This time of year when everything sparkles; the lights, the champagne and the goodwill toward our fellow humans, it’s easy to feel gratitude: for our family, friends and certainly our health.
But what does it really mean to be grateful for our health? Does it mean we’re grateful that our heart beats, that our lungs fill with air or that any day above ground is a good one!
Yes…and no.
I think that gratitude, when referring to our health, is bigger than that. In fact, I think it should be a verb - it should be a leap of thankfulness for all that we do to ensure our good health; eating well, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. It should be a mighty hurrah to our own fortitude for being steadfast in our commitment to infusing verve, vitality and a spring in our step defining the quality of our life. Good health is a by-product of that.
Unlike our beating heart and our need for air over which we have no control, being grateful for our tenacity and commitment to the outcome is very different because we have a great deal of influence over that. And that brings me to the other side of the warm and fuzzy Holiday spirit, the New Year that looms with the specter of old, abandoned and unfulfilled resolutions that haunt us like ghosts of Christmas past. Not surprisingly, the usual resolutions are made around losing weight and getting fit and while most are abandoned for a lot of different reasons you might be surprised to know that lack of willpower is not one of them. Rather, success rests on some very basic things: setting realistic goals, having a plan, asking for support and starting slow. But all the plans and support in the world will mean nothing if there is no follow through. In other words, you actually have to DO it. That’s why I say be grateful if you have been tenacious and committed to the outcome because it means you’ve actually followed through — the good health you are enjoying right now, that high quality of life, is a by-product of that. So what will be different in 2017 for you? Decide. Then DO. A good place to start: Find your tribe. Find a fitness facility where you feel you fit in, where you feel heard and appreciated. It represents a critical factor in your success.
Consistency, although easily said, is incredibly hard to do, it requires digging deep to that tenacity. And while we may not do it perfectly every time, if more often than not we succeed in sticking to that commitment then next year at this time when we ruminate on our good health we’ll understand very personally and profoundly the true meaning of gratitude.
Ursula Cafaro Clair Cafaro
Members of Happy Healthy Women receive 1 complementary cycling and 1 complementary strength class.
WE'LL HOLD YOUR HAND AND KICK YOUR ASS!