Healthy Living Myth #3 - I can't afford the (time, money, energy) it takes to live healthy (Healthy Living DIY)

This healthy living myth is part myth, part truth. Life's a paradox, remember? Let's start with a story.

A number of years ago, I embarked on a little health kick. Part of the program (not all) was cleaning up my diet. I watched a number of things to see the effect they had on my system, and for a short time my choices were limited. Nonetheless, there were a number of tasty dishes I really enjoyed.

I met a friend for lunch at a restaurant that served really great healthy food. It was wonderful!

Over lunch, I mentioned a dish I'd prepared for dinner the day before. It was quite simple, but had required some advance planning. I'd soaked the garbanzo beans overnight, then cooked them the following day (while doing something else), and on the day after that actually prepared the dish. The process was neither time-consuming or complicated. I just had to think ahead.

"I don't have time for that kind of thing!" my friend remarked, as if to imply that I must not have much going on in my life if I could find the time to soak garbanzo beans.

Now I figured I was about as busy as anyone. I also wanted to live healthy as long as possible. Unless I made a few key adjustments, that was in question. So I was looking at the "time" thing in a whole different way than my friend. The way I saw it, I didn't have time not to work out how to live well.

In this case, "no time" was a myth.

Now let's look at the other side of it. A former client of mine, "Steve," had been in a serious car accident. I was part of a team working with him to get him as close to normal functioning again as we could. One thing getting in Steve's way was a dysfunctional marriage.

As we looked at the situation, he had 3 options:

Heal the relationship
Get out of the relationship
Do nothing and continue to pay the price with his health

Here's the thing:

Steve didn't believe in leaving a committed relationship, so he rejected option #2.
#3 wasn't getting him anywhere. In fact, it had a lot to do with his current state of ill health.
He'd allowed things to get so far out of balance, that he really didn't have the energy to heal the relationship.

In Steve's case, his engery account was dry. For someone else, it might be their bank account or their schedule. In Steve's case, "no energy" was not a myth - he really didn't have it. He had defaulted into ill health, and unless he became willing to choose differently, he was likely going to stay there.

Time, energy, and money all have in common that they are finite personal resources over which you have some control.

When you find yourself having the perception of "not enough" it's simple enough to figure out that you have two main options:

use what you have more efficiently (think priority check)
figure out how to get more

Sometimes, this involves make strong choices - like the colleague who moved to a different state in her 50's because the earning potential where she was wouldn't allow her to prepare for retirement. She'd moved to a quiet little town as a young adult, for the quality of life. But she couldn't market her skills there to make a decent living. Ultimately, she moved. That's a strong choice.

She didn't have the money. Really didn't. So she did something about it.

Food for thought.

P.S. More on this in Word Cures. Check it out.

Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!

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