Prioritizing Health Over Hustle

I came across a quote that was excellent and relating to discussions I have often with clients surrounding taking time for themselves (and their health) and NOT working 24/7...

"Your heart doesn't care how successful your career is."

~ Marcus Mackay ~

YES!!! AMEN!!! Here's an absolute perspective for you. It's not our fault that we're pushing our limits by working WAY TOO MUCH and NOT creating a balance with work and life. Society (and time) have moved us into this train of thought. BUT, it IS our fault that we keep ignoring it or considering ourselves "untouchable" or "invincible" to the impact that "constantly being on" has on our deep health. We have had enough decades of scientific and practical/"real life" experience to understand the detrimental effects on our health and lifestyle.

The post I came across on Linkdin this morning, shared a study done with sixty-one "middle aged" participants (48% men), with an average age of 53yrs old and following them over a 2-year period of exercise training or attention control. The study saw 53 of those participants finish the full timeline and study, with a very nice level of consistency I might add.

Now although some of the numbers shared on this post didn't quite match up with the study presented in my opinion (that's besides the point), we have to take into account a couple of things from this study;

1) It's a small study. With health research, larger numbers of participants is ideal. Smaller numbers doesn't mean the study is "bad", but rather it creates curiousity and ideas for further research moving forward.

2) The outcome for those who completed the study this 2-year study was VERY positive.

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"Ok, so where are you going with this coach?"... You may be asking. 🤔

Although the study is small, the message is clear - Exercise does WONDERFUL things for our health and wellbeing at ANY age! 😯 Shocking I know! This study in particular focuses on heart health and showing the reduced risk of heart disease from just 2-years of consistent exercise training. This is AWESOME as always.

Here's my issue and immediate thoughts after reading this... 👇

It's 2025 people! How many times do we need to study this??

How many times do we need to continuously put the message out that exercise is not only beneficial, but NECESSARY, for human health and quality of life???

How many more times do we need to "prove" to ourselves and others that exercise promotes health benefits in various ways????

Our issue today is NOT lack of information about the benefits of exercise, nutrition etc... Our issue is how we approach it and HOW (or if) we take ACTION. We too often IGNORE factors that would actually allow us to see and feel more progress in our deep health.

To name a few...

Mindset. Our self-understanding, self compassion and HOW we approach our health practices is MAJOR missing foundational component for so many. Working with this aspect also helps to build more efficient habits, practices and actions along the way.

We live in an "All or Nothing" world. This is how we do SO MUCH in our lives, including our health habits. BUT it doesn't work for most people. We need to learn to create flexibility and be real with ourselves rather than trying to be "perfect"... and then once that hits a wall (and it will eventually for most - due to life)... we end up doing nothing.

Basics work (and are all most of us need). We all too often completely ignore the basics and foundational practices and actions that ALLOW us to feel good and progress our health in the direction we want to see. "There has to be more to it" we think. Yet it works.

(We're strange creatures us humans...)

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Feel free to continue to search and search for whatever "magic" you're seeking out for your health. OR START taking action by using the basics that most of us innately know (yes - it's instinct - no Google required).

To roll back to the initial quote from, Marcus at the start of this post, I strongly suggest MANY of us begin to use this as our mantra; "Your heart doesn't care how successful your career is."

I'll add to that by saying, neither does Mother Nature. 😉 There's also the reminder that NO ONE on their deathbed, in their final regrets says, "I sure wish I'd worked more". 🙄

Let's STOP ignorning this PROVEN fact and START caring for our deep health in more consistent ways.

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Want to explore a different and "whole-human" approach to your health? Connect with 'Coach D' to discuss how working with the Deep Health Model can help build a sustainable, realistic healthy lifestyle for you!