The #1 issue that my clients want to get help with is their health.
I never make the time to exercise
I always promise myself I’m going to put my health first and then I don’t
I see women my age who are doing yoga everyday or going hiking on the weekends and I want to be that
I just don’t feel comfortable in my body. I feel tired, old and I hate it
My clients are intelligent, thoughtful and motivated women, so they are usually able to perfectly explain what isn’t working: they’re putting themselves last, they’re making promises to themselves they aren’t keeping, they’re saying health is their priority but then putting their time and energy elsewhere…
But it’s harder for them to describe what taking the BEST care of themselves would look like.
And it’s no wonder! As women, we are rewarded for putting ourselves last and we often don’t have strong skills of identifying what we want and what would be the ultimate form of caring for ourselves.
So it’s always a juicy challenge when I push clients to describe what taking the BEST care of themselves would look like on a daily basis. Sometimes, if a client is particularly stuck, I’ll ask her to think of a friend and describe how that friend should take care of herself on a daily basis. It’s remarkable how much more caring we can be when we prescribe it to someone else, isn’t it!
Okay, now it’s your turn:
Get a piece of paper and write out exactly what your day, week or month would look like if you were consistently prioritizing your health and taking the best possible care of your body and mind.
Get granular — how much water? How much sleep?
Get ambitious — what kind of home? Personal yoga instructor? Massages every week?
Get practical — do you need a new pair of glasses? Is it time to actually deal with that chronic hormone imbalance?
When you’re finished, tape that piece of paper somewhere you’re going to see it every single day. Don’t worry about what you have time for, or money for. Don’t spend time fretting about how far you feel from that life you’ve just written out. Just tape it up and keep looking at it.
Remember, the first step to change is claiming what you want.
