If you were to adopt the ideas about health and wellness that come from the top levels of the fitness industry – be that health influencers, athletes who have achieved real success, or celebrities paid millions to endorse certain products – you may assume that if you’re not already fit and healthy, you’re not welcome into the club.
An aspirational lifestyle is always going to be the crux of marketing. But the truth is that health and wellness looks different for everyone. For some people, a walk around the local park is as impressive an achievement as running a marathon, perhaps for various health reasons or capabilities. It’s easy to forget that.
So, all you have to do is start from where you are now, and make the tiny, incremental improvements you know are actually possible. If you can do that, you’ll have much more success to work with.
But what does that look like in practice? Let’s consider that:
Adapting To A New Medical Device
No one’s thrilled about getting a new medical device, even if it’s something helpful. It’s an adjustment you have to start fresh from, and that can feel like a lot if you’re already juggling other things. Yet starting small can make it easier to live with.
For example, if you’ve just started using something like a glucose monitor or even Phonak hearing aids, it’s going to interrupt your day, but they’re very easy to adapt to, and soon you’ll see it blends into your routine. You may adjust how you choose to live your life, such as if you’ll back up your hearing aid with learning a sign language in case you need to communicate more precisely, or perhaps you’ll just need to take it easy for a few weeks while this becomes second nature. When you’re aided by a health device in this way, you’ll see how useful they are.
Adjusting Your Own Routine
Any change in health will, for the most part, ripple through your daily life. So it makes sense to tweak a few things here and there to make the rest of your day easier, and perhaps that means leaving earlier so you’re not stressed getting to an appointment, or switching your grocery day to midweek when it’s quieter. It could be that you keep medications in your work bag now, or set an extra alarm. You don’t need a massive change in most respects, just little edits that reduce the friction. You’ll probably find that some of your old habits don’t make as much sense anymore, and that’s fine, just keep what helps and let the rest go.
Consider Your Social Support Network & Personal Boundaries
If people offer help, it’s okay to take it. It’s also okay to say no when something feels like too much. Not everyone is great at understanding what you’re dealing with, but the people who care will want to. You might find that some relationships get stronger, while others somewhat fall back a bit, and that takes as much adjustment as anything else, and social health is personal health. Perhaps the best thing you do for yourself health-wise this year is to focus on the people who make you feel more like yourself, not less.
With thai advice, we hope you can see starting from your own status, not the current needs of another, can be the best way forward.
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