Many people find themselves wanting to make a healthy change in their life but never following through. There are often many reasons that can prevent making a healthy lifestyle change. Some of the common excuses I hear for not committing to a healthier lifestyle are fear of failure, financial restrictions, and limited resources or time. The first step in making a healthy lifestyle change is to consult a heath care professional for the appropriate action measures. A health care professional can examine your current medical conditions and discuss appropriate steps to take for success in healthy lifestyle changes.
This article looks at some of the common reasons for not committing to healthy changes and the tips I have used to achieve a healthier balance in my own life. These tips do not replace the role of a qualified professional. If you are making a change in your life and experience problems, you should cease immediately and consult a professional. As a health care professional, my approach is to discover the cause of the problem and provide healthy measures to address the problem.
CONNECT WITH PROFESSIONALS
As a new small business, I sought free advise from the Small Business Development Center hosted by Santa Monica College. Although professionally run, I soon realized that making a change often requires a financial investment. During this process, I hired a practice manager, accountant and attorney to advise me on what would be in my best interest for setting up the practice. Through the help of my business accountant Brian Bedord, CPA, business attorney, Joey Lynch, and practice manager, I was given doable tasks to do without being overwhelmed while starting my practice.
HARMONIZE WITH YOUR VALUES
In the past month, my healthy lifestyle change involved going from being an employee to being self-employed. This change in my career was over a year in the making. Preventing me from change was the comfort of financial security and fear of failure. I was afraid of what change might bring. Major professional events caused me to realize the importance of releasing my comfort zone. To help with the transition, I received help from professionals to provide direction in achieving my goal.
When I was starting my practice, the first person that I went to for advise was my husband. I figured that since he is self-employed and successful that he would know how to help me. I immediately fell into the same problem that I advise patients in my practice not to do. People will often go to their spouses or friends for free advise on complicated difficult issues. Boundaries are important for successful relationships. Going to a friend for health advise is like going to an auto mechanic instead of a cardiologist after a heart attack. Both may be good at fixing things but it is crucial to connect with the appropriate professional to assist in your particular problem.
When I address the problems of my patients, it is important for me to understand their values in life. Meaningful change is likely not sustainable if the change is not in line with core values. Chronic low back pain is a common problem I treat resulting from lifestyle habits. Most physicians would provide generic recommendations to heat or ice the area, stretch and avoid prolonged sittings. Some of the better physicians will inquire about significant changes that may be contributing to worsening of the pain. In a recent incident, the low back pain patient presented in an avid horse back rider who recently started training a rescue horse. The better physician will discuss tips specific to riders such as importance of saddle and posture while riding. The rare few will attempt to discover what is preventing the body from staying healthy and pain-free. I realized that she had a strain pattern into her right shoulder and compression of her right hip. Further inquiry resulted in further discovery that while riding she has to counterbalance her horse who suffers from an injured right hoof recently and is left-hand dominant. That afternoon I visited her rescue horse, I discovered and treated her horse's swollen left hock (ankle) and advised that she have the horse treated for the injured right hoof which is causing the horse to strain the opposite hock (ankle). By addressing the imbalances of the horse, the rider should be able to improve her riding posture and thus decrease her risk of further back complications. At (X) CHi, our health care professionals make sure to address the cause of the problem and not only the symptoms.
INTEGRATE CHANGE INTO LIFESTYLE
Recently my husband and I had a meeting with Scott Perring, CFP who discussed Value-Based Financial Planning. During our meeting, we were asked to create a hierarchy of values that inspired us. If you don't have a direction of where you want to go, you can not expect to know how to get there. Understanding your core values helps to ensure that you continue to stay on task towards the goal. Make sure to see a health care professional to determine the ways to make a positive change in you.
INTEGRATE CHANGE INTO LIFESTYLE