OWN YOUR HEALTH.  It’s the one thing that must take place if you plan to achieve your goals and live a life of health and happiness.  Owning your health is about acknowledging your state of health and recognizing that you have full claim, authority and power to create a healthy body, mind and life for yourself. It is yours for the taking and now is the time to make it all happen. 

I never once considered that I needed to take ownership of all aspects of my health until my health was deteriorating at such a fast pace that doctors told me to go home and prepare for “what was to come”, meaning the slow progression of a disease that would inevitably take my life. When given news such as this, it takes your breath away, it caused my world to stop in its tracks, and it made me take a deep look into the reasons why it could be happening. 

At first, I blamed everything else for my ill state of health and questioned how I could be put through such hell. But after a couple months of my ranting I started a big internal investigation and came to the conclusion that everything about my life was contributing to my fast deterioration. 

While I exercised pretty consistently I had a few other things working against me…I always functioned at 100 miles per hour, putting everyone else’s needs before my own, committing to things I didn’t have time for, eating a lot of sugar and nutrient-void foods, drinking a few diet cokes a day to keep my energy up, staying up way to late and waking too early, worrying about what everyone thought of me versus just living in my truth, and missing out on a lot of nutrient-rich veggies, beans, whole grains, greens and nuts and seeds. 

I simply did not own my body, my mind, or my life. I just existed and thought it’d all just work out. 

I’ve learned that it doesn’t happen this way, we must each make a daily effort to rise to the occasion, make intentional choices that serve us and own every bit of our happiness, our health and our life. 

What part of your health do you need to take ownership of? 

Here’s a little exercise to get your internal investigation off to a solid start: Answer the following questions as quickly as possible, no need to analyze, just answer: 

1. I always have good intentions but never really get around to ______________________. 
2. The three things that are holding me back from just getting it done are:
3. If I were to consistently accomplish my good intention, I would feel.. _______________________________________________________________________. 
4. If I were to take my last breath today, I would regret not having done this for myself because________________________________________________________________. 
5. If it is meant to be, its up to me! I will do these three things for the next 30 days to take ownership of this one area of my life:

By doing this exercise, you’ve identified your starting point, your barriers, what it means to you to get the job done, and the steps you’ll take to make it happen. The final part of the exercise is to share your details with one person who will provide positive encouragement to help keep you on track. Lastly, keep your answers where you can read them daily; this is the best reminder to own your health and keep moving forward.

XO,

Health, resilience and happiness, it’s what we all desire but let’s face it, it doesn’t always come easily. Especially today when we’re faced with situations we’ve never experienced before, managing increased demands and riding the emotional roller coaster of isolation.

Now, more than ever, is the time we need to focus and close the gap to live our best life.

This gap I’m speaking of is the gap that exists between how you live life today, and where you’d love to be in the future. It’s easy to set goals. It’s also easy to get lost on the journey to meeting those goals.

There’s talk of gaining the COVID “15”, people are making “essential food runs” for cake and candy bars and speak of pouring their first glass of wine by 2 p.m. There’s no judgement here; these simple observations tell me people are getting lost and they seem to be hanging out there for a bit. This is a slippery slope and when all is said and done, they’ll be sitting in a place of desire and regret.

Don’t get lost for too long!

Even in perfect circumstances, the gap exists. If we’re not constantly learning, growing, attempting, failing, and achieving, we will sit on the other side of the gap forever. Sitting in this place never feels good and when we’re there, we long for something more. More energy, more happiness, more connection, more fulfillment, more health . . . the list goes on and on.

It’s time to participate in a new way, make simple shifts and ignite health, resilience and happiness.

These quick tips will help you close the gap and live your best life:

1. Have a clear, intentional vision: Let’s find a good balance; there’s no need to learn two new hobbies, clean every closet and become salesperson of the year through quarantine. There is a need, however, to get out of those PJ’s, get dressed in your best, make a healthy meal and participate in a productive way. Have a clear, intentional vision for your day. List your top three priorities, create subtasks for each and schedule these tasks into timeframes in the day. Be sure to include time for self-care, gratitude, prayer/meditation, connection and movement. Make sure your actions are meeting the needs of your vision; if they aren’t serving the vision and purpose you have for your life, they need to be evaluated and upgraded.
2. Build awareness, listen and respond: Your body is your number one fan. It shows up for you through thick and thin, just as a best friend does for you! The only problem is that we often take this gift of support for granted. In order to achieve health, resilience and happiness we must become aware of the needs of the body. You can do this by getting still and listening often. The body speaks to us; you’ll have a sniffle in the morning, feel fatigued in the afternoon, experience joint pain, headaches and more. Listen intently and then act and respond! We can close the gap and achieve our goals when we’re tuned in to the needs that exist and appropriately respond.
3. Practice grace and grit: Health is not about perfection, nor is resilience or happiness. It’s all about progression. Offer yourself grace when you’ve made a choice that didn’t serve you so well. Learn from it, decide what you’ll change for the next go-around and move forward. No need to sit in a state of guilt, anger and frustration; this does not serve us in a positive way. Practice grit; be courageous even in times of challenge. See the good, it’s there in every situation, celebrate all the big and small happenings in life, and never give up. Practice this often and enjoy living your best life!

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It’s always an honor and joy to serve and support you in health and happiness.  I’d love to hear from you; feel free to connect with me: connect@angelagaffney.com

Believe it can be!

XO,