The goal of Guide to Thrive is to help people thrive through exercise and healthy living. But what does it really mean to ‘thrive’ and live a healthy life?
Tothrive: to develop vigorously, to flourish, to prosper
To us, this translates to an overall sense of well-being in the physical, mental and emotional parts of your life. We call this your body, brains and bliss.
That sounds great, doesn’t it? We all want to flourish and prosper in our lives. But everyone’s vision of prosperity is different. Everyone’s vision of thriving is different.
Over the past few weeks, we talked about the importance of keeping your vision for a better life in plain sight. Put sticky notes everywhere to remind you of your goals and keep a journal to record your progress. This week, we wanted to unpack those concepts for you, so that you are more comfortable setting (and sticking to) your own goals.
Your Life is Personal. Your Goals Should Be Too.
You’ve created your vision for your best life, now you just have to get there. With all of the fad diets out there and the various forms of media telling you exactly what a successful mom/wife/career woman looks like, it’s easy to lose sight of what you want and get caught up in what everyone else thinks you should want.
This applies to men too! There’s a lot of media out there telling them how to be an ideal dad/husband/employee.
You need to cut through all of that nonsense and stay focused on what you want out of your life. What makes you thrive? What enriches your life? What makes your body healthy? What mentally challenges you? What feeds your spirit?
Brainstorm your answers to these questions. Remember, there is no right or wrong response. A response is only wrong if it’s not how you really feel about your life. Don’t second guess yourself. You know you best!
Some Things to Think About.
To help you focus on what matters to you, we suggest tracking your progress across these 4 categories.
- MOVE:Record how you engaged your body. What form of exercise did you do? How did you feel about it? How was your posture today? What will you change tomorrow? What will you keep doing?
- EAT:Keep a food journal and track everything that goes into your mouth. Don’t just focus on the calories, though that is important! Pay attention to how the food that you eat makes you feel. Do certain foods give you more energy? Do they make you feel sluggish or trigger a headache? Also track the healthy substitutions you make. Congratulate yourself when you eat healthy!
- THINK:Your thoughts matter. Were your thoughts mostly positive today or were you focusing on negativity? What did you to do combat the negativity and get positive? Did you try any methods of stress relief? Consider firing up your brain with brain games and tracking your progress with that. If you’re taking up meditation, record the thoughts you have surrounding that practice.
- FEEL:Was your day full of negative feelings? Combat those by keeping a ‘thankful’ list. At the end of each day, write down 5 things for which you are thankful. They can be as meaningful as your children or as silly as being thankful god invented chocolate! The important thing is to retrain your emotions to live in a state of gratefulness and bliss, rather than a state of worry and need.
Setting small, manageable goals puts you in a position to succeed. Pile a few successes in front of one another, and not only have you paved the way to you goals, but making a habit out of success.
Read Dr. Vonda Wright’sGuide to Thrive for more tips on solidifying your vision and achieving your goals
