What’s stopping you?

I used to live in past and worry about the future all the while missing out on the present. We have heard it before life changing events can change our perspectives and I for one, learnt about gratitude and to focus on today. In fact the future terrifies me now so much that I rarely go into that territory! As for the past, well what can I change? Nothing, so why bother. I have dealt with certain traumas and accepted them for what they are. I am sure on a subconscious level, things still lurk about but I can’t control that. Life has become so much lighter, stress has been diluted.

Do I still get anxiety? Of course, I had stage 4 cancer and a recurrence but I have to find a way to cope with that. One way that I cope is by taking control of the areas I can, that being  the way I respond to a crisis, event or emotions, the perspective I take, the food I eat and the movement I do.

I wish I had never got cancer but I did, and with that diagnosis I also gained a clearer outlook on what I want from this life. I now know how short life can be and I will do everything in my power to stay as fit and healthy as possible in my mind, body and soul! So, what does this all mean? It means, I don’t want you to have to wait for some mind-blowing shit storm to take action. I want you to learn from people like me. Why wait for something bad to happen before you start eating well, exercising regularly and having more self-care?

I won’t name names but there are people very close to me that refuse to change, I can’t understand it. They saw what I went through but something is still stopping them from a healthier lifestyle. It makes me sad in all honesty, as too often people only react from a bad situation as opposed to preventing one. I am not saying fit and healthy people cannot get a major disease, but it sure helps, even day to day illnesses are reduced by a healthy lifestyle.

Maybe you have had cancer or a major illness and are still hitting a wall. It happens! There is this assumption that if you have had a major illness that automatically you will change your entire lifestyle and become a guru – it’s just not true!

So why does this happen? What is stopping people from getting healthy?

From my experience, it is a mental block. After my recurrence, I had one. It took me much longer mentally to ‘bounce back’. If it was so easy to become plant based or go to gym, we’d all be doing it. I find for the best part that taking the first step is the hardest, but that first step leads to a routine, which for most people is so important in order to create healthy habits.

Unfortunately, many people cannot maintain the routines and are inconsistent, slowly they can slip to their old ways. Often motivation and emotions come into play.  We can talk ourselves out of things very easily. I am not motivated to eat healthy food and gym all the time, my mind will often go into overdrive, but I have to ignore those negative voices and use my discipline. I know that if I don’t keep up my routines, that I will slip back into old ways, a space that made me very unhappy. So, I just do things on autopilot and try my best to ignore the emotions!

I wanted to write about this, as it is a common theme that comes up time and time again. That’s why it is so important to create a support network when you are starting out, whether it be exercise or becoming plant based. Being accountable to some one is very important and has the greatest outcomes. If you are someone that would like some help or want to ask me any questions about any of these areas, please get in touch.

If you are a woman, I have a dedicated private Facebook group for becoming plant based. Otherwise, you can visit my Instagram or business page.

Don’t let those mind monkeys stop you from having the best life.

Love, Joanna x