Get physically, emotionally, and mentally fit this year.
There’s no better time than today to start the long journey to creating a better version of yourself. No matter what your specific goal may be, 2019 offers you endless opportunities to improve your life by becoming physically, emotionally, and mentally fit. If you can envision it happening for yourself, it very well could if you put it in the time, effort, and dedication it takes to see a goal through to the end.
Below, you’ll find some suggestions on ways to improve the different areas of your life in order to become a better, more capable you. Feel free to add your own practices to the list as well as to learn more about the suggestions you find under the different categories (Physically, Emotionally, and Mentally) by conducting additional research on your own. Don’t forget to apply what you’ve learned so that your good intentions are far more than just fleeting thoughts sprinkled with momentary glee.
Improve Yourself Physically
It doesn’t matter what level of progress you’ve reached. You know that there is always room for improvement. Part of being successful at what you do is never settling for less than what you deserve.
If you want to achieve your ultimate goal of becoming the most incredible version of yourself, you’re going to need to make time and an emotional commitment to greatness. That means that no matter what is going on in your life, you’re able to handle it with ease and grace.
Among the best ways to better yourself on a physical level include:
- Make exercise a priority. Do whatever needs to be done to protect the time in your schedule you’ve set aside for working out. Even as life unfolds unpredictably, as it sometimes does, you’ll have something constant and familiar in your life. It will give you stability and peace of mind. It will also help you maintain the progress that you make throughout the year.
- Commit to eating a healthy diet that meets your specific caloric needs. Every single person is different so pay close attention to what you need and forget everything else. Schedule an appointment with a nutritionist who is well acquainted with good health and physical fitness. Discuss your activity level, age, and goals with the professional so you’re able to come up with an eating plan that supplies you with the energy you need to remain healthy and committed to working out.
- Stop pushing your body past the breaking point. No matter how busy your schedule is or how much HIIT you want to do, you’re going to need time to rest. It’s how your body repairs muscles and regains the strength required to power through the rest of your week. Instead of thinking of an overloaded schedule as a badge of honor that determines your worth, be smart and strategic with your time in an effort to promote good health and further your fitness goals.
- Create SMART goals for yourself regarding your health and fitness level. Make sure that they are Smart, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Every goal should be clearly defined, have smaller steps that can be completed over time, be something you can realistically achieve, and have an end date. That way, you’re able to work towards achieving your physical fitness goals without them taking longer than necessary to complete.
Now that you’re on the road to better physical health, let’s talk about a subject that doesn’t get a lot of recognition-your emotional well-being.
Take Care of Your Emotional Needs
Tending to your emotional needs is every bit as important as caring for yourself physically. How you feel about what you’re doing either adds value to your life or takes it away from you. That’s why it’s important to check in with your feelings as you work toward your fitness goals.
Knowing your motivations as well as your strengths and weaknesses, allows you to push yourself harder than you have before. You’re able to overcome challenges, rise to the occasion, and come out on top. When you need extra support from a coach, family member or friend, you’ll have it because you’ll have made sure to have these relationships available throughout your journey to greater health.
Make Mental Health a Priority
Stress isn’t completely unavoidable. Learning how to assess situations from an objective standpoint, however, gives you greater control over how things make you feel. There are times when you’ll cave into the stressors you face, and that’s ok because you’re human.
Other times, you’ll take the extra steps necessary to protect your mental health and sanity by avoiding things that cause you pain. Having healthy boundaries in place ensures that the same bad scenarios don’t keep happening to you. Once the people that matter most to you in life know how situations, circumstances, and other human beings make you feel, they’ll go the extra mile to protect you and the boundaries you created.
Some suggestions for making mental health a priority include:
- Taking regular time off from work. Being able to do the things that you want to do during this time is imperative. Find enriching activities that help you grow as a person. From visiting a new city to taking on a new sport that you’ve never tried, make your time away from work count. Use it to explore the possibilities of your life and grow as a person.
- Build a support team. Recruit your most trusted relatives, friends, and co-workers to take part in being supportive of one another. That way, when you’re having a bad day, it doesn’t stretch into a week or month of bad days. Having someone that you can talk to makes a world of difference in how you feel. You’re able to move past stressors quickly and get back to reaching all the goals you set for yourself.
Make this year all about you. Take inventory of your life currently and note what you’d like to see change. Then start working on each area that needs improvement until you’re able to see some real progress happening. Keeping your eye on the prize is easy when you envision how much better your life will be once those changes are made. Be the person today that your future self can admire and commend!