Wellness is booming and the endless options for wellness promoting products prove it. It can be overwhelming to constantly hear ‘do this’, ‘try that’, ‘it’s simple’, or ‘you’re doing it wrong’. The wellness industry has infinite options, but that leads to a lot of confusion and uncertainty about what sort of actions we need to be taking to create more balance and wellbeing for ourselves. The thing about well-being is that it’s just about the basics. If there is one thing that I recommend for you to be doing to promote more wellbeing in your life, it’s to go back to the basics.
It really is just about eating your greens, taking a walk, quieting your mind, and living your life as peacefully as you can. All the options that we have access to are just the cherry on top. They could sometimes be helpful and give us an extra boost, or enhance support, but usually, you can just stick to the what’s simple and it’ll be enough.
These are the five things that you need to be doing for your wellbeing: practice intuitive movement, eat the rainbow, take your CBD, practice peace, and prioritize your sleep. The wonderful part about these different points for wellbeing is that they can be easily implemented and modified to your liking without taking a huge amount of effort on your part.
Practice Intuitive Movement
While exercise is extremely beneficial for our bodies and mental health, it can seem daunting for most and many avoid it because it’s not enjoyable. That is why I recommend practicing intuitive movement. One of the hardest parts about starting to exercise is the whole idea of having to exercise in the first place because once you get to the gym or a fitness class, you’ll get through it and might realize that it wasn’t so bad after all.
Intuitive movement versus a regular fitness routine is very different because it prioritizes you over the exercise. Fitness gets a bad reputation because many trainers and influencers perpetuate the idea that if you don’t burn 500-1000 calories, it doesn’t count. There’s a belief that you must over exhaust yourself to make it worthy, but that’s what should change.
Let’s deconstruct ‘practicing intuitive movement’. Prioritize practice versus perfection. So many times, we delve into a fitness routine without setting healthy and realistic expectations of how it can fit seamlessly into our lives. Exercise takes patience, tenacity, and practice. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Removing the pressure of hitting the gym 4 times a week but practicing movement as much as you can is a much more effective way of making a lasting change.
Intuition is everything when it comes to moving your body. You’ll hear people tell you to go even when you desperately do not want to and that is why we associate some negativity with exercise. Use your intuition to help guide your exercise routine. It doesn’t always have to be the same routine and when you allow yourself to curate movement in a way that’s enjoyable for you and your body, you’ll notice you enjoy it a lot more. One day, a 30-minute walk will suffice, and other days a full weights routine might suit you better.
I use the word movement because it is something that is inherently in our nature. We always move and our bodies are built to move. It’s a less intimidating word than ‘work-out’, or ‘exercise’. Movement can be chasing your kids around the house to get them ready for bed. It can be standing for an hour to do all the dishes and clean the kitchen. Movement is walking our dogs and dancing in the shower. Let’s go back to the basics and walk. Walk and enjoy the views, the smells, the thoughts, and the way that gentle movement fuels us instead of depleting us. Exercise doesn’t have to be difficult, and it doesn’t have to be over-the-top.
