Holistic Health: A Change in Your Lifestyle

When we think of health, most of us will think about the gym, diets, and doing hot yoga. What most of us don’t think about it is mental health, career readiness, and emotional well-being. Little do we realize that health is holistic, and it exists beyond your ability to run a mile.

A few years ago, my overall health was dependent on the opinions of everyone but myself. I put on a somewhat convincing front, but at the core I was unwell. I was in a mental, physical, and emotional battle against myself. When I finally took back control, I had to start from scratch to get to a place I was proud of again.

What’s great is that most of us don’t have to do that. We don’t have to start from scratch because we recognize our own faults and areas for improvement before it becomes dangerous. We can take back our health once we overcome those barriers, but that’s also the hardest step. Looking in a mirror and thinking, “I want to be holistically healthy,” isn’t what immediately comes to mind. More often than not, we say, “I want to be skinny,” or, “I want to have abs.” That’s great because it’s important to have goals when you decide to improve your health. But if your goals don’t include an attitudinal shift, or a real change in your overall day-to-day lifestyle, it's unlikely you will achieve and then maintain those goals.

Take myself, for example. My goal at the start of 2019 was to run a half marathon in two hours or less. I started by running everyday, increasing my mileage little by little. Nothing else in my everyday lifestyle changed, but I stuck to the running routine day after day. Once I hit 4 miles a day, I couldn’t run further than that. I was exhausted, and I felt my knees starting to give both on the treadmill and outdoors. I thought I needed to drink more water or stretch more beforehand, but nothing worked. After some Google searches and talking to other runners, I realized that, while the running was great, training was more than just exercise. If I wanted to achieve my goal, I was going to HAVE to change more than my mileage.

I didn’t want to sacrifice my McDonald’s and Taco Bell binges, but if I wanted to reach that goal, I was 100% going to have to make some changes. I started following a strict diet of real veggies and real chicken and no fast food. And guess what? It sucked. I hated it. I once saw someone eat a cheeseburger and I had to leave the room. Perhaps that sounds pathetic, but I was struggling.

I was about ready to cave and buy a McFlurry until the day I ran eight miles without even realizing it. I had been running for almost an hour and a half when my dad called me to ask when I was coming home. I looked down at the treadmill and nearly fell off when I saw 8.20 miles on the screen.

Was it possible that a diet change was the secret to obtaining my goal? It definitely played a huge part because by the beginning of April, I was doing up to 10 miles in under two hours. Once I started seeing results, I didn’t miss the 20 pack of nuggets or $5 Taco box as much as I did a month prior to the diet change. When I saw my efforts begin to pay off, I went into each run determined to do better than the last. By mid-April, my goal was eventually realized when I ran the Shape Women’s Half in two hours on the dot.

Finisher Photo

Everything changed when I crossed the finish line in Central Park that day. It was a milestone that shaped me physically, emotionally, and mentally for months to come. Health is holistic; I will say it again and again, shout it into the void if I must.

Now, this isn’t a story I’m telling to convince you to change your diet or start working out. But if you find yourself lacking in some aspect of your life, whether it’s physically or in your career or in your friendships, it’s probably time to make a change.

Change is intimidating, especially when you’re so used to a routine or your lifestyle. I was very used to my fast-food-for-a-fast-and-cheap-lifestyle, but I had a goal that I wanted to achieve, and I was determined to make it happen.

Unconvinced? Need a push on how or where to start? I’ll start by telling you where not to start. You don’t start by asking for the approval of others. No one knows you like you know yourself, so asking someone to set goals for you is not going to work. It’s great to ask for advice and learn from others, but those opinions cannot possibly be the end-all of taking control of and maintaining your overall health. Additionally, do not use others as a benchmark to measure yourself against. Everyone is different. I can run 13.1 miles, sure, but can I lift more than 50 pounds? Working on it. Someone else might lift 150 pounds, but can they run more than 2 miles? Hardly. If you, and I mean only you, run 1 mile more than you did last week, that’s something worth celebrating.

Here’s what you should do. Challenge yourself. Make time in your day for your goals, and document them. Tell others in order to hold yourself accountable. Celebrate the milestones. Make a goal for yourself that’s SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

Keep in mind that health, while holistic, is still relative. Healthy for you is not always healthy for others. However, each goal is realized one step at a time, one run at a time, one career shift at a time, one new friend at a time. If there’s one thing to take away from this, it’s this: If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.