Last year I suffered terribly with bad health, I had COVID which then turned into ‘Long COVID for 4.5 months, three chest infections and the flu. It was the pits. I was in bed around work, I suffered with neurological symptoms post-COVID, and don’t even get me started on the impact on my other life domains. (I had no other life.)
Fast forward to this year, and this morning I have been to the gym and walked Lofty. I feel mentally and physically fit and strong, just how I like to feel!
Between COVID and my epic morning this morning there was an in-between; that was slow, a bit overwhelming, and took over my life and that I thought I would never ever recover from. Recovery was longer that I would have liked, but bit by bit and step by step I’m now fully recovered and fit and strong. My in-between consisted of being in bed around work and lots of teeny tiny little steps forward, a few steps backward, lots of rest, lots of looking after myself and lots of despairing about when recovery would come, and if it would come. Exercise is usually the kickstart to my day, a place to create, plan and debrief, as well as my outlet to blow-off steam, blow out cobwebs, cry, think, pray and dream. I’m glad I just took it little bit by little bit and made a start, and that I’m back here and able to launch or land here before I start my day.
Do you have some health and fitness goals that you’ve been meaning to work on? What is it that you need to address to have better physical, mental and emotional health and fitness? I haven’t always had access to a gym or classes, when my teenage daughters were babies I put them in a double pram and walked them around dirt tracks on the farm, Ive also done online floor fitness classes on my loungeroom floor, swimming aerobics and used the online podcast and programme C25K to build up to running on-farm and on-road. Over the years my weight has gone up and down more than the seesaw at your local playground, and I’ve had to work hard to achieve my health and fitness goals and give up my chocolate addiction! I was the slowest kid at school and always came last in all of the athletic competitions. Over the years I’ve worked hard at becoming a better athlete and have developed a respect and love for my body, the time I invest in my health and wellbeing definitely sets up my days and others areas of life. As you start to take some baby steps towards your health and fitness goals ask yourself the following questions:
It’s also a good idea to check-in with your local GP before you embark on a new health journey to make sure there is nothing underlying and to benchmark where your health is currently sitting. You can also check out my blog about habits; ‘Why Bad Habits Are So Hard to Break & How to Make New Ones’ to get some tips and tricks about habit pre-cursors as you take steps towards better health.