A Healthy Journey Part Two - Get In Touch with Your Feelings

Hi everyone! This is my second post in my healthy journey series.

So why not me? There are tons of fitness models and coaches and professional athletes well in to their 60's who are in better shape than me. I'm only 34, surely I can get fit too? Right?

Sure! Of course! But it won't start in the gym. It won't start at the grocery store either. And it certainly won't start online shopping for cute work-out clothes.

It starts inside. In your head. Yep.

Dig deep and get in touch with those feelings!

(This is Dahlia. Stealing sports bras off the drying rack is her version of getting healthy.)

Something in my brain had to finally turn on and get it. This can't be about being a certain size. It can't be about looking like a Kardashian or Cindy Crawford. This is about being healthy. Which means FEELING good. And feelings start on the inside. And then they work to the outside. And when you feel good, others can feel it too.

Notice I said feel. Not see. Feel. Just think about it.

If you feel good about yourself, you are likely to smile more, use more open body language, have a more positive mood and generally be more pleasant to be around. I am not saying you are perfect, or never crabby, but generally people who feel good are more fun to be around than people who feel shitty. Just think about people you know and how you feel when you are around them. Crabby, fun-suckers might be funny for awhile or you can understand their struggles, but being around them constantly is draining. When you are around someone who is smiling and positive (not like nauseating-Polly Anna-optimistic all the frickin time either) is more relaxing and fun to be around. Agreed?

Once I was able to start getting my mind on the right path, it wasn't as much of a struggle to start getting the rest of me there too. It wasn't a cake walk, but it wasn't as much of struggle as it has been in the past. You can't do nothing, eat like shit and mope and expect to suddenly feel better or lose weight. You have to own who you are and decide that you want to feel better and then figure out what you need to do to get there.

This mental clarity or realization has take me YEARS to figure out. It's still something I have to remind myself daily and some days are better than others. But physical health is directly linked to mental health. Get your head in the game and watch it change everything.