“When the kids are older, then I’ll have the time I need to care for myself.”
“Once things slow down at work, I’ll have more space for exercise and healthy eating.”
“As soon as summer vacation is over, then I’ll refocus.”
All of these statements, along with thousands of others I’ve heard over the years, say the exact same thing: my health can wait.
I wish this were true. I wish I could tell you that your health can be shelved for a few years, and still be good when you’re ready to pick it back up and refocus on it. But it just doesn’t work that way. Today’s health quality is a direct reflection of yesterday’s choices.
If you wish to feel good from the inside out, live a vibrant, energized life, and be healthy and strong as you age, you can’t afford to wait to start taking care of yourself. You need to do it now.
Your health doesn’t wait. It doesn’t wait for you to start on Monday or Jan. 1, or when the next six-week challenge begins. It doesn’t wait for the pantry to be cleaned out or the ice cream in the freezer to be finished or for you to go grocery shopping for the new meal plan. It doesn’t wait for you to get back on track or start again or have more time available for yourself, and it certainly doesn’t wait for life’s circumstances to be optimal.
Your health doesn’t wait for anything. And, if you wait, what you’ll discover is that the slippery slope to poor health doesn’t wait either. It’ll seem as if it happened slowly but soon, you’ll discover you’re just more tired than usual, days feel longer, and tasks that were once easy like bringing in the groceries, are now harder.
Inch by inch you’ll slide down the poor health slope and then one day you’ll climb to the top of a staircase and discover you are breathless, or go into the doctor’s office and learn that your heart isn’t healthy anymore.
It happens slowly over time but when you blink, you’ll look back and realize you’ve neglected your health so much so that you’re now out of shape, overweight, have more joint pain, and perhaps are even fighting some scary health challenges like heart issues, diabetes or high blood pressure.
You see, it’s a slippery slope making your health wait. One that never ends well.
I prefer instead, you stop waiting and start doing what you can now, even if it’s not big or perfect or the ideal situation. Imperfect action is still action and any action in the right direction is good.
Your body needs to move. It needs lots of water. It needs vegetables. It needs fresh air and sunshine and laughter. It needs exercise that makes it sweaty and gets the heart rate up and the muscles engaged. It needs relaxation and stretching. Above all, your body needs for you to set down the excuses and start caring for it now – today.
You wouldn’t neglect or mistreat your car and expect it to last. You wouldn’t pump it full of the wrong fuel or avoid oil changes and then wonder why it isn’t working right. The same rule applies to your body; tomorrow’s health depends on what you do today. We experience tomorrow what we designed today. If you wish to experience good health tomorrow, today is the day to make that happen. Putting it off is never the answer.
Next time you hear yourself saying, ‘my health can wait,’ remind yourself that the only thing that should ever wait is the excuses you’re making and instead, choose to prioritize the one body you get to live in.
Next year, you will thank you for choosing healthy this year. Do it now because tomorrow’s you is depending on you and he or she wants to be able to play with the grandkids, go for nature hikes, live pain free, enjoy life and not just survive it from the sidelines of a couch.
The couch can wait, but your health never will.
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This is a monthly opinion piece; Alison Brown is a Walkerton native now living in Listowel, where she is local business owner, mother and published author.
