Lifestyle shifts are difficult because you need to break the routines you have been following for years. You could find any excuse to revert to your old lifestyle. It is therefore important that you set your environment so that it’s easier for you to change habits and practices.
While you can’t control most of what’s going on in your office, you can plan out your home. Don’t think only of your immediate activities. Rather, think about the rest of your life. You might be motivated to exercise right now because you are overweight. But you need to plan how you will maintain that healthy body. Right now, you might be resolute in your rejection of that juicy steak and just wolfing down the leafy greens because you need to look trim in an upcoming company ceremony. But consider how you could eat that kind of healthy food regularly beyond your temporary goal.
Here are a few suggestions on what you could do to your home and some modifications to your usual errands to help you ease into a healthy lifestyle that would stick with you for years to come.
Bring the gym to your home.
Well, not necessarily the gym, but get some exercise equipment. Then you wouldn’t have the excuse that you don’t have the time to go to the gym. It’s right at home. You’d be grateful too for your exercise facility when you’re older and you get a tad insecure with the young fit people sweating out in the gym.
One of the best ideas to regularly do cardiovascular exercise is to have a pool. It doesn’t have to be big, but long enough for you to do some laps daily. Swimming is a relaxing exercise and on hot summer days, it would be very refreshing. A pool is also a great party venue. Have a high-quality fire-rated deck built so that you could have barbecues with friends. Since it would be coated with sealers, it would also last you for several years compared to bare decks.
Grow a vegetable garden.
Dedicate a portion of your background for your green leafy edible friends. You’d appreciate vegetables more if you grow them yourself. Gardening is also one of the best ways to relax. Some studies relate dirtying your hands in the soil with happiness because of the presence of Mycobacterium vaccae in the soil, a substance that has a similar effect to Prozac.
If you have a family or planning to have one, a vegetable garden is also a good place to train your kids on different practical smarts they could use in life. Kids would learn the value of food, keeping with strict routines, and valuing living things.
Make your bedroom as cozy as possible.
Make your room very relaxing that you wouldn’t be tempted to open your laptop the moment you hit the sheets. If possible, don’t have a television set in your bedroom and don’t use LED lights. LED lights emit more of the blue spectrum, and they could deprive you of a good night’s sleep. But if you’re one of the screen-addicted people nowadays who could only fall asleep with something flickering in front of them, well, have what’s best for your bedtime.
Separate your workspace from your living areas.
A healthy lifestyle is not just about the body. It’s your entire well-being. So you need to have a healthy mind as well, free of stress and toxic mentalities. As we have experienced in the months of the COVID-19 lockdown, or even before the pandemic when we get too caught up in work, our stress levels shoot up whenever our work and personal life become too entangled.
Therefore, anticipating that you might be working from home occasionally or totally in the future, you need to delineate your work area so that you could get into the proper mindset. When it’s work, it’s work. When you’re done, leave your work at your workstation and enjoy your home. Overlapping work and personal life could get stressful and consequently affect your health.
Don’t include junk food in your groceries.
Finally, you have to make this resolution for your fridge and snack bar. We know those times when you’re watching a movie and it’s very tempting to open a bag of chips and pop a can of soda. Don’t buy them when you do your groceries. The temptation would require you to get out of the comforts of your couch and run to the nearby convenience store. Chances are, you’d rather stay put than buy those unhealthy foods. Make a grocery list and stick to it.
Following a lifestyle is not just selecting what parts of it are convenient for you. If you want to be healthy, you can’t just choose exercise foregoing nutritional needs, or the other way around. Instead of being picky, make your living conditions conducive for embracing this entire way of living.
