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LOVE YOURSELF.
How can you love others if you don’t first love yourself? Today’s society often doesn’t teach us to love ourselves, but rather to judge and compare ourselves with others. The psychological damage this does can be greater than anything the outside world presents us with.
Social media makes many of us feel like we aren’t good enough. Fat-shaming or body-shaming is rife in today’s world, and is a real form of emotional damage. We need to love ourselves and accept ourselves as we are right now.
Diet culture in general has us all comparing ourselves to those around us and wondering if they are better than us. Are we thin enough? Do we fit into those jeans? How do those squidgy bits look in the mirror?
It’s true that there are correlational links between obesity and life expectancy, but it is thought that some of these links could be due to the pressure society places on those who are overweight and the psychological harm that brings, rather than simply the amount of fat cells in a person’s body.
Body neutrality literally means a feeling of neutrality towards your body. A blasé perspective about how your body looks. If you’ve been worrying about those love handles, or other bits of your body which you’re not too keen on, then it’s time to let that go. Equally, if you’re very proud of your strong, round bum, or your big guns, then it’s time to let that go, too. For more on this topic, check out Laura Thomas’ awesome book Just Eat It.
In terms of your physical health, there are so many better things to focus on than your appearance, like overall strength and mobility (for more on this). So, if you do want to focus on exercise, then focus on specific goals, rather than how you look. Aim to be able to touch your toes or run briskly up the stairs, rather than stressing about how you look in a bikini.
Overly focusing on the way our bodies look can lead to all kinds of disordered eating, such as extreme fasting, anorexia, binge comfort eating, yo-yo dieting or bulimia.
Your body is great at telling you when it’s hungry and what nutrition it needs, so rather than focusing on what we ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ be eating, try to learn to focus on what your body is telling you it wants to eat.
Now this takes practice, and we don’t mean ‘just eat all the sweets because you want to’. It’s unlikely that this is actually what your body is telling you it wants. Really think about your hunger levels and what your body is craving, while trying to overlook any addictive eating behaviours you may have learned.
Developing a more neutral attitude to the way your body looks will allow you to focus more on eating well and improving your overall health.
LOVE OTHERS.
Feeling like you ‘belong’ is crucial to a happy, healthy life. It could be a circle of friends or family members, a sports or book club, but being part of a tribe that you socialise with on a regular basis is really important to your health. Being around friends and family has been shown to have positive effects on stress levels and being part of a social or family unit has been associated with longer lifespans.
This doesn’t mean you need to suddenly become an extrovert out gallivanting every night. But it does mean spending time with others can have a positive effect on your life.
Make time for family and friends, even if you think you’re too busy. Plan some fun activities that don’t necessarily revolve around alcohol. Today, it’s all too easy for fun to end up involving booze. That can be detrimental to other parts of your life and health. Set a date for enjoying some outdoor activities together, like hiking or playing mini-golf! Or catch up over movies and food, or a barbecue or dinner (why not cook some recipes from this book?). We’re not saying you should go teetotal, but just don’t let all your social activities involve drinking. Be social, spend time with family and friends, and make sure that social time has a positive impact on your day-to-day life.
LIVE WITH PURPOSE.
People with a core sense of purpose have been shown to live longer, healthier lives. The Japanese call this ‘ikigai’, which translates directly as ‘reason for being’. Your driving purpose may be your career, or your religion; it may be community work, or caring for your family. Having a strong sense of purpose in life can help you remain happy and healthy.
This is core to our BOSH! beliefs as well. Both of us have a clear purpose – we are here to provide plant-based inspiration, knowledge and recipes for people all around the world, and in this way do our bit to help tackle global climate change.
If there’s a disconnect between what you do in your daily work or home life, and what you believe, then that can have a real impact on your wellbeing. If you’re unhappy at work, this can spill over into other parts of life. It may cause you to comfort eat, it may stop you from exercising, it may cause you to fall out with your family and friends. By contrast, if you’re fulfilled by your work, then your relationships, your personal routines and habits are much easier to feel in control of.
This doesn’t mean you have to leave your job to become the next Mother Teresa. Life’s not like that! If your job enables you to look after and provide for your family, then that is a great life purpose in itself. Just make sure you are clear why you are doing what you are doing, and take satisfaction from that.
But now that you’ve taken this opportunity to think about your health and wellbeing, think about ways you could feel more fulfilled. If you resent Mondays and live for the weekend then it might be time for a change. Could you retrain for a job that is more in line with what you love? Could you change aspects of your existing work and take on some new, more satisfying challenges? Could you volunteer in the community?
Let yourself choose things that matter to you, and those around you, and you’ll find yourself living with purpose.
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