Taking ownership: making your health & well-being priority

 

January turned out to be the month to exercise kindness: to myself (see “A new way to approach the New Year: what’s your word?“). Because let’s face it: if I’m not personally invested in myself, then who will be? On my quest to take ownership of my overall health and well-being, I’ve met with various doctors this month—including my primary care physician who ordered a glut of labs to rule out myriad disorders (yay, me), and my cardiologist who I retain to monitor a congenital heart defect. The good news: in all areas tested, I either show normal or improved results. There is no bad news. I feel like I’m finally back on track. And that the lifestyle modifications I’ve applied over the last half year are not only working, but they’re realistic and maintainable. For me, that’s a win-win. Next up: annual echocardiogram, and lab work to dismiss a familial blood disorder. Oh yes, and an overdue skin cancer checkup.

How do you invest in yourself?

Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

I’m working on it

[Image credit: Stuart Miles]

One of my goals for this year is to improve myself by breaking a bad habit.  The good news: at any given time, I have several to choose from.  The bad news: at any given time, I have several to choose from.  With so many areas of my life I’d like to improve upon, you could say I’m in a constant state of flux.  This isn’t so bad unless I become overwhelmed with all the changes I’m attempting to enforce, like working on being more spontaneous, speaking up, making better choices (and then not complaining or regretting the ones I do make), improving my body image, being more timely — to name a few.  But I notice that when I try to work on too many modifications at once, my common MO is to shut down and withdraw.  It seems easier to just talk the talk and forget about the walking part.  Not to mention, it sometimes leads to those unpleasant funks.  To keep on track, I need to focus on one thing at a time, and then pat myself on the back when I succeed.  After all, it’s not like anyone else is keeping score.

What’s one thing you’re working on to improve yourself this year?