Obstacles to valuing your health

In my last article, I listed several reasons why we don’t value our health or for that matter our lives. My hope in this article is to cause you to think about how valuable you are. My number one frustration as a coach is that my clients don’t take their health seriously until it’s too late and they have a major illness or disease.

Here are some more reasons we don’t invest time or money to take care of ourselves:

• Lack of a support system. If you don’t have others in your life that will support you, it is very difficult to develop a healthy lifestyle. Many times my clients sabotage themselves or allow others to sabotage them. They start off excited and ready to make a change and then someone plants a seed of doubt in them, and because they don’t value themselves, they give up.

When having the accountability and encouragement of a coach and good social network a person is twice as likely to succeed. This is why my groups are more successful than one on one coaching clients. It’s very important to position others in your life that have a positive outlook and want to help you succeed.

• Lack of commitment. One thing I always say before my client begins my TLS Weight Loss class is “Are you ready and committed to making a change?” If they hesitate, I encourage them to really think about how important their health is to them. Many want to be healthy but are not willing to make the necessary changes it takes to become healthier. If this is the case, I recommend they wait until they are ready.

• Lack of willpower. Willpower can be a great thing if you have it but the problem comes when you begin to Reason. For example, Reason can talk you out of going for your morning jog when it’s cold and gloomy out. “Your right, it says, it’s too yucky to jog.”

I’m sure you have found that when you really don’t want to do something, you can talk yourself out of it! Willpower and discipline are critically important for a successful life, but willpower alone is not usually enough to bring you across the finish line. Drawing your strength from God can help you do all things.

Finally, valuing your life and investing in yourself is vital to become happy and healthy. My hope is that you will realize how valuable you are!

Why We Don’t Value Our Health?

Taking care of your health is not an indulgence, its respecting yourself, others and God. When you don’t take care of your health, you can end up sick and debilitated while putting a burden on others who must take care of you.

Throughout my coaching practice I have come to discover several reasons why people don’t value themselves as they should. My passion as a coach is to educate and help people to grasp how valuable they are in hopes they will invest some time in their health so as to lead the life God has intended for them.

Here are some reasons we don’t invest time or money to take care of ourselves:

1. Lack of knowledge - Many people don’t realize how foods impact their body. They have never had any education on nutrition. They rely on fast food and prepackaged meals that have no or very little nutritional value. Their lives are so hectic; they don’t take time to eat sensibly. Once they can understand how easy and affordable it is to eat healthy many adjust their eating habits.

2. We have a distorted image of how we are to look – We have been inundated with media telling us how we should look, but on the other hand, obesity is so prevalent -it’s almost the norm!

3. We don’t recognize the importance of exercise – Being too busy to exercise is one of the common excuses I hear from my clients. Exercise is essential to our overall well-being. Here are just a few of the benefits: stress reliever, improves moods, and boosts energy, plus many more! Exercise needs to be a priority in your life so that you can accomplish the things that are important.

4. We don’t enjoy our lives – I am dismayed by a number of my clients that fall into this category. They are so busy; they cut everything they enjoy out of their lives. God never intended our lives to be mundane and stressful. Once you can learn the impact stress has on your physical and emotional well –being, you can begin to understand what a crime against yourself this is. Life is too short not to be enjoyed!

5. Some have become addicted to selflessness – Yes, it’s important to help others and it should be a major part of your life, but not to the extent of ignoring your basic needs. For some, the only thing that gives them meaning is doing for others. Everything in life must have a balance or something breaks down and often it’s us.

There are several other reasons why we don’t take care of ourselves so make sure you read my next article. Above all, value your life – it’s the greatest gift you will ever receive!