With the start of the New Year, you’re probably thinking about setting new resolutions. Maybe you want to workout five days a week, lose X amount of pounds, eliminate processed foods, run a marathon, declutter the house – the list goes on and on. And although setting resolutions can be beneficial, only a tiny fraction of us keep our resolutions; University of Scranton research suggests that just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals.
Focus on Sustainable Lifestyle Change
Why is this so? For starters, rather than set big goals that, for many, fall by the wayside by spring, set a greater focus on sustainable growth. That is what the New Year means to me: a new opportunity for growth in many aspects of life; a time to make sustainable, life long changes towards creating the best version of myself and in-turn achieving a healthy, successful and well-rounded year.
One Step at a Time!
I often tell my two young children “one step at a time.” When they see something they want to do they are ready to jump in and just do it. And although I love their enthusiasm, they become frustrated if they don’t succeed right away and that usually results in a complete melt down. We are like this too. Rather than planning to lose weight by eliminating major food groups or aim to run a marathon in May after not running for a year, we need to take one step at a time and address all the elements required for us to make a change: fear, lack of support or whatever else may be holding us back. Otherwise we can begin to feel overwhelmed and defeated when we don’t see immediate success. Instead, we can achieve new growth every day as we take one step at a time to make small, realistic changes. Changes that when added together create progress and growth and lead us toward the success we had envisioned.
Address the Big Picture!
At Pillar Wellness, we coach individuals on addressing all Five Pillars of Wellness: activity level, nutrition, stress management, mindfulness, and support system. All Five Pillars need to be evaluated and addressed in order to achieve optimal health and wellness. It is challenging to improve physical activity while ignoring nutritional needs or the necessity of a true support system or choosing to ignore the effect that stress may have on your life. All Five Pillars are vital and related so that as you make improvements in one, the others areas of your life improve and more change is possible.
There is no doubt that making changes can be tough. Days can be long and energy can be low and there will be some aspects of our journey outside of our control. But there is no denying the immense opportunity we all have in our lives to grow and expand. We are in complete control of ourselves; our desire and reach to improve. We can grow personally and within our relationships; we can grow in our work and the ways in which we interact and work with others; we can grow in our physical capabilities and also learn more about our fears that have held us back for so many years, and then transcend them. There will be growing pains for sure, there always are, but I am confident that in the end we will find better, stronger, healthier versions of ourselves – versions that can continue in our lives beyond the limits of one goal.
Over the next 30 days, we are going to focus on each of the Five Pillars and ways you can make simple, sustainable changes within each towards the best and healthiest version of yourselves.
Will you join us for 30 Days of #YourFivePillars ?
Start by thinking about these questions: What do you want to do this year? What do you want to be? What does the best and healthiest version of yourself look like?
Below are the Five Pillars of Wellness. Take a look at each one, take a moment to think through each of the questions and get ready to make small, achievable improvements every day. Join us on Instagram and Facebook @pillarwellness for tips and suggestions. Commit to your best self in 2017!
The Five Pillars of Wellness:
Pillar 1 – Activity Level
- What does your current activity level look like, both your exercise and movement throughout the day? What would you like to change?
- What is preventing you from being more physically active? Injuries? Fear? Lack of time or motivation?
Pillar 2 – Good Nutrition
- What does your current diet look like? Are you happy with your diet? Are you achieving the results you want (even if just to feel good and energetic each day)?
- What is the greatest strength of your diet? What are your downfalls?
Pillar 3 – Stress Management
- How does stress affect your life? How does it make your life unmanageable? For example, lack of sleep or inability to focus.
- How do you currently prevent and manage your stress?
- What can you change about the stressors in your life? What can you change about YOU to make you more resilient?
Pillar 4 – Mindfulness
- Do you struggle to clear your mind and exist in the moment?
- Do you often feel distracted, unproductive or unfulfilled at work or home?
- Do you spend a lot of time dwelling in the past or worrying about the future?
Pillar 5 – Support System
- What does your current support system look like? How well is it working?
- Who or what would be a part of your ideal support system?
– Laura
#YourFivePillars
