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Tag: stress

Will it matter in 5 years time?

23 June 2016 /

Prior place hamilton will it matter in 5 years timeIf you have kids who play sports I’m sure you’ve experienced the challenges of finding a park close to the ground. On Saturday after finally parking ‘miles’ away from the fields, I was walking to watch the game and came across this street name.

Prior Place (No Exit).

Apart from smiling and wondering who named the street Prior Place, it made me think of prior places I have been. Not houses or streets as such, but situations.

Places where I felt like the world was caving in. Prior times when the pressure was unbearable. Anxious places that I thought had no exit, and wouldn’t end.

But they did end.

And there was a way out.

Life, as they say, went on.

It reminded me that the worry and stress and anxiety we face today, will seem insignificant in a few years’ time.

It reminded me that I need to do my best today, and not worry so much about tomorrow.

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself”

∴

The not worrying about tomorrow doesn’t mean we don’t plan to do things in the future to fix our problem.

It does mean we don’t burn mental energy stressing about what we can’t fix today.

If you’re struggling with worry and stress about things at the moment. A great question to ask is this…

‘Will it matter in 5 years time?’

Effectively, when we look back at this prior place, will all this stress and worry be worth the energy I am pouring into it.

I can tell you from personal experience, that it almost always wont.

3 steps required to become fit and healthy.

18 July 2014 /

JohnsonvilleI was running around the hills of Johnsonville recently, which if you come from a relatively flat Hamilton, can be very taxing. As I ran and navigated the streets that I used to live on, I thought about how I’ve run more in Wellington, since I’ve left Wellington, than when I actually lived there.

When I was in Wellington, I was eating crappy food, not exercising, and really putting on weight.

At the time I thought I was busy, but I was not as busy as what I am now.

At the time I was in my 20’s and thought I was bullet proof, despite the fact that I’d been given high cholesterol warnings from the doctor, and people commented on my putting on weight.

I would like to say that I took those as a warning and started to improve my health, but it’s sad to say that my health got significantly unhealthier and it would be over ten years before I made the change.

As I ran the streets that morning I realised that it would have been good to get healthier earlier. I thought about how much exercise and eating right helps me. It gives me better mental energy, less stress, better health, better fitness, and a better life in general.

I regretted the fact that I hadn’t got healthier earlier, that I hadn’t run the streets of Wellington when I was young and actually lived here.

∴

I think there might be some strange link between exercise and energy. Shock horror!

Every time I stop exercising or eating well for a season I quickly get stressed, put on weight and feel tired.

At those times I know there are three steps I must take:

  1. Resolve | If I don’t decide to do something, nothing will happen. I need to give myself the proverbial kick up the butt and get moving. Without resolve I rarely make it.
  2. Equip | I make sure I have the tools to build a routine and pattern. Maybe it’s apps like Lift.do, ShapeUp or a gym membership, or a friend to spur me on.
  3. Start | I generally start small and try to do something every day. Just create the habit and then let the habit move me forward.

If you are in that space… you should do something.

Today!

What’s your body telling you? Is it time you listened?

10 June 2014 /

headacheIt was a pain in the neck, quite literally, the project that I was working on. The tension in my neck and shoulders were leading towards a lovely mid-afternoon headache. I thought about opening my bag to retrieve some Nurofen or Panadol, but instead I asked myself a question.

What’s your body telling you?

My body was telling me that it was tired, my body was telling me that it needed some fresh air, my body was telling me that I had had enough of staring at the screen in the hope of finishing this project.

For once, I listened to my body. I got up, went out into the beautiful crisp winter’s day and went for a walk. Almost immediately I felt the pressure on my neck start to relax. Quickly, I felt refreshed and rejuvenated, all because I had listened to my body.

Often in our constant quest to be more productive and effective we ignore what our body is telling us. When we have headaches or pain, our initial response to keep going and to use painkillers just to get us through the day. Maybe we’re over tired, so we drink Red Bull; or feeling down, so we reach for our latest comfort food.

While that response can keep us going, it’s often not what our body needs.

And sometimes it’s just plain unhealthy.

∴

What is your body telling you?

Is it telling us to reach for another Panadol … or for that energy drink … or for that food?

Or are our bodies suggesting that, now is a good time to get out, have a break, relax and unwind a little bit?

Maybe after we’ve done that for ten minutes, we’’ll come back feeling alive and rejuvenated and our work will actually happen a lot quicker.

Maybe, it’s time we listen to our bodies.

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