Have you noticed how fast the years go? Days go by in the blink of an eye and there never seems to be a break in the calendar. One minute we're teaching our kids how to tie shoelaces and the next we're looking at universities....
Life is fast and often quite brutal with its stresses and strains, but when was the last time time you sat down, brushed your cares to one side and were genuinely thankful for all that you have in your life?
Maintaining a positive outlook when under pressure and hardship is a really valuable commodity in our battle for better health. Think about the times when things are tough, do you reach for the chocolate? Maybe a large bowl of ice cream or glass/bottle of wine! We all have coping mechanisms and our food/drink choices form a massive part of that. The greater the hardship the more likely we are to stray back into bad habits.
But that's not all.....
When facing hardship our stress levels increase. Our adrenal system fires up. We're ready for a fight, senses sharp, increased awareness, our ability to sense danger is working at full tilt.
The problem is that we're not facing a visible well armed enemy. We're facing a mental fight rather than a physical one and yet our physiological response is the same. I'll go into stress in a little more depth in the next email but for now you just need to know that high stress levels will really mess up your fat loss goals.
So how can being thankful help you be a little less stressed?
I have to be honest, the past couple of months have been tough. In fact I'd go as far as to say its been soul destroying. So many things going wrong and just when you think you've dealt with one issue another one pops up...and made harder when it involves the people that you love.
Normally I'd slide into making bad food choices, ditching my meal plans and reaching for comfort foods like pizza and burgers, but this time I tried a different approach...I decided to stop, breathe and take a minute to smile and be thankful for all the good things in my life.
As I write this it's 10.40pm, everyone is in bed and I'm sat at the dinning table typing away. Sometimes you just have to take action and this is one of those times, a time to be thankful..
I'm thankful for the family I have, for my friends, for those I have served with. I'm thankful for a business that I love and for the trust people put in me. To the people who smile through the classes and laugh at my bad jokes, who support my efforts, to my training clients who do that extra rep even though they don't want to.....
I'm also thankful for YOU! For being a part of this success group, for wanting to educate and improve everything you do. So over to you......go and write your thank you list!
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