Imagine you built a house with only a few unsupported boards as its foundation. How stable is that house? Would you move into the upper floors? If you were brave enough to do so, do you think you’d be in for a rude awakening one day when the whole thing collapsed beneath you? 

How many of us are building a complicated life on no sleep? No real food? No meaningful relationships? How many of us are asking our bodies to be pushed to their very limits and then feeling surprised and confused when we become sick or generally unwell? Is this you? It’s a lot of us. 

I know. I’ve been this person. I have asked my body to perform at peak level without giving it proper nourishment. It can’t be done for long. Many years ago, before becoming a health coach, after suffering a great deal of personal loss, I threw myself into work as a performing artist. I said “yes” to every project. Even projects that didn’t propel my career forward or pad my wallet. I was trying to distract myself from my grief by having as many things to do as possible. It was hard and draining and I spent most of that period of time with some kind of illness in my body – a cold, a sinus or throat infection, a yeast infection, a joint injury. Huh. How was it that I was just a magnet for illness? How come I couldn’t feel well? It would have made all this hustling and pushing so much easier if I just didn’t have to combat some kind of physical ailment all the time. 

And then I lost my voice. I mean lost it. No sound. I was in a show running 8 shows a week and due to all the pushing through I’d been doing for a year, I was out of paid sick days. I had commitments to do three concerts in the next 4 weeks and I was doing a Pre-Broadway workshop presentation that week. My voice teacher at the time gave me some tough love. She told me I could keep doing this – not taking care of myself and pushing, pushing, pushing – and the inevitable result would be that maybe I could sing through these commitments but I’d lose my voice probably forever due to damage and I’d be dealing with that for the rest of my life. Or I could stop. Slow down. Back off the gas pedal and back out of as many commitments as possible. Sleep. Be quiet. Eat nourishing foods. Be around people who showed me love and compassion. Drink lots of water. Exercise to move my body but not to point of exhaustion. I had an opportunity to engage in real, foundational ways of restoring my health. I did it. It was the beginning of my health journey.

I realized after that time and the recovery it offered me that nothing could be done if my body was not taken care of. It is the vehicle that carries around my passionate heart and my active mind and it must be maintained.

Many clients come to me wanting to “have it all”. And they can. They just need to build their life on a solid foundation and then so much more is possible. It means following some basic principals. 

Good Food – Food that is made with good quality ingredients, made with love and eaten with pleasure.

Good Hydration – Plenty of fresh, clean water and keep it coming. Sixty percent of your body is water. More than seventy percent of your brain is water. It must be replenished.

Good Movement – Movement that feels good and joyful, that lets the skin release toxins through sweat, that warms the muscles with blood and that lubricates the joints, especially those in your spine. We have more lymph in our bodies than blood. And the lymphatic system, unlike the circulatory system, has no pump. Exercise it the mover of lymph. Bodies need to be moved every day in a way that does not induce pain.

Good Sleep – Sleep that is regular and undisturbed. Sleep that is restorative and energizing and allows the brain to dream and the body to rest. 

Good Relationships – We cannot live our lives without connection to other people. People in healthy relationships with friends, family and partners live longer and happier lives. Yes, Sarte said “Hell is other people”. So make sure the people you spend your time with fill you with laughter and stimulating conversation. And love. 

We must all learn to refocus our energies on these fundamental, foundational, fortifying principals. And to prioritize them. That reprioritization will make your body, mind and spirit strong. And then you can do anything.