My alarm clock rang really early today - 5 AM.
Then, I worked out for 1 hour - it was such a sweaty and nearly perfect workout! I was able to do 30 min of zone 2 cardio and then 30 min of weight training.
Then, took a refreshing shower, made my coffee potion, meditated for 30 min, journaled for 30 min and got in the car to go to work…..I got there 30 min early and was able to peacefully prepare for my first patient of the day.
….ah what a perfect morning!
NOOOOOOT!
My morning was far from perfect.
Actually, my morning was far, far, far away from what perfect health gurus recommend out there.
My morning was also far away from perfect from any evidence-based anything.
I woke up at 7 AM feeling a bit groggy because I caught a slight cold from my kids. I am still feeling good but I can feel my body is fighting something. You know that feeling? You can go through normal life but you just feel more tired.
Also, the night before, I received my amazing AI transcription gizmo Plaud Note - I was dying to try this out! (more on this later). I had done months of research and finally decided to grace myself with its presence. I was sooooo excited learning everything about it that I couldn’t settle down to sleep as early as usual (around 10 PM). So, I ended up going to sleep at midnight.
Therefore, this morning was a little tough and rushed - didn’t get my meditation in, didn’t get my heart math time in but my morning routine was still honourable and good and health trajectory worthy.
I pivoted.
At noon, when I had 10 min to spare, I did my heart math exercise.
Then, drove home after work, parked the car and did my 10 min meditation before getting out of the car.
That’s health foundation.
Flexible like water…molding yourself by honouring the state of your body now…Honouring your life and unexpected things that may happen.
Discipline is not explained (and, perhaps, not understood) well and leaves people feeling like they are lesser human beings because they can’t get in that perfect health routine day in and day out for the freaking rest of their lives.
THIS IS A THING.
THIS IS A BIG HEALTH THING.
The belief that you must do health routines in all areas of your life perfectly day in and day out RUINS perfect wonderful lives and human beings.
(This happens a lot in parenting as well. Same thing. Different topic.)
In our current world, a lot of people would have beaten themselves up for missing their meditation and heart math exercise. All for who? Do they even care? Probably not. But some health guru out there says that meditations have to be in the morning and part of a good morning routine, therefore, if I don’t do it, it means I am doing something wrong?
Who says?
There is no morning routine police out there and NO ONE, and I mean, NO ONE knows yourself better than YOU.
Yeah sure. We use science and our guides and coaches and teachers to learn about all of the possible health and life pieces available and perhaps some creative ways to connect the health pieces together, but only YOU KNOW which pieces truly resonate with your body and when.
The only evidence you really need to create a beautiful and amazing routine is YOU. Sure, studies say you have to exercise everyday. But that doesn’t mean that you have to exercise every single day of your life forever more. 1 day a week sustainably and happily is better than frustratingly nothing + feeling bad about oneself for not abiding by some mysterious ‘exercise police.’ The interesting part is, the more permission you give yourself to have this kind of flexibility, the more likely you are to want to exercise everyday.
I have seen this work beautifully with hundreds of clients - the more you give yourself permission to get out of the usual routine - WITHOUT FEELING BAD ABOUT IT (this is the key) - the more disciplined you will be.
On the other hand, giving yourself permission and then feeling guilty and bad about it (which means that you didn’t actually give yourself full permission) will turn into then not going in an optimal health direction.
You can still draft a nice resonant routine for yourself. But know when to be flexible and pivot a bit to give yourself and your body room to breathe.
Health routines are not meant to be perfect.
Health routines are meant to be perfect FOR YOU
My morning was……PERFECT FOR ME today. I honoured myself with more sleep since I was taking some time to investigate a cool gadget that makes me happy the night before and I also had a slight cold.
The more permission you give yourself to listen to your body and do what it needs right now, the more disciplined you will be.
And then, something magical (but is really not that magical) will happen: your ‘getting healthy’ journey will become soooo much easier….downstream and getting effortlessly to the next level.
One thing that health experts aren’t telling you is that, the way to get back that bouncing vitality feeling of well being with exceptional levels of energy is to trust yourself, first and foremost, on this health journey.
Sure, learn from others, read books, listen to podcasts and try out different health routines, but ALWAYS experiment that in light of who you are, your life, your goals, and how your body and mind work best. This will give you LEVERAGE and will carry you effortlessly down the stream to a much better experience of health.