Personal Health. What it is and How to be Intentional About It (A Quick Guide)

If you’re anything like me, you stumbled into your personal health journey out of necessity. Responding to the cry for help from your no-longer 21-year-old body and years of making it on four hours of sleep, and alternating between iced coffee and diet cola for hydration.

So, in our stumbling. We picked up some great habits. Like drinking water, exercising, sleeping a few more hours and dare I say — meal prepping?

You are thriving, loving this you!

Me too, you go girl.

You may have the basics down and are wondering, is there more to this space of health and wellness? Or you may just be starting out and are a perfectionist who needs to do their research before taking on any change. Either way, I got you.

First, what is health?

As defined by the World Health Organization, “health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

So now, what’s personal health?

Personal health is what you do, the choices you make and actions you take, to preserve or improve your health and is also referred to as wellness.

The most known and talked about aspects of health are physical and mental health.

At a basic level, some choices we make that support our physical health include what we eat, how much we move, what other substances go into our body and how much we sleep.

Our mental health is also supported by the ways we take care of our physical body, and further, how we think, feel and act.

So now that you know what personal health is, why should you be intentional about yours?

Intention is important for creating long-lasting habits and training your brain what to choose. It’s like resetting your default programming.

When you’re intentional, you see how the actions you take today have a result in the future that you’ve caused. How cool is that?!

Is it healthier that you got the salad with lunch because they were out of the fries today?

Yes.

But unless you set yourself up to have those healthy habits as a part of your every day, it’s going to be difficult to keep it up.

So, set yourself up for success!

Take one habit at a time. Pick one thing right now that you know, if you change, will improve your health and set yourself up to succeed.

First, write it down!

• What’s one action you can take every day that will improve your health? Be specific.
• How will you know you’re making progress? (Is it ounces of water in a day, a 30-min workout?)
• What do you need in order to accomplish this healthy habit? Do you have the tools? (Yes a new, reusable water bottle counts as a tool to drink more water.)
• How will doing this align with your long-term health goals? (Ex. You want to cut out all sugar from your eating, starting by cutting out your daily soda is a step towards that.)
• Set a re-evaluation date! By when you’ll assess if this is a part of your routine and you’re ready for the next habit to conquer. This provides motivation to stay focused. (You know, like those 21 or 30-day challenges.)

Now you have your plan. You know what you’re changing, what you need to accomplish it, and the date when you will re-evaluate, and probably because you’re amazing and love yourself, level up!