I'M GETTING HEALTHY!

As a success and life coach it is my job to be able to truly help people. I love what I do and I think it's very important to bring my best self to my clients. It is important to me that I am genuine and open and that I practice what I preach so I can give what I have.

With this thought in mind I realized I was faltering in one hugely important area of my life. My health.

Crossing the gap between knowing what is right and actually doing what is right is what I am trained to do! How could I help others with this very important success goal if I couldn't do it for myself? This had to change. I had to be able to walk the walk.

I'm in my late 40's and I suspected there were problems with my health but like a lot of people, I tried to ignore them. Here I was standing at a doorway labeled "get healthy" and I needed to step through the threshold no matter how uncomfortable I was going to be. So I took a deep breath and started walking.

I knew through my training and my own experience that, in order to be successful, I needed to uncover my "BIG WHY". A BIG WHY is an extremely compelling reason to continue moving forward in any direction and I needed my "WHY's" for getting healthy. So I set about discovering what that was for me.

My reasons for losing weight in the past were largely shallow. Even though I said I wanted to be healthy, I basically just wanted to "look good". I know that now. My failed attempts at weight loss in the past proved this fact.

But this time I knew I had to do the real work. I employed the same strategies I used for my clients on myself. I uncovered my previous thoughts, feelings and relationships with food. Then I got practical and forced myself to look at the facts (aka the numbers). Where do I currently stand?

I measured everything I could measure at home. I weighed myself and measured myself. I had let myself gain 40 pounds over the past two years and I fought the urge to sink into a puddle of shame about this. I shut the negative thoughts out, reminded myself this was temporary and kept marching forward. I had to know it all.

I called and had my doctor order a blood test to check my biomarkers and had my blood pressure measured. When the results came back I was a little stunned but not totally surprised. It turned out that I was pre diabetic, had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Here it was... I HAD FOUND BIG WHY #1 - GET MY NUMBERS UNDER CONTROL.

This "BIG WHY" was reinforced by imagining all the money I would spend on the doctors appointments and drugs I would have to take to keep things under control for the rest of my life. If I had any say in the matter I would NOT be taking drugs for the rest of my life.

BIG WHY #2 was clear to me from the start. I felt like a fraud! I want to genuinely know how my clients feel when they go thru this process so I could really relate and be more helpful. I want them to see me and KNOW it is possible, not just believe what I say.

BIG WHY #3 is ALL ABOUT ME. I know that my body my vehicle for making everything else possible in my life. I know if I take care of myself I have more to give others. I know if I fuel my body correctly I will think more clearly, sleep better, have less stress and more energy. As a bonus, I will probably get down to my natural weight. I might even be able to buy clothes without trying them on! My imagined future is looking good. Now I need to make it a reality.

Armed with all my BIG WHY's, I set out make health happen.

Since I am not an expert on nutrition, I needed to learn. BUT... I didn't wait for information before I started to make changes based on common sense. I drank more water, cut out processed food as much as possible and started doing yoga. I believe in baby steps.

As I did this, I scoured the internet for help. I felt like I was trying to decide which religion I wanted to join. There are so many different schools of thought about diet and exercise. Everyone believes that their way is the best way. Luckily I discovered a program that aligned with my values and beliefs about food and was packed with tons of information that made sense to me. (If you are interest in knowing about this program, feel free to e-mail me and I will send you the info).

So here I am in the middle of the program and I feel (and look) terrific. I'm not "done" but I don't believe I will ever be "done" which I think is a good thing. I will be "practicing" health for the rest of my life. I can't wait to test my biomarkers again because I know I will see significant improvements. This process has created genuine shift in my perspective. What I really care about now is my health and as long as I keep the "BIG WHY's" alive and make lots of deposits in my health account then I know I will be successful.

I will keep you posted on my progress!

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www.kimscoaching.com