Reframing Wellness
How do you define wellness?
Whether it be classified as wellness, health, fitness or just looking good in a bathing suit, thoughts like these cross our minds multiple times a day.
Ugh, I ate too much.
My clothes are too tight.
I need to get into shape.
I will start on Monday…
The motivations for these thoughts and feelings are usually aesthetic – we hate the way we look.
But what about how we feel?
How do you move?
Do you play tag with your kids?
Can you get on the floor with your grandkids?
To start on a full journey in wellness – for life - we must reframe our thoughts.
Believe me – I have struggled with the above issues most of my life. I wanted to be the Kate Moss skinny model type in my teens/young adult life. This obsession resulted in severely unhealthy practices throughout college.
Some of my dumb mistakes:
Severe calorie cutting (500-800 per day)
Obsession with running 20+ miles per week.
Feelings of guilt and self-hatred because I had an “unhealthy” meal.
Seeing bones in the mirror and feeling pride for finally starting to get “in shape”.
Losing my period and my hair at 20 years old due to lack of nutrition.
Reflecting on the above is hard and scares the hell out of me. I am unhappy that I had to go through that, but mostly I am terrified for my daughter, her friends or anyone else who might start down that same slippery slope that often leads to body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
Reflecting on the above is beneficial and I am grateful. I am so fortunate that I did not get to a point of no return but how can this experience make me stronger?
By reframing my feelings of my past, I have gotten the strength to take on a career of coaching to help ensure that others take the feelings or mistakes they have made in the past (or present) and reframe into what they can do to now for the future.
I hope to help others see that wellness for mental and physical health, longevity and quality of life is the ultimate goal.
By reframing your views on fitness and nutrition you will finally get the results you seek. Fitting into the pair of jeans from college – is not the goal. However, that may indeed be an end result.
I hope you choose to walk with me (at a steady pace) on this mission to reframe wellness for ourselves and our children to improve our quality of our life and an improved mental state.
Cheers to a long healthy life full of movement that ends up with us beating our grandkids in a foot race or doing burpees along side them as they prepare for a high school sport.
Those are my goals. What are yours?
