As women we all strive to be in the best shape we possibly can be. This is because we have so many different roles that we tend to take on. We’re mothers, sisters, aunts, God-mothers, workers/breadwinners, business women, and so much more. Taking on so many different roles, sometimes all at once, means that we hold ourselves to a lot of responsibilities throughout the day.
While we may make it look easy, the reality is that it’s not always easy. We have mastered juggling a ton of roles and responsibilities in various situations and on various occasions. While this is great and amazing and I believe showcases the true strength of women, it does tend to have one downfall to it.
We are always so focused on making sure that everyone we love and care about are well taken care of that we tend to forget about ourselves. We put our health, our happiness, our wants, and our needs on hold because it fulfills us so much more to care for others first.
This is one area that most of us as women are still struggling to master.
I believe this is because we tend to fail to acknowledge just how much energy, time, and commitment is required in order to not only care for multiple individuals, but ourselves as well. This causes us to prioritize the health, happiness, and sanity of others over ourselves, and by time we finally get around to checking in with us, we’ve already crashed into a wall mentally, emotionally, and physically.
So how do we avoid this? How do we still allow ourselves to be everything that our loved ones need us to be, while also showing up for ourselves just as equally? Truth be told it’s a lot harder than it may seem but there is a secret formula to doing it all.
Read on to learn about 5 of the best habits healthy women have that you need to pick up today in order to continue to be super in everything that you do.
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1. Regularly engage in physical activities
Healthy women regularly engage in physical activities. This can range from a variety of activities such as hiking, exercising, speed walking, and even being a rock climber. The key to engaging in physical activities is simply to be active. There’s no rhyme or reason for how this “properly” looks because this is going to look different for everyone.
The best way to increase your physical activity is to have hobbies that you genuinely enjoy doing. These also have to be hobbies that you do not find hard to commit to. When creating a hobby, make sure that it’s something you would actually look forward to doing. For example, if you despise being in nature don’t take on a hobby of hiking, but if you love flexibility training, then take on a hobby doing Pilates.
In addition to creating various hobbies, make sure that you are able to create a realistic routine to be able to engage in them regularly. Whether this is a daily, weekly, or every other day activity for you make sure you can be consistent with it. This is so important because you want to have some type of activity that will inspire you to stay active so that you can have the energy and endurance needed to authentically live up to your many different roles.
2. Stress less smile more
This is the best piece of advice anyone could ever tell you. Stress is a normal part of life. Many of us may try to avoid it at all times to the best of our ability, but every now and then we’re all bound to experience it. It’s not fun stressing and when we stress it can really take a toll on our mental, emotional, and physical health.
Avoid stressful situations by creating more space and opportunity for you to be happy. This starts with eliminating negative factors from your life, removing negative self-talk from your vocabulary, and creating a consistent self-care and wellness routine that you can be committed to. Having all three of these important elements are so important because they help create the foundation of peace in your life.
People who are genuinely happy are happy because the genuinely do not have major stress factors in their life. They stress about things that may be important and necessary (such as work, family and personal health, etc.), but they don’t stress because their environment being negative. Removing all forms of negativity will create a happier and healthier environment for yourself which will help you be in better health.
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3. Avoid comparing
This is such a big one! As women we are often taught to see and view one another as competition. Doing so will have a negative impact on our confidence and self-esteem, and ultimately create a lot of self-doubt in our ability to achieve great things. Unfortunately, this type of mindset is something we are taught at a very young age, and it isn’t until we are much older when we start to learn otherwise.
Healthy women are healthy because they do not see other women as competition. Instead, they tend to see pieces of themselves in other women, and want to be able to evolve in some way from that perspective. Whether this is helping other women in ways others may have helped them, learning something new from other women, or even having the support to evolve into something bigger than themselves, healthy women do not compete.
Which means that they do not compare. Instead, they learn to identify ways that they can help and support other women, and they share their gifts with others. When we choose to see other women as equals who have just as much to give and learn from us as we do them, we create a healthy relationship with ourselves.
This relationship allows us to be able to give ourselves the love and attention that we need in order to be the best version of ourselves for others.
4. Set goals & plan ahead
Healthy women also have goals that they are constantly working towards. Goals are so important because they are a constant reminder that our wants and needs are just as important as everyone else’s. Having goals is also a great way to hold yourself accountable for creating a life that you are truly happy with.
It ensures that you are not settling for anything less than what you want, and that you have something meaningful to look forward to in the near future. Your goals are also a great way to constantly plan ahead. Planning ahead is a great way to keep a consistent routine/schedule, know when and where you can take advantage of opportunities to help you get closer to your goals, as well as see how often you are allowing yourself to rest.
While this is not the most important habit to have to strive to be healthier, it is the most effective. This is because having goals and a plan for everything that surrounds those goals allows you to be able to see how often you may be overworking yourself, or you may be allowing yourself to recover.
A big part of health is having balance in your life. You create balance by doing just enough to feel like you’re making significant progress, but not enough to constantly be crashing and burning. Set goals and plan ahead so that you can keep track how you are using your energy effectively.
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5. Express gratitude
Finally, express gratitude always. Gratitude is literally the act of acknowledging your blessings, all that you have, and everything that makes your life full and fruitful. When we practice gratitude, we are creating more space in our life to do things that will continue fill our lives with wealth (and I’m not talking money).
This is because we spend more time and invest more energy into positive things than we do the negative. We focus on our goals, creating stability for our families, and being in the best shape possible for ourselves and those we love. We put energy into improving our lives, improving our health, and improving the lives and health of others. We learn to be grateful for all that we have, and how to share that blessing with others.
This has a significant impact on our health because the way we choose to see the world, and how we choose to practice gratitude will have a direct influence on how we choose to take care of ourselves. Healthy women take the time daily to acknowledge their blessings and to see the opportunity in bettering themselves in any way. This starts with practicing gratitude consistently.
All in all
Women are not one dimensional. We take on various roles, we carry out so many responsibilities, and sometimes this is at the cost of our own health. Healthy women adopt healthy habits to help them successfully do it all time and time again. These are just a few habits that you can pick up today in order to start seeing an immediate improvement in your health.
What habits do you have that you can share with others? Let’s help one another out!
-Xo
Kimora