Healthy Living

Every day when you wake up, you begin making a series of little choices.

• Stately black or vibrant color?


• Smile or frown?


• Coffee or OJ?


• Walk the dog or put him in the yard?


• Carpool, public transportation, drive alone?


• Pack lunch or deal with it later?


• News or uplifting music?


• Hit the gym or straight to work?


• Wave to the security guy or buzz past?

You may be surprised to think about it this way, but these small choices create your life and health every single day. They are in fact the substance of healthy living.

Since they're so potentially important, we could look at them with care.

• How well do your choices represent the real you?


• Do they match the person you were yesterday or the person you intend to be tomorrow?


• Are your values satisfied by your day-to-day accomplishments or are you letting yourself down?

There are no right or wrong answers. The way to know how well your choices are paying off is to look at your life. How well does reality match your desires? If you're living the life you want, then you've made a series of productive choices.

On the other hand, what if ... even in one teeny little bitty area ... things aren't going quite the way you want?

Let's explore how this might go in a real person's life:

Patty was having a rough day. She ran out of gas on the way to work. Arriving late, she didn't have time to prepare well for her first meeting. She was flustered and didn't speak as clearly as she would have liked.

When she got back to her office, the phone just wouldn't let up: Bzzz "do this." Bzzz "do that." Bzzz "yep, I need a piece of you, too."

By the time she got out the door for lunch, Patty wasn't even thinking about her commitment to healthy living. To be honest, Patty was no longer in the driver's seat of her life. She was stuck in "react" mode. "Reaction" ordered her a burger, fries, and a large cola. Patty had had it!

After gulping her lunch, Patty took the time for a quick walk around the block. She had an amazing insight! That burger and fries really hadn't solved anything. She didn't feel better, as she'd expected to. In fact, if she tuned in carefully, Patty could almost feel that hard-to-digest lump churning around in her stomach.

She'd chosen fast food by habit, thinking it was stress-relieving treat. But actually, she'd betrayed herself in the process. Not much of a treat.

Patty was smart enough to realize that beating herself up with guilt wasn't going to help anything.

But she did make a note of her new insight: If she could get going a little earlier in the morning, she'd not only be better prepared for her workday, but she'd also have time to pack a healthy and satisfying lunch. Turns out her "food challenge" wasn't really about the food. It was about bringing breathing space into a busy and challenging day!

As we look back on an event like Patty's difficult day, it's pretty easy to see where she could have done a few things differently. But what about when you're in the hot seat yourself? All of a sudden, it's not so clear.

Part of the reason for that is objectivity. You are not Patty, so you're not attached to the situation as she is. If she were eavesdropping on your life (instead of the other way around), chances are pretty good she'd pick up on a few things you could do differently, too.

There's another important factor, though. Conflicting priorities. You want "a" and you also want "b." They appear to conflict. You are too stressed to sort through the conflict, so you react. Just like Patty did.

Here's one good thing our Patty had going for her. She already knew some of the things she wanted in life. One thing she wanted was to make food choices she could feel good about. A commitment like Patty's is sort of like a compass, steering you in the direction you want to go. Without it, you're tossed around like a ship on the big, blue sea. Chaos!

But Patty had some other commitments, too. To protect her mental and emotional health from the effects of too much stress, for one thing. She may not have clearly articulated this commitment, but self-protection is a pretty universal instinct.

When her stated commitment to healthy food choices seemed to conflict with her unarticulated commitment to self-protection, Patty's mind went "tilt." It's a pretty normal reaction.

Some other common conflicts also come up. For example, when the thing you want appears to conflict with the realities of your household budget, when what you want appears to conflict with the desires of someone you care about, or when the day just doesn't seem long enough to squeeze everything in!

The key to healthy living is to consistently make choices you feel good about. But how to sort through the mess of "good about this yet bad about that"? Try these 3 tips:

1. Articulate your commitments, your values, your priorities -- what's really important to you! Once you're clear on what you want, you'll be in a better position to make choices that propel you in the right direction.



2. Prepare for expected challenges. You know that after an especially stressful day at work, you're not going to feel like cooking. So keep something "special" in the freezer for emergencies. Or think of a couple simple meals you can pick up on a moment's notice at the market. Troubleshoot other expected rough spots in the same way.



3. Remember, awareness trumps doing it "right." If you catch yourself making a choice you don't feel so great about, thank yourself for noticing and move on. Guilting yourself out serves no real purpose and can even set you back. You are simply human. Set up an experiment, learn something, and do better the next time.