Unlike financial situations, our health is less resilient to sudden drops and dips. There have been many people who filed for bankruptcy but were able to turn their financial situation around and recover their financial situation by having patience and implementing a sound financial strategy. (Link to Story about recovering from Bankruptcy) Unfortunately, our health is a different story.
My mom has always told me "son, you only have one life, you need to take care of yourself". However, that particular statement did not really resonate with me because at times, as most other twenty somethings, I felt "invincible". However, there are times when life gives you a reality check and you are reminded of how vulnerable you really are. My reality check came in the form of the doctor telling me that I have high blood pressure at the age of 24. I was in shock because I was under the impression that those type of things only happen to older people, but I now see that it can happen to everyone.
This particular situation allowed me to realize that "maybe mom was actually on to something". Armed with this new knowledge, I began to institute some new changes in my life to increase my life expectancy by taking better care of my health. Below are a few instrumental changes that were made to help improve my overall condition:
- Eat Right
- What I did wrong
- Rather than eating 3+ times a day as recommended by most health officials (Nutrition, Dietary Guidelines), I would skip breakfast and try to make up for it at dinner.
- Instead cooking healthier meals, I would go out to eat spending on average $10/meal.
- What I am doing now
- Make it an effort to cook everyday during the work week.
- Try to eat at least three meals a day (most importantly breakfast) and try to refrain from eating out during lunch.
- Purchase frozen dinners (approximately $2.50/meal) (the healthier kind) for lunch and limit myself to one per lunch period.
- Current results
- Have lost approximately 11 pounds since the beginning of this year.
- Feel more upbeat and energized to complete my day.
- Save on average $40/week since I do not eat out as much.
- Exercise at least three times during the week
- What I did wrong
- Always gave myself an excuse as to why I could not workout.
- Did not give myself a clear goal to work towards.
- What I am doing now
- Provided myself a goal of running a marathon at least once a year.
- Exercise 3 - 4 times a week for one hour.
- Keep exercising interesting by challenging myself to new activities.
- Current results
- Lost 11 pounds since the beginning of the year.
- Completed the Peachtree Road race on July 4th, 2008.
- Getting more positive comments about differences in my appearance.
- Get at least 7 - 9 hours of sleep
- What I did wrong
- Continued to go out and party during the work week
- Stayed up to 1 or 2 AM during the week
- What I am doing now
- Going to bed around 11 AM during the week
- Sleep for a least 7 hours a night
- Current Results
- Feel more refreshed and able to perform at work
- No longer tired during the week and weekdays
- Reduce Stress
- What I did wrong
- Spent too much time dwelling on past mistakes
- Did not accept that I could not change somethings
- Tried to make everyone happy
- What I am doing now
- Turned my mistakes into lessons
- Finding the positive out of negative situations
- Laughing more
- Current Results
- Establishing better relationships with friends and colleagues
- Enjoying life
Stay Disciplined!
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