Help the people you love most improve their lives for the better, too.
For many people, the road to good health is paved with many unhealthy people. They may be family, friends, neighbors or co-workers. Constant interaction with these people is enough to tell you that they could use some encouragement and help of their own. That’s where you come in! The minute that you decided to make some changes in your life for the better, it puts you in the position to help others find their way, too.
How to Be a Role Model for The People You Interact with Regularly
There’s no training or certification required to be a role model. In fact, it’s just one of the ways you ensure that your loved ones are happy, healthy, and being taken good care of by you. By modeling healthy habits and behaviors, you shape the ideas about fitness, health, and wellness for the people that interact with you. You become someone they look up to and strive to be like.
Here are some suggested ways to make fitness, health, and wellness a family affair:
- Join a fitness club or rec center together. Take advantage of the group rates offered. Make sure that it has the type of activities that cater to kids, too, if you have children. Rather than sit down in front of the TV together as a way to bond, get up and go to the gym or recreational facility to swim, scramble up the rock climbing wall or play racquetball. You’ve got a lot of options to explore. If joining a fitness club or rec center isn’t something you want to do at the moment, go to the park. It’s a free outdoor space with a lot of equipment you can use to burn calories and strengthen muscles.
- Play sports outdoors. Join a team and offer to coach youth teams. Give your knowledge and support. There are many teams in your community looking for players and coaches. If your schedule allows for it, sign up to do both. You can lend your unique skills as a player to a team that needs strengthening and your ability to motivate and encourage kids to coach and win games.
- Limit the number of junk foods you keep in the house. Salty, fatty, and full of sugar, processed foods are more harmful than they look. If you do your best to keep them out of your fridge and cupboards, they won’t appeal as much to other members of your family. The kids will choose to eat fruit instead of candy because it’s what they’re used to and allowed to have. You and your spouse can work together to come up with ideas to make meals fun and satisfying without overloading on carbs, unhealthy fats, and increased levels of sodium.
- Make water your number one beverage of choice. Not only is it cheap, but it’s also calorie-free. Water is necessary for all of the body’s functions. It helps flush out impurities and stave off hunger. By making water the drink that everyone agrees on in your household, you reduce grocery costs by skipping out on buying sugar-laden fruit juices, smoothies, and sodas. Install a filter to the faucet or invest in a good pitcher with filter built-in. Let everyone ‘flavor’ their water as they like it with sliced fruit and vegetables, fresh herbs, and spices such as cinnamon.
- Hire a personal trainer and nutritionist to help others in the family get motivated. If you find that it’s hard to take on a coaching role with your spouse, children, parents, siblings or other extended family members, offer to help them get the support that they need to become healthier. Hiring a personal trainer and nutritionist holds them to a level of accountability that they may not be used to. They won’t want to let you down and waste your money, so they’ll be more inclined to do what is being asked of them by the two professionals.
- Make stress management a priority. It doesn’t matter if it’s perceived threats or real threats, stress takes its toll on a person’s physical and mental health. By making stress management a priority for you, your family, and friends, you don’t let stressful situations get the best of you or the people you care about. Instead, everyone uses the tool or technique that helps them best get through a scenario until they’ve had time to think about it rationally and come up with a plan. From yoga to meditation to deep breathing to playing an instrument, there are creative ways to deal with life’s unexpected instances.
There are many ways to help your family achieve better fitness, health, and wellness with very little effort. Since you were the one to initiate the positive behavioral changes, take it upon yourself to help others get on board and stay interested in being the best versions of themselves as they possibly can be. You can influence the types of foods your family eats and the types of activities they do together while at home and outdoors.
Give Your Family the Gift of Good Fitness, Health, and Wellness This Year
Make fitness, health, and wellness your top priorities in life. Help your family to see the value in doing so, too. Be a good role model for the younger people you come into contact with each day. When they see you eating nutritious foods and engaging in healthy activities, they’ll want to do the same. They model the behavior they see inside the home and even use it to influence their peers who they want to see excel, too.
When you make it a family affair, you’re helping everyone become fit, healthy, and well-rounded versions of themselves. You assist them in learning productive ways of coping with stress and give them healthy outlets such as sports and regular exercise as ways of dealing with the things in their lives they rather not deal with. Ultimately, you make it so they can enjoy a longer, happier life with you, and that’s the greatest gift you could ever give them.