I once coached a lady that I will call Sara.
Sara was a lot like many of my women clients. She was a new mom, maintained a career and was very busy with all of the hats that she had to wear in her life.
When Sara first approached me for Personal Training and nutrition coaching she needed to lose about 50 lbs of “mommy weight” and she wanted to change her eating habits and learn to love exercise again.
She was a former high school and college athlete turned corporate professional working in the HR department. In our initial consultation she remarked, “It’s amazing how much my life has changed since I was in college”. She went on, “I remember when I was able to put myself first. I exercised everyday with Volleyball, ate good food and I felt amazing. Now it’s like I don’t even have the option to put myself first with all of my responsibilities”.
I remember being shocked by her remarks. Sara was painting me a picture of her she felt trapped in the viscous cycle of 21st Century hustle and she now longer felt like she had the ability to take care of her own basic fitness and nutrition needs.
Was this just a fact that she had to live with? Did Sara really have no choice but to put herself last because she was a mom that had a busy career?
I remember feeling hopeless as her coach because she wanted to make change, but every time I would give her an action assignment for the week she would come back the following week with an excuse as to why she could not fulfill her obligation to exercise, eat well or get to sleep on time.
A few months later I had a pivotal moment when I started coaching a Senior Vice President at the same company who I shall call Lisa who was also a mom of three kids and had even more responsibility than Sara.
As I began coaching Lisa I quickly learned that she had maintained a daily exercise program for the last 20 years and was dedicated to feeding herself the most healthy food that she could find.
I was baffled. What was the key difference between Sara and Lisa? How could Lisa who was more busy than Sara still take care of herself while Sara was pleading that she literally did not have the time to make herself a priority?
My “ah ha” moment came when I boldly asked Lisa how she was able to maintain her healthy lifestyle despite her highly demanding schedule. She chuckled in a subtle a mocking tone and said, “with how much responsibility that I have in my life, I have no choice but to take care of my health”.
The conclusion was obvious to me. The reason that people are healthy or not healthy, fit or not fit, is because they PRIORITIZE their health and fitness above everything else.
That might sound a little extreme I get it, but they understand a key concept that very few people understand.
The people that place their health above all else understand that everything that is important to them in life, including career, family, and intimate relationships depend on their health. It is a very simple equation in their mind. Place health FIRST, which will therefore allow their hopes and dreams to unfold as they wish (or at least give it a better chance of manifesting).
What I have personally found is that health and fitness is a choice. It is our choice to make it a real priority in life. I am not suggesting that it is easy to do so especially if you are not used to putting yourself first. It will take a lot of time, patience, self-love and self-forgiveness to make the transition but your persistence will pay off.
The Big Takeaway…
Today’s busy climate makes it very hard to put yourself first when there is so many demands in life. Despite those demands it is our choice to put ourselves first so that we can maintain an optimal state of health and therefore become more productive and effective in life. Make the decision to place yourself first without feeling guilty and over time your life will improve in ways that you cannot even imagine.
Please comment here…I would love to hear your take on this!
Life is Good!
P.S. We have our back-to-school special going on at the moment and here are the details. If you are a current client here at Lifelong Fitness Personal Training Gym and you are doing a 10 or 20 session package, you can commit to your next package of 36 or 50 and you will receive $80 off the 36 session package and $100 off the 50 session package. If you have never tried us or are a returning member of Lifelong Fitness we are offering you a $60 off our 20 session package Level I or Level II. It’s a great way to try us out without committing to the larger packages and also get a great discount doing it! Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions! Offer expires 9-20-21
