feeling better starts with one step
There was a time, before the rest of the RNs and staff at work got used to my “gluten-free-ness,” that someone would comment on the food I brought to work for lunch.
“Oh Sarah, you are so good! You must really stick to a diet.”
I would think to myself, but this is just chicken, sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts…how is that being “good” when it’s just regular food? Why is this considered to be a “diet?”
I’m not blaming this person for thinking whole foods must be some part of a diet, or that it is hard to live this way. That was the unspoken content of her statement: that becoming healthy is a giant challenging project that is too time consuming for any working-parent.
Usually when people say things like this to me, they are specifically referring to foods. But the sentiment applies to exercise and stress management as well.
I think we’ve somehow heard from society that in order to be healthy it must be a painful process, unattainable, or a slog.
I made a decision, just over a decade ago, to release the “health is hard” mentality. I realized the messages we have been receiving from diet and health culture were not actually helping me feel better. They were making me feel worse! Why would I try to get “healthy” if it meant painful workouts and tasteless foods?
I want to enjoy my efforts at figuring out wellness-giving activities and how I can maybe, dare I say it, have some fun while doing it?
Achieving wellness doesn’t have to be hard or annoying or so time consuming that it’s impossible for us folks who have other people to take care of, too.
feeling better starts with one step
And for me that first step was to let go of the grind, and focus on what was fun and brought me energy and joy.
So I dug into the science of gut health. Call me a nerd but learning about how the human body works has always been my favorite thing since Mrs Miller had us open piggies (sorry) in high school anatomy class.
Learning about how the microbes in our guts affect our poop and brain is super fun!
Gut health eventually led me down the road to mental and brain health. The two have a wonderfully complex relationship that affects our mood, digestion, and even mediates our preference for sugar.
Letting go of “getting healthy is hard” and choosing to believe that “I can do one thing today to feel better” has changed my life.
I started off taking out gluten for a couple weeks. Then months. Then years. I didn’t have much support for this change 15 years ago, but I knew that I immediately felt better with fewer GI pains, headaches, brain fog and skin issues.
I wasn’t thinking about the 1,000 things I needed to do to be healthy, just the one step of removing gluten.
I don’t want to minimize that the struggle for health is real. I’ve been there. And I still have some really hard days where I am sad that I still have headaches and anxiety.
The difference is that before I made the decision to look for fun and energy-giving ways to health, I would sit in the sadness of how hard it is to cook gluten free meals, give up donuts, and spend 10 minutes a day meditating.
Now, I can more quickly get out of my funk and tell myself what a joy it is to be able to do these things for my body, mind and spirit. I can have fun while chopping veggies, deep breathing, and move-move-moving my body.
on a walk with Nugget…my favorite way to get moving in the morning
Putting “feeling better starts with one step” into practice:
Without thinking about what you should do to get healthy, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you:
What gives you a tiny spark of excitement to think about trying today to help you feel better?
Maybe you’d like to take a 10 minute walk outside.
Maybe you’d like to try 4-7-8 breathing in your car before your next work shift
Maybe you’d like to go to bed without scrolling through social media
After you write down the first step you are going to take today to start feeling better, tell someone about it. Tell them when you plan to take your step. And even how you might celebrate taking this step.
That’s it! I changed my life of gut issues and headaches when I decided to take just one step.
Aaaaand, it hasn’t been a giant, time consuming project.
xo, Sarah
