Healthy Lifestyle: Looking Past the Diet and Exercise

If you want to improve your lifestyle, you’ve probably already tried changing your eating habits (for the better) and exercise. However, you still may not feel fulfilled.. Why is that? Mental health is just as important as physical health. Oftentimes when you feel good first, looking good naturally follows.

First you need to find out what is truly standing in the way of your happiness. Is it a dead-end job, a sour relationship or the same monotonous routine? For some, this may be easy to pinpoint. For others, this may be a challenge. Don’t hesitate to ask a person close to you for his/her opinion.

Now you assume I’m going to suggest that once you find the problem you have to change it. Not necessarily. Some large decisions could be in the way: your kids, your extended family, your situation. I totally get that. But there could be some other things you can change to make those tough times seem not so bad.

• Plan a weekend getaway. This doesn’t have to be extravagant or far away; it could just be to a local hotel or to a woodsy cabin. But when you get out of your familiar environment, you can take time to breathe and get your thoughts off of the things that have been occupying your mind.
• Try something you’ve never done before. Have you always wanted to go skydiving? Or maybe your adventure level is more along the lines of trying that new Thai restaurant. Do it! What’s holding you back besides yourself?
• Take as much time for yourself as you give to others. This is a foreign concept for many people in today’s fast-paced world. Whether you’re an extrovert, introvert or somewhere in the middle, you need to take as much care of yourself as you take care of others. And you are the only one who can determine what that looks like.
• Develop a life plan. Sometimes the thing that gets us down is that we don’t know where we’re going. Determine what you truly want to accomplish in life and work towards it.

Slowly but surely, your mental health will start improving. And once that happens, everything else will fall into place.