What do you feel like when you wake up each day?
I don't mean the moment you hit your alarm. I mean the moment you are fully awake and seeing your day stretched before you. Are you happy? Are you fearful? Are you tired? Let's keep going. What do you do for yourself each morning? Are you hydrating your body, taking a few moments to set intentions, cuddling a loved one (furry or non), or brewing coffee? How does your belly feel? Are you hungry? Still full? Sick? Hurt? Are you happy about work? About returning home from work and what you've built there?
You deserve to wake up each morning and feel strong. You shouldn't feel ill from bad food or lack of water. You might enjoy a little soreness as you stand up out of bed! But you deserve to feel capable and ready to take on the day. Let's be honest - most of us don't feel amazing in the morning. Most of us could do a little better. But how? You have to tap into why your health and fitness matter before you start fixing the big picture.
First of all, your body is one of very few things you have control of in this world. We don't get to tell our friends of significant others how to function but we have the utmost control over how our bodies feel. If you fed your kid (clearly including pets in this instance, and always, as kids) ice cream and they were sick the next morning, would you EVER feed them ice cream again? No? Then why would you ever eat something that makes you feel badly and then return to it? Our WHY we do good things for ourselves is equally important as to WHY we do bad things to ourselves.
Food shouldn't be a punishment, nor should working out. Let's stop attending social events because we "should" and start spending time with people who make us laugh and smile and think. Don't do a bootcamp to punish yourself for eating pizza. Don't eat pizza to punish yourself for messing something up at work. Don't go to a happy hour because you feel obligated to make small talk with coworkers. Do a bootcamp because you want to be strong. Eat pizza because it's delicious. Make plans with your friends that you look forward to all damn day.
LIVE WITH INTENTION.
I have not mastered it. I make mistakes every day. But that's why I am on a neverending quest to help other people find ways to take care of their body, mind, and soul. We all deserve to stand up out of bed excited to meet the day. We should have things and people and work and food to look forward to each day. If you don't, you are wasting the most precious resource you have. We deserve, better yet, we need to live each moment remembering WHY we do so and serving that purpose. Take the time to consider why you do what you do throughout the day. Those decisions pile up and become why you're living your life. Decide on your WHY and your happiness will follow.