Prevention or Cure – Which Path Will You Choose For Your Wellbeing?

All at once it feels as if the world is going into meltdown. And the questions being thrown around range from ‘Are we all being driven into panic mode by media?’ or ‘Is this virus really sending us into lockdown’?

Whatever you believe, this is not the time to get into ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’. The truly important thing it to take note of this situation and view it as a reminder to us all to take the best possible self-care we can because we never know what is around the corner nor should be take our health for granted.

Sadly, it is these unexpected world health events that wake us up to the importance of prioritising & investing in our heath & wellbeing.

And when we are confronted with these situations, we have a choice. We can begin to plan to treat our health with the time & respect it deserves, or we can fall back into old habits & behaviours once the worst of the situation has passed.

From a self-care perspective we can either prevent things getting worse than they currently are by embedding preventative measures for today & moving forward or we can ride things out to the end, see how bad they get and try to do something when the s*** hits the fan. I guarantee the latter will end up being way more of a drain on your time, energy & finances. And yes, your health.

As a growing ageing population, never has it been more important than now to be the owners and curators of our health plans. And by that, I mean being fully responsible for what we do daily to ensure we are in the best possible health we can be in.

We can dance around the lovely light-heartedness of the ‘life is too short’ mindset and assume that means it is better to do everything in excess (including putting everything & everyone as priorities over self) or we can acknowledge that, regardless of our differing lifespans, the ability to truly love life & live it fully, requires our willingness to work, rest & play (and that includes prioritising time for self whilst serving others).

How Do We Prevent Ill Health?

Accepting that some illness is non-preventative, we can focus on what is preventative. We can take control of our nutrition, our physical activity, our social engagement in the world (essential for mental wellbeing) and by creating healthy sleep patterns, using whatever resources are available to help us achieve gains in each of these areas.

Often when we notice our health is not as it should be – feeling stuck, over tired, unable to focus, irritable, emotionally drained, lack of energy, exhausted, stressed (to name but a few) – we just keep going. And we keep going because everyone else does (or so it appears), or because it’s what we believe is expected of us (societal pressures) or guilt dictates it’s what is necessary to prove how much we love & care about others (what we have been told & shown).

And these worn out stories & myths are what keep us looped in poor habits. We need to stamp them out! If we continue to believe them, we will continue to live in overdrive, not resting adequately or making time for play. And the sad result of that is burnout.

I have personally seen the damage caused by the ‘work, work, work’, ‘do, do, do’ ethos whether it be driven by career, business, homemaking or parenting roles (or any combination thereof). When the mind is overloaded it is not clear and the messages between it, the body, intuition and emotions disconnect / dis-configure. And depending on the severity of that disconnect, the stress levels rise and inevitably cause symptoms of physical dysfunction or dis-ease), from headaches, to backaches to consistent stress and worse still, heart attacks.

Mindset, Beliefs & Behaviours

Hence mindset, beliefs and behavioural work are necessary elements of self-care. It’s not just about taking a moment here or there to do something nice for self. Rather, it is breaking the habits of a lifetime to create ones that will serve you well and in doing so, allow you to serve others from your best energetic position.

Ultimately, self-care affects all areas of your life and how you approach it will determine the outcomes.

Want a promotion but already feeling crushed under the pressures of what you are having to handle in life? Learn how to self-care and prioritise what matters so you have the capacity to attain your goals.

Want to spend more energy on the kids (grandkids)?  Self-care will build the energy you so desperately want & need to do so.

Want to take your health seriously so that life feels more manageable & enjoyable? Self-care your way to better habits.

It’s time to take a good hard look at what you are (or are not) doing for your self-care to create the best possible health plan, ahead of any unforeseen crisis. And yes, you are worth it!

As for the cure route… I’ll save that for another article.

YvonneB x

P.S – Are you ready to assess your habits? Get your FREE download: Assess Your Habits Checklist