5 HANDS ON TIPS ON HEALTHY LIVING YOU PROBABLY TOOK FOR GRANTED.

 

Ever been so sick that you could barely take care of yourself, be productive and savor the feeling of life, even if it was a mere headache, a running stomach, runny nose or as grave as cancer, diabetes etc?. You suddenly realize health is underrated and the most important asset to life is sound health of body and mind as it is a prerequisite to acquiring every other assets of life.

Heads up!, this is not going to be exactly the cliché post that tells you to drink water, exercise often etc even though I'm not invalidating those. This involves practical scenarios that confront most of us daily and how we handle them without jeopardizing our health but rather protecting it. 

Health on its own is a holistic concept as it cuts across physical, mental, social, psychological, occupational, spiritual, emotional wellbeing of a person. Hence, for one to be truly healthy, all/ most of these components should be in optimum conditions.

It is incredible that despite the potency and effectiveness of  these tips, they  are mostly swept under the carpet. However, it is only when we become practical about them that we begin to savor life more and live thoroughly healthy holistically.

Itching to know?

I have summarized these 5 hands on tips toward healthy living. They are:

LOVE YOU UNAPOLOGETICALLY: If a survey was done and the question; "Do you love yourself?" was asked, the answers will be mostly positive than negative but in actual reality is that true?. The basic step towards living healthy is loving yourself. Most times, lost in the pursuit of goals and life's resources, you seem to shove yourself to the bottom, mistreat yourself, beat yourself up. You let yourself absorb all the toxicity and negativity on the streets without putting a conscious filter to it. You diminish your self esteem and image by telling yourself; "I am not good enough", " I am unfit", " I can never be the best ", just because you feel you don't meet up to certain people or standards, hurting yourself in the process.

The harsh truth is, if you've not loved yourself truly, nobody can ever truly love you and you can never truly give love either. This is because you're the only person that determines  how you should be treated consciously or unconsciously, so if you've not cared for you, what  would others emulate to care for you. You need to set clear boundaries on how you should be treated and it must first apply for you on yourself. It is not just enough for you to say you love yourself or post pictures proclaiming self love, you must be able to be patient with yourself through your weaknesses, forgive yourself of your mistakes, embrace and appreciate your strengths, take care of yourself by improving your physical appearance, give yourself treats, speak good to you and about you, prioritize your happiness above all. That way you're able to be immune to negativity, uplift your confidence and consciously guard your health and look out for your overall wellbeing at all times.

HAPPINESS IS RELATIVE, SET YOUR OWN METER DEAR!: Happiness is not farfetched, but  very much with us and around us, but most times we look for it where it is not. What actually makes one happy, contrary to popular belief is not the quality of life or wealth of resources, remember the rich also cry, but the level of one's contentment with what one has, big or small. In fact, a happy man is a content man. This means that one invariably determines ones happiness by being pleased and satisfied with what one has. Simply, be happy in your own terms, not his or hers or theirs. Most times, we stake our happiness to certain people, or positions, or aspirations, or assets, we feel there are goals that will make us happy or items  in our bucket list we have to tick, maybe because people we know  or look up to have, but that only does one thing, which is defer your happiness. It is imperative to know, that as long as one has breathe, there would always be something to do, if that's true, it means at every point, one would have goals unmet and stuffs undone,  how about celebrating what you have done, your successes, regardless how small or insignificant they may seem, being more thankful for the daily miracles and the amazing people you have in your life, choosing to make the best of all situations you find yourself. Stop postponing that joy or happiness for later. "Nothing ever promised tomorrow today." You can only be in charge of your moment, why not make the best of it, by living it happily, and you know what?, when you singularly commit to being happy each day, you cumulatively end up happy always. 

We can't even underestimate the benefits of happiness to health as scientific research suggests that it increases quality of life, life expectancy, boosts the immune system, helps in stress management, healthy for the heart, ensures a healthier lifestyle and better decision making and problem solving skills.

SPREAD THAT LOVE  YOU'VE GOT NOW: I really dwelled a lot earlier on loving oneself because it becomes easier to spread love when you have it, remember, you can't possibly give what you don't have. This involves being empathetic and compassionate to others, friends and strangers alike, proferring a listening ear without being judgemental or stereotypical, diffusing happiness and positive energy to others, creating a warm environment for all who come across you, in fact, saturating your surroundings with healthy vibes. The resultant effect is that you have little or no room for unhealthy, negative or toxic emotions like hate, anger, jealousy that might want to negatively affect your mental health and emotional wellbeing, which in turn reflects in other components of your health.

LIVE INTENTIONALLY AND DELIBERATELY: This is my most favourite point because it is my daily forte. Being intentional about living means calling the shots exclusively in your life, being deliberate about your thoughts, words or actions towards your set objectives. As much as we have been advised previously not to stake our happiness to goals unmet, it doesn't overrule that meeting our set goals leave us with a feeling and sense of fulfillment. Goals are important in our daily living and it gives us a sense of direction and purpose. It gives meaning to our existence, I'll buttress this point with an analogy, if you woke up one morning, took a bus or got into your car and started driving without a direction, following every car ahead of you and leaving its trail once it gets to its destination, what does it make you?, I'm sure a clueless person. Having a purpose means having a proposed destination. Living intentionally in this analogy means being fully aware of the reason for every turn you make in that journey, for all the times you followed a path, you had your destination in mind. Living without intentions means living for nothing, merely existing and you know what it does to you, just like the driver following each car ahead, he often gets disappointed when it winds up at its destination and he realizes he has been doing nothing while he thought he was, hence, you're perpetually exasperated at life. It also means self reflection and examining your life to ensure that you're still on the right track. When you have a purpose to life, it helps you adopt strategies and measures towards its fulfillment, rooting yourself into a healthy, abundant life and finding happiness in the simple, ordinary things that bring inner peace and happiness.

DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM, BUT AWAY FROM IT: Problems will remain a daily part of our existence as humans and our problem solving skills is as important to our health. This is because if handled poorly, it could increase stress levels which could  negatively affect your blood pressure, mental health, immune system and other vital organs. There is a principle that has always worked for me and that's what I'm going to share to you, when I'm caught up in a difficult situation or a fix, the natural thing to do is to get riled up and worked up but I ask myself these meaningful questions, "is throwing a tantrum or walking angrily in circles going to profer a solution?,well if it would, I wouldn't mind but the answer is an emphatic NO. What then do I do?, I take calm breathes to enable me relax a bit, and I try to dissociate from the problem and think from an outward perspective.  I try to figure out the supposed solution to the said problem,even if it's farfetched, then I ask myself again, "what am I going to start doing now to be closer to this solution?", when I answer it, I get to it, trying as much as possible to stop myself from being stressed, you know why, when you're stressed, you can't make good decisions, so, you'll probably end up compounding issues, also, being stressed is not going to alleviate your problems, so why be it, concentrate and channel your energy on only what provides a solution and work at it, that way you keep a sane mind and guard your mental and overall health.