Cultivating Your Wellness Journey - By Dr. Mary Tracey, ND, CNS
How many times have you reflected on your life, decided to start up a new journey, only for a few days later to have totally dropped the ball, and then the next week, all together have totally forgotten about it? Yup, I am right there with you. I don’t know about you, but let me tell you, I have done this more times than I can count. Sometimes when new adventures, projects or endeavors overwhelm us, we tend to proverbially stuff it into the box of things to possibly be tried again later. Wellness is probably one of the biggest areas where many of us are guilty of this phenomena. From yo-yo dieting, to taking up the latest trend in exercise, it can be a real challenge to know what is best for us or where to start.
Today I want to encourage you to fail forward on your health journey. That’s right, I said fail forward! Let us all be a little more committed to our struggle. In order to give your best version of yourself to the world, your wellness must be prioritized. Even if you are currently what the world deems as successful, but your health has been on the back burner, guess what, you can do even more amazing things when you are actively making efforts to move yourself into a more balanced state of being.
Wellness is not about taking a daily vitamin, bath bombs, burning sage, or following a particular fad diet. Like everything in life, even wellness has fundamentals. Use the following tips to start laying the groundwork for cultivating your very own wellness journey. Whether your cleaning up your food choices, incorporating more exercise, or foraging a spiritual path, these all will apply!
1. Set Your Intention
“ A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.”- Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Having a vision for where you want to be when it comes to “leveling up” is everything. When it comes to your vision, write it down, be very clear. This does not mean that your vision can not change along your journey. You are simply acknowledging your need for change in a specific area, which can encourage you to take the next step in execution of goals. Want a new exercise routine? Be very specific about what exercise you will do, even research how this particular exercise can improve your health. Plan your week in advance, fitting in the exercise where you can. Just remember you do not have to be perfect, do not let falling off of schedule discourage you from starting fresh the next day.
2. Take Responsibility
“Wellness: (n.) a choice to take responsibility for the quality of one’s life”- Unknown
Let's be honest. Leveling up is not an easy thing to do. It involves us being brutally honest about areas in our life that we can improve. It is actually a painful process to take full ownership and to finally stop making excuses for ourselves.
Here are a few wellness reminders to get you started:
Make an appointment with a therapist. Go to the doctor, get that blood work done. Go to your naturopathic physician, evaluate your nutrition and lifestyle. Schedule a few introductory gym sessions with a personal trainer, or sign up for those classes at the gym.
Someone out there just read the previous paragraph and said, “Those sound great, but I can not afford any of that,”. My response would be to take responsibility! If you can not afford it, the library and the internet are full of free information! Do not skip the hard part. It can feel overwhelming at first, but take small steps! As my mother often said to me and my siblings growing up, “Rome was not built in one day,”. Do not try to execute everything at once. Go back to setting your intention, then go forward into taking the next small steps.
Remember even the people who can afford to hire all the doctors, teachers, coaches and personal trainers to help them through their wellness journey must eventually take responsibility for themselves. They must incorporate what they have learned into their life by their own efforts and make it work for them. There really is no easy road! However take comfort in the fact that the more you take responsibility, the more confidence you will gain in the ownership of self growth.
3. Take Small Steps. Be Consistent.Make the Small Steps Permanent.
“So, what if instead of thinking about solving your whole life, you just think about adding additional good things; one at a time. Just let your pile of good things grow.”- Unknown
If I know anything well, I know about the process of learning. It does not matter what skill or task your trying to learn, the fundamentals of learning are pretty much the same. You take a small amount of information, literally grind it into your thought process or memory, then repeat. Usually the beginning of learning anything is somewhat rough, and can be painstakingly awkward. I find that the awkward stage is when many people give up. Like previously said, this is the best stage to fail forward! Don’t let the anxiety of not being good enough get you down. Be consistent you can get to where you would like to be, trust the process. Keep adding more steps when you are ready and comfortable. Keep challenging yourself to the next level!
4. Cultivate your Wellness Journey!
Think of your wellness as a garden. The soil of a garden must be watered, tended to, and fertilized. When the ecosystem of a garden is maintained and healthy, it facilitates an environment from which many things can grow. Sometimes the right balance within a garden must be experimented with and tweaked in order to create the best environment for plants.
Work on the soil of your wellness garden first, then add in the seeds. In a healthy ecosystem the seeds will germinate and grow.
What are some of the topics that you would like some guidance on in order to tackle your wellness journey?
You can follow her on instagram @drmarytracey, or follow her wellness page on Facebook @Restore Wellness, LLC.
