Wellness is so important for our health and wellness journey. Not only does it help us become disciplined in the habit of practicing self-care, but it also holds us accountable for being as healthy as we possibly can be. This isn’t just in regards to our physical health, but our mental and emotional health as well.
Practicing wellness isn’t something that happens overnight. It requires discipline and the habit of doing so consistently. For years engaging in wellness activities was something that I neglected to do. I always blamed it on being too tired because of school, or even tricking myself into believing that everything was ok with my health, even though I knew it actually wasn’t.
Looking back on this now I know it was mainly because I was so lazy. While going to school full-time, engaging in social activities that were important to me, caring for the kids and my family, as well as believing that I was somewhat healthier than most, were valid factors to consider, they weren’t the honest answer behind my reasoning for neglecting a consistent wellness practice. It was because I was lazy.
Plain and simple.
We all get in those moods or have those days when we do a lot, and once everything is said and done, we don’t want to do anything more. Or if you’re anything like me, once you’ve made plans for the day you do everything you can to stick to the schedule, and once it’s complete it’s a wrap for the day. You have no intention of doing anything more even if it’s something good for your health.
This my friend is what I have come to learn as the standard definition of laziness, and I’ve been a victim of it for most of my life.
This year I really focused on changing this. I wanted to shed the lazy mindset, skills, and abilities that were so deeply embedded in my bones, and start making wellness practices an essential and necessary part of my daily life. While it was a challenge and there were many moments when I found myself not committing to this goal, I can honestly say that having specific wellness practices that I do daily is something good that was able to come out of this year for me in regards to improving my health.
Having specific wellness practices to help you rejuvenate is so important for your health. So today I am going to share with you 5 easy ways you can practice wellness.
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Find specific things that you love to do
If there is one thing that I can tell you about practicing wellness, it is to do things that you love and actually enjoy. I honestly believe the main reason I struggled for so many years with practicing wellness consistently is because I was constantly doing things that I believed should have been doing.
This included things such as extreme workouts, extreme eating diets, fasting when I didn’t want to fast, changing my diet when nothing was wrong with it to begin with, or cutting out things from diet that weren’t a problem for my health.
I even engaged in physical activities that I didn’t like doing, such as joining a gym, walking around the mall for no reason, and even taking jobs that would require me to be more active even though I had no interest in the job itself.
All of this was an attempt to find my rhythm, my groove, and what really worked best for me. Little did I know I was doing it all wrong. I was doing things that I believed to be the right thing because they lined up with what it essentially meant to be “healthy”, but they weren’t things that I enjoyed to do which is why they never lasted long for me.
Now I know that this is not the right approach to take when engaging in wellness practices. You have to do things that you genuinely love to do. This is going to not only help you hold yourself accountable for engaging in that activity, but it’s going to give you something to look forward to doing.
This really is one of the unspoken rules about creating effective wellness practices, and having the discipline to remain consistent with them. Everything doesn’t work for everybody and you just really have to find the things that work best for you. If hiking isn’t one of them, don’t do it, but if you really love cycling, do more of it.
It’s really that simple.
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Know your peak time of day
This is extremely important. Another hurdle I kept running into with practicing wellness was simply finding the right time of day to engage in the right activity. I always tried to engage in wellness practices during the day just because this seemed normal to me. People are awake and active during the day so why not use that time to get in a workout, go for a walk, take a yoga class, or whatever the activity of choice may be.
Wrong.
I always had a ton of things to do during the day that I never had any time to engage in any wellness practices the way I wanted to. This left me with an inconsistent routine with practicing wellness, which ultimately made me feel as though getting healthy and engaging in healthy activities was something that I was not capable of doing.
Until I learned otherwise.
Earlier this year I started to wake up at 5am every morning. Initially this was to just get a head start to my day until I realized that I was just using those extra hours to be lazy then so that I wouldn’t be lazy later in the day. Then one day I decided to wake up at 5am and do a workout.
After doing this for a whole month I realized that this was one of my peak times of day.
I had no distractions, no kids, or any commitments that could get in my way of exercising. So, I started to take advantage of that time by getting in my work out for the day. Here I am nearly a year later and it’s still my peak time of day.
It’s important to know your peak time of day because this is the time when you are able to completely focus on the task at hand and really give it your all. This is also usually the time of day when you may be high of energy, or in the right frame of mind to engage in a specific activity. This means that you will be able to not only be present in the moment, but to really dive deep into the wellness activity.
The benefits of this? An overall improvement in your health of course.
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Don’t overthink it
Don’t overthink the things you are doing and when you are doing them. It’s so easy to constantly wonder if this is the right thing to do in order to achieve this goal, or whether or not you are simply doing a specific activity the right or wrong way. This is the quickest way to set yourself up for failure.
There is no right or wrong way to practice wellness and this is because wellness looks and feels different for everyone.
Beginners yoga is really my jam because it’s at a pace that I am comfortable with. However, just because I love beginner’s yoga even though I’ve been doing yoga for nearly two years now, doesn’t mean I’m in the wrong class and need to take an advanced class. It just means that this is what works best for me, and until I feel like I need more of a challenge (and this already is a challenge all in itself) I’m not going to force my body to move onto something else.
This is the kind of mindset you need to have with your wellness practices. It’s not always about challenging yourself but instead just making your health a priority. Sometimes this means you take the easy way out and engage in an activity that isn’t pushing you to try your hardest, and that’s ok.
Wellness is about self-care, self-improvement, and rejuvenation. Not competition even if it’s just with yourself. So, don’t overthink the things you are and are not doing. Instead, find something that works for you and stick with it until you are ready to move on.
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Don’t be afraid to try new things
I wish I would have told myself this years ago. The beautiful thing about practicing wellness is that there are so many different activities you can do. As we already established, there is no right or wrong way to practice wellness, there’s just the simple act of doing.
I use to always box myself into doing things that I knew for a fact I could do, and shying away from things I had never even tried to do. For example, I’ve always wanted to go hiking but for a really long time I never went hiking because I didn’t believe I had the leg power, let alone the stamina to do it.
So instead I just opted out for really long walks (but I did eventually go hiking!).
While walking isn’t a bad thing, I did limit myself in expanding my wellness practices simply because of the fear of trying to do something that I had never done before. The result of this was me finding myself in a boring routine of specific wellness practices that I would do for a specific amount of time, before I decided that it was no longer working for me and I needed to take a break.
And just in case it wasn’t clear, taking a “break” meant putting my wellness journey on hold until I worked up the motivation to resume it again.
This was because I was not stepping outside of my comfort zone and trying new things. When you do this, you are limiting yourself and all the potential you have in creating a solid list of various wellness activities that you enjoy doing.
To avoid the big mistake that I made for many years I highly encourage you to try new things all the time. Whether that’s by yourself or with a friend, every once in a while, try something new that you have never done before. It’s the only way to know for sure whether or not that activity is something that you enjoy doing, and believe it can help you achieve your wellness goals or not.
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Do it for yourself
Finally, do it for yourself.
I know it’s so easy to get caught up in the midst of what is considered desirable right now, or what is the popular thing to do, but honestly it could be a trap in disguise. If there is anything I have learned about the value of wellness, it’s that what is considered the hot thing to do isn’t always the thing you should be doing.
There are a number of reasons for this, such as the hot new thing being something that may be out of your price range, may be something that you aren’t really interested in trying, or it could even just be the fact that you’re only interested in it because others are making a big deal out of it.
Don’t give into the peer pressure.
You have to be really clear and specific about the activities that you genuinely have an interest in because the moment you do something for a reason that does not algin with your goals or your journey thus far, you’re doing it for all the wrong reasons. And this is the easiest way to get off track with your wellness practices and goals.
Instead, keep in mind the reason you began the journey to begin with and be picky with the wellness practices you choose to engage in and the ones you choose to pass on. Wellness isn’t about keeping up with others, it’s about doing what feels right for yourself, and that’s not always going to be the hot new thing.
So, remember why you started and stick with things that make the most sense for you and your journey. Not only will you remain consistent with your routine and continue to improve daily, but practicing wellness won’t seem like a challenge or a chore for you. Instead it will seem like something you are choosing to do simply because you want to.
Do you have any tips for how to practice wellness? Also, what’s currently your favorite wellness activity?
-Xo
Kimora
