A few carefully curated ones can change your health.
Rules. Such a rigid sounding word. “Don’t speak with your mouth full.” “Never run near the pool.” Rules often stem from common courtesy and safety. (There's a reason grabbing a face mask is a big no- no in the NFL!) Rules can seem humdrum. However, they can also serve as an exciting launch pad to success. Our personal rules can guide and inspire us. When it comes to wellbeing, great health can flow from doggedly following a few carefully curated personal rules.
What are yours? If you’re someone who strives to enjoy maximum wellbeing (and since you’re reading this little post, I bet you are), then you know which rules work for you. Deep down, we all do. Whether or not we’re sticking to them right now is another topic, but each of us KNOWS what propels us toward our own specific health & fitness goals. We know because some choice in our past, made consistently, has led to results we really appreciate.
It helps if we don’t over complicate the process. We don’t need a dozen rules to juggle like some manic, health-seeking circus performer. (By the way, that’s exactly what I feel like during my mini trampoline workouts.) We don’t need impossibly difficult rules to follow, such as only eating on even days of the month. We don’t need a million voices imposing rules on us, which happens pretty quickly if you search “health & wellness” on social media. We need one voice: our own. We need just a few rules: say, three to five of them. And we need them to be simple: a sentence or two that you can store in your brain. (Mine only holds about ten, so discrimination is key!)
Some concrete examples might spark the sculpting of your own rules. Here just three of my personal wellness rules, ones I’ve stuck with for years. In no particular order:
Don’t skip workouts for more than 2 days in a row. (Caveat: unless sick, experiencing an emergency, recovering from surgery, etc)
Be in bed by 10:30pm. (Caveat: unless at an awesome concert or unable to squirm out of hubby’s corporate social function.)
Honestly question every single negative self thought. (Is the thought true? It might be. Often, though, negative thoughts come from outside of us or from our past.)
I have two or three more, but these have been "in the rotation" for years now. At this point, they're basically just part of the fabric of daily life.
Revisit your rules. Which ones really serve you well? How much can you simplify them? How deftly can you tailor them to your OWN wellness aspirations? Some people may prefer to call this their "wellness code of conduct" or something less intimidating-sounding than a set of “rules.” But by their nature, rules make demands of us. They keep our attention. If we have just a few excellent ones, they also unlock precious quality of life.
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-focus-photography-of-male-umpire-209954/
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