Go Big Or Go Home! 3 Healthy Habits To Adopt In 2017

If your health and career goals have lapsed a little in 2016, you’re not alone. It’s been a difficult year. It’s always a good time to reassess and make new goals and intentions. But the end of the year is particularly effective. The old year is coming to a close, and there’s a sense of casting off what is no longer working. And with the coming year, we can start afresh and create a life we want to live. Here are three healthy habits to adopt in 2017, to usher in a new and improved way of life.

1. Listen To Your Body

We know that working 9 to 5 can be unhealthy. There are many reasons for this. One of those is that we become a slave to the schedule. We live life by the alarm clock and from meeting to meeting. This is necessary, to some extent. We have to be at work on time, and we have to fulfill our work commitments. But it means that we’re not listening to our body clock. We eat at set times rather than when we’re hungry. We keep on working, even when we’re tired. We push until we’re stressed.

For the majority of us, quitting our jobs isn’t an option. So we need to find some middle ground. The starting point for this is to listen to what our bodies are telling us. Set aside a week to do this. Throw out your old routine and begin a new one. If you’re not hungry when you wake up, don’t eat breakfast. Instead, wait until later when you are feeling peckish. Notice when you’re feeling tired and stressed and assess the circumstances that have caused it. You may not be able to change your working hours, but you can go to bed earlier.

If you have aches and pains, work out what’s causing them. This is often the first step in finding a cure. If you have a medical condition that is bothering you, seek help. We put up with so much in our lives and ignore what our body is telling us. We make excuses and say we’re too busy to go to the doctor. But a quick appointment could be the start of a happier, pain-free life. You can find effective treatment for sciatica, back pain, headaches or whatever is bothering you. So stop making excuses and take action.

2. Say No

Make 2017 the year when you are comfortable saying no. Barriers are healthy. Doing things you don’t have time for or don’t want to do is not healthy. And it won’t serve you well. There are many ways to say no politely but firmly. You’ll be surprised how freeing it is. Plus, you’ll have all that extra time to spend doing the things you do want to do.

3. Go Big Or Go Home

There are times to hold back and take cautious actions. But there are also times when you should seize the day and do something amazing. Whatever your job or circumstances, find the thing that fires you. What makes you feel alive? What is your passion? Find this, grab it with both hands and give it your best shot. It could be a new career, a new hobby or changing your relationship. Whatever it is, it’s the thing that will make you want to get up in the morning. Nothing is more important than that. So, stop waiting, stop making excuses, just do it.

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