on any level. There will always be bumps in the road, negative thoughts to redirect and times where you make choices you regret. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed when you had a piece of cake at aunt Lucy’s party. It simply means you’re human.
Want to connect or need help reaching your goal?
Reach out to Barbie Haven of Desired Lives!
My name is Barbie. (Not Barb or Barbra. Seriously, though – don’t even think it.) I am a Life & Wellness Coach that helps you take action towards real change. I am fierce about empowering women to be who they were before the world told them they had to be someone else. To choose self-love, self-care and total mind/body wellness that enables them to radiate with enthusiam and joy.
I believe that every struggling woman can re-write their story. I know because I did.
I create space for women to practice being fully seen and heard. I offer the tools to shift you into high conscious living so you can practice mind/body wellness as a way of life. I open up a safe place for you to feel what you are feeling while simultaneously empowering you to choose movement forward. I am your cheerleader, your change agent, your gremlin stomper, dream chaser, wisdom whisperer and body image confidence booster. Are you ready to live your desired life?
