Over the years, many of us have tried to live a healthy lifestyle but failed. Many of us have switched to unhealthy lifestyle during the #corona times. And then there are many of us who never felt the need to have any so-called healthy lifestyle.

Whether we like it or not, we all know that getting ON or getting BACK to a #healthy lifestyle is important.

Enlisted below are some of the very well known ways to do the same with my experiences and thoughts.

EAT CLEAN

There are various researches done on topics like how much one should eat as per their gender, age, work, #goals, etc. What should one eat as per their body type, #doshas, blood groups, allergies, etc? Should one eat raw food or cooked or semi-cooked food? Should one eat only freshly cooked food or frozen food is as good? How many times should one eat? Is #fasting a good idea? Should you use a #microwave oven coz it can cause #cancer? Should you eat #vegetarian or non-vegetarian food? Some say milk and chocolates are good for us and some say it is not. How many glasses of water should I drink?

Well all that you need to figure out with your doctor/ nutritionist/ yourself.

Having a balanced diet, keeping utmost care of various factors mentioned including hygiene and taste is one thing. But do you think your food is prepared with love? Do you think you are happy and grateful while eating? Our thoughts and feelings have a great role to play. So be mindful and make eating a ritual than just a chore to fuel your body when it is empty. The human body is much more than just a machine.

SLEEP OVER IT

Sleeping puts our body to rest. Sleeping charges our body with energy. Sleeping gives our brain, time to sort all the data collected. Sleeping heals us on various levels. It makes us fresh, helps us in coming out with the right solution to a problem. Don’t think, just #sleep. It’s that simple. Everything else would be taken care of automatically.

POSITIVE MIND

Our #thoughts are very powerful. If we can master how we think, it’s like mastering over a computer program and formulating it as per our needs n wants.

Easier said than done! It’s true. In fact, it is said that the day you control your thoughts is the day you #enlighten. So you can understand what we are dealing with. It’s going to take a long time and some of us don’t even want enlightenment. We just want #happiness in the #NOW which I think is a good start and a practical thing to do.

There are various tools and techniques available which I would be discussing here on my website at one point. Some of them fall under the heading of #meditation and believing in yourself.

Sometimes some people are going through a lot on the lines of #stress and #depression. To them, such things are not as simple as giving a pill. You need to do a psychological surgery for them or rather it should be that they do it themselves with some aide/#counselling. That’s again a separate study.

For others who have #anxiety, one can start with physical activity. It’s almost like shaking someone to wake up from a deep sleep.

FITNESS

Fitness is directly linked to our physical body. There are various types of physical activities available. Eg. Sports, gym activities, athletics, yoga, martial arts, etc. We just need to pick at least one of our choice and stick to it. Once we move our body, the endorphins kick in and bring us to a happy hormone state. From this state, we can work on our mind with other tools like meditation and go deeper to transform ourselves for our well being.

SCHEDULE

To fit in everything we have to do, everything we need to do, everything we like to do, proper #timemanagement is inevitable. A schedule as per me not only makes our life in order and helps us achieve goals, it ensures that we are not stuck or attached to one part of our lives. It designs all spheres of our life.

Take a few days and come up with a #schedule/#plan for yourself. Include everything in it. Make sure it is realistic. I believe successful people who say that they don’t write down a schedule have built themselves to mentally have a schedule. The schedule is still present whether they know it or not. On paper or on the mind.

INNER CIRCLE

There are people around us by default. And then there are people who we keep or want to keep around us. The 1st and 2nd can be the same and when it is same, it’s a blessing. So inner circle are the people who may or may not be physically around you. They could be on a different continent. But they are the ones with whom you can discuss your plan to get back to a healthy lifestyle. It is said that when you tell someone your goal or write it down then you are more likely to achieve it because then you are accountable. It doesn’t work for everyone though. But many times our inner circle can nudge us and remind us sincerely to put us back on track in case we lose interest after some time. If you want to add turbo speed to this entire process then you could even tell someone you know will make a mockery out of you if you don’t achieve that goal[I don’t recommend this, but some people work better when they are triggered or challenged]. I would suggest the inner circle option that would help you transform gradually and suitably keeping your mind sane.

LEARN

I highly recommend stepping out of your usual life to do and to #learn something new. It doesn’t have to be anything drastically different, but it should be something different from your routine.

Exploring new things, places and meeting new people always adds up. We either learn something new or what we know gets confirmed. We should be in a learning state always. Otherwise, if anyone tells us something contrary to our belief we would simply walk away without analysing the other person’s perspective. When we keep learning, our mind and our body remains active and enables us in keeping a healthy lifestyle.

SET SMALL OR BIG GOALS

It might not be possible for you to switch your life immediately to your #dream lifestyle so maybe you would need to design 2-3 in-between levels. eg. If you have been waking up past 11 am for a long time and your goal is to wake up at 4 am then probably start with 8:30 am, taking it to 6 am and then probably 4 am. Set small goals.

On the contrary, some people do better when they directly jump on to the final level. As per the situation and task in hand do what suits you.

REWARD YOURSELF

Reward yourself on achievements. If you reach a milestone of your goal, reward yourself. Try that the rewards don’t take you back the unhealthy ways. Maybe buy yourself a new dress when you lose a few kilos rather than going on a buffet. Rewards can work like encouragements. Exactly the same way we reward a child. We all are a child deep down. Aren’t we?

IN THE END

Stand up on every fall. Take a few weeks to rest, to evaluate or to mourn but you must stand up and get back to your ideal healthy lifestyle.

Every time you try, you do a little better than the previous times. Every time you try, you learn something more about yourself. Do not stop yourself from meeting yourself. Show courage!

Health is wealth and you definitely want a lot of it.