First Post of 2015
WHAT TO DO NEXT?
Ok, so 2015 is here and you’ve finally made the resolution to connect with your body again in that personal way you always do this time of year. You know, actually look in the mirror again with a collective gaze and analyze all those trouble spots. After doing so, you grimace, laugh, vomit, or face the music with a wry smile on your face.
We’ve all been there before, so don’t feel bad or beat yourself up about it. Yes, me too. Back in the day, I sported a uni-brow, too-thick for my own good mustache, a low cut fade with ‘dive-in waves’ and weighed in at between 185-190 pounds on a good day and it was honestly more skin and bones than muscle, but at least I wasn’t overweight. So I shouldn’t have felt insecure at all, right? Wrong. My body and my brow were the least of my worries. As I sat back and really made a full assessment, my priorities were way out of order and in spite of my accomplishments I was still left feeling empty and definitely a few inches shy of meeting the happiness yard marker. I decided to retool, reinvent a few words I’d grown accustomed to like happy and fulfilled, look beyond that uni-brow and refine the body God had given me. When I did all that, I attained the true measuring stick of purpose.
Today’s post to start the New Year off is to help you get in touch with the truth about wellness and put you on the right road to success. So listen up – or, read up or down as you scroll the post.
As I’ve slowly come into my own concerning the ultimate goal of achieving Health Stud status, I’ve really had to take a step back and fully grasp the concept of happiness. Happiness is probably a word that is overused and abused by the majority of the population and is one of the critical words that keep people milling about in a stagnant state of depression. The reason is because people really don’t know the definition of it. WHAT is happiness? – Happiness is essentially being content and satisfied with one’s own circumstances, outside of material possessions. But millions of people continue to knock their heads against walls, and pound their fists on pavement because this person doesn’t love them, that job really sucks, and their body looks like a sack of mash potatoes. Many people even get married because they think or expect their spouse to ‘complete’ them and give them everything they need to feel happy. When they don’t, it’s divorce time.
My first piece of advice – find out what really makes you the most happy and get rid of it. Not permanently, but temporarily. Get back in touch with you for a change, not who you think you really are. Social media, magazines, our parents, mentors, advisors, priests, bishops, teachers and bosses have all influenced us to believe that we need to be or act like this or that to exist. We no longer respect or identify with the person in the mirror. WHAT should you do about it? Nurture the art of having quiet time. Pray, workout, listen to music, and find the inner voice of the person on the inside that is independent of someone or something. He or she is valuable to the world, has a life meant for purpose, and desires to live it out with passion. Keep your job if that pays the bills, but involve yourself in other things that are fulfilling like helping someone else first, without the solicited attempt to receive ‘thank you’s’ and accolades for your efforts. Once you earn enough of those, then you will personally begin to get in touch with the person you are.
Then it is time to start on you.
The second step now is to set a list of goals for the New Year. Hang’em high; where you and everyone else can see them. Make yourself accountable to not the person in the mirror, but to friends and family as well. They’ll call you when they see you slacking off and you know how loving family can be at times. Set timelines to achieving your goals and make honest efforts to meeting them. If you fail, don’t throw in the towel, adjust the goals – either upgrade or downgrade. Maybe they were set too high and need some tweaking. Remember, this is your life, no someone else’s. You know the real you now, right.
Lastly, do something you’ve never done before that is beneficial. Be adventurous. It is equally healthy to inject yourself with opiates that come from taking a few risks and challenging your sense. Ride a crazy rollercoaster, jump from a plane (with a parachute), open a new savings account, start a new business, read a new book, fall in love – anything that gives you satisfaction, not happiness. Once you do these things, accomplish your goals, and help the world around you, you’ll be on your way to attaining that thing that is even more satisfying than happiness – JOY!
Be safe!