How many times have you heard the phrase “your body is a temple”? The phrase is designed so that we as people understand that we should be filling our body with good things and not negativity, toxins, bad things, etc. What we get in reality is a lot of distortion, self-doubt, and uncomfortableness talking about our bodies and our physicality. The physical world, society, social norms can produce a lot of toxic things.
Whether you classify yourself as a hardcore athlete or as plus-sized royalty, we all deserve and should love our bodies. After all, if we did not have it how would we experience the beautiful world around us? Do not get me wrong, it is important to be healthy but at what cost? Teenagers and young adults face challenge after challenge with their body, accepting it, and not comparing it against others. These negative distortions end up causing them to develop eating disorders, bad habits, and they learn to stop loving themselves.
Physical health is not universal for everyone. Diseases, conditions, and trauma can create a variety of physical appearances, occurrences, and characteristics that can impact a person’s daily life. More so, the physical self is impacted by the mental and emotional health of the person too.
So how do I improve my physical health?
First, trust your gut. If you think something is wrong, check it out. You are your body’s greatest scientist and you must protect your body from harm—even if you have issues with it. Secondly, surround yourself with supportive people who will challenge you, validate you, and encourage you to maintain what your definition of healthy looks like. Finally, find what you love and enjoy it. If you do not like running, do not force yourself to run. If you find that you really enjoy swimming, or hiking, or dancing, do what you enjoy doing and your body will smile.
How do I fix myself if I messed up?
Life should not be all picking up the broken pieces. It should be about living each day to its fullest potential. Remember the idea that we are who we are because we are who we are not? Let your body tell you that you messed up. Let your body tell you what it needs. Let your body heal. Let your body rest. Let your body enjoy and feel the same way you do.
At some point, we realize that our physical health is all the energy we put into achieving our goals. Simple changes like shopping better, sleeping better, planning your day, and disconnecting from social media all make you “healthier”. Making the decision to clean your house, landscape your yard, or bake cookies for the neighbor (or yourself) puts you in charge of your movement, which is ultimately tied to your definition of success. Dream big, but take actions that you know you can complete.
There is a classic riddle where you are poised with determining how to eat an elephant. The answer is one bite at a time. Taking realistic yet meaningful steps towards making better changes ultimately allows us to not only see the change we are producing but makes each additional step that much easier.
Physical health like its sibling mental health is a collection of energy. It is not just how our body feels, what we put in it, how we use it, or how the world around us views or impacts it; is the sum of the experiences around us that guide us towards being better. While this seems abstract at first, think about every reason, motivation, or energy source around why you were making some change. At the root of it all, it comes from our physical need for active fulfillment. You diet because you want to lose weight. You sleep because you are tired. You speak because you have something to say.
Every action, reaction, and thing we do is rooted in our own personal desire to achieve what we have set before us. While building a savings account is not inherently physical, the extra hours of work, the active mindset of saving, and the conscious awareness to not buy $200 of stuff at Target are all physical. They require the energy to be complete.
