Even in the midst of a pandemic, we have so many demands on our time. Kids, jobs, pets, housework, partners, parents, and trying to keep up with the basics like eating and sleeping. Finding time for self-care is hard but so are the consequences of neglecting it. You must choose your hard.

Choose Your Hard: The Hard to Avoid

“If you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness.” You see this statement is on social media posts all the time. And it is absolutely true. Our bodies are not machines. We cannot run continuously and we certainly cannot run on empty. Now, more than ever, we need to keep our bodies strong to fight off disease. Especially with the cold coming in.

Eating poorly is an easy choice. Quick fixes, takeaway meals, and lots of caffeine feel good in the short term. But here’s what happens. Spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels. These result in increased stress, decreased concentration, poor decision making ability, and reduced memory. Longer term outcomes are not great either. Bad teeth, bad skin, and increased fat, to name but a few. These would be hard to live with.

But it is not just our physical health at stake here. Mental and emotional wellbeing also take a hit from low self-care. Darker days mean less opportunity to soak up Vitamin D. This is nature’s mood-booster. Spending your days cooped up in your home office then means no fresh air, no mental breaks, no physical relief, and no natural good vibes. You can see the downward spiral. Poor mental health is hard to live with. Trust me, I know.

Choose Your Hard: But First Find It

I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do things perfectly and consistently from the get go. Reality check. You will not wake up one morning and magically cook three perfectly healthy and balanced meal per day for the rest of your life. So do not put that pressure on yourself. All that will happen when you expect too much is that you will be hard on yourself when you fail. This is not the kind of hard we want.

A part of the coaching I offer is to get people to look at their lives as a whole. Where are you doing well? Where are the areas for development? In my opinion there are 12 domains that make up wellbeing. From mental and physical wellness to financial, occupational and spiritual. Once we’ve been through each of them, we pick just one area to work on. Not necessarily the one with the lowest score, but the one that’s going to have the biggest impact. Then we set a goal.

And there are no SMART goals here. No. Only MAI goals. Meaningful. Achievable. Impactful. This is the hard for you to focus on. This is the hard you choose. For more information about the work I do in this space you can visit my website or contact me on gemmalouisecoaching@gmail.com. I always offer a free introductory session for anyone interested on coaching so you have nothing to lose.

Also, Is It Really That Hard?

Choosing wellness starts with a single small step. If eating better is your hard of choice then just make one change a week. Have 6 desserts instead of 7. Swap white bread for brown. Fill a glass with water every time you put the kettle on (this one worked especially well for me). All these little changes will add up and you will start to see and feel the difference.

I also know it is not easy to make time during our days to get out and about. By the time everyone has found their socks, put their shoes on, and stopped fighting over which hat belongs to who, it is almost not worth it. However, an article from Business Insider earlier this year suggests that just a 12 minute walk a day is all that is need to help you cope with stress. Is 12 minutes really that hard?

The choice, I’m sorry to say comes down to this. Do the hard now and feel the benefit later. Or do the easy now and suffer the hard later. I want to end by encouraging you to remember you are not alone. Whether you do the hard now with a friend, a mentor, a coach, or a colleague, there are plenty of people who can support you. Keep reading, keep seeking, keep finding ideas. Choose the right hard and keep choosing it every day.