Women's Life Link Be Well, Be Happy, Be YOU!
WellnessWednesday
Welcome to Women’s LifeLink! Just a quick shout out to Tammy at A Mom In Red High Heels;she has posted a site that is donating $20 to the American Diabetes Association when you order flowers for Mother’s Day. Please visit her wonderful site and join her in an effort to wipe out Diabetes.
I’ve been tossing around the question: How long does it take to get healthy? My gut tells me several things immediately; first, it depends on what level of health you are seeking and from what point you are starting. Because there are varying degrees of wellness, we have to pay attention to more specific goals in order to get a clear understanding of our progress.
Setting Goals
By selecting a part of the body or system to work on; such as, your energy level, skin, digestion or memory, you can measure your successes by clearly noticing improvements. With this practice, you can gauge the effectiveness of the changes. God knows we can spend hundreds (even thousands) on supplements, therapies, and diagnostic tests that we really don’t need. Choosing professionally recommended lifestyle and nutritional changes as well as needed therapies is the fastest way to achieve a health goal. This advice can come from your health care provider, books, websites, or from any source that you trust. Just remember to take “one bite at a time”.
Let’s say you have sluggish bowels and want to improve your digestion. What things could you do to help process food more efficiently? Keep in mind, whatever needs your body has can be fulfilled. With each action you take there is a reaction in your body; you are a step closer to the big goal of true health.
You might start toward your goal by drinking more clean, quality water (as I have been…more about that later) and make a huge impact on your internal state without really feeling it. However, give it some time; you will notice an improvement in not only digestion but your skin and vitality. It’s easy to see how just one thing can take you to a new level in many areas – a chain reaction.
I’ve talked before about the most important health practices on this site. I advise you to pay attention to some key elements before embarking on some new therapy or taking endless supplements. While all those fancy aids might have a place, if you’re not doing the basics, you’re kidding yourself.
No Quick Fix
Now, back to the question “how long?”… Think about how long it took you to get in the condition you are now. Was it an overnight occurrence? I think not. If it took you a year to pack on that extra thirty pounds and raise your blood pressure ten points, it’s fair to give your body at least that amount of time to reverse the damage. There is no quick fix to the destruction that we heap on our body’s systems. Time, consistency, and knowledge are our best tools for healthful change. Don’t get hung up on the time factor though. The journey is a climb; each bit of effort gets you closer to the top of your mountain.
For the past 3 weeks I have been working on getting myself better and I have set new goals since I stopped smoking tobacco and I feel so much better. I take it one day at a time.
Jude,
You are on the right track. Keep taking small steps.
Quitting smoking was a huge one though.