If you bought a million-dollar racehorse, how would you look after it to ensure it maintained its value? Chances are you would nurture it physically, emotionally and mentally. Why then, don’t we do it to ourselves? In this episode, Jen gives us the wake-up call we all need and reminds us that we pay the price at some point – it’s either now or later.
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SHOWNOTES
How would you feed a million-dollar racehorse? Think about it for a minute. You have spent one million dollars. How would you feed it and nurture it to make sure it maintains the same worth?
Now imagine that racehorse is you. How are you feeding yourself? Are you filling your body and mind with junk? Fascinating, isn’t it? Most people would not treat a valuable animal the way they often treat themselves. Did that make you squirm?
I have a pet cat named HarLee, and I love her so much. I feed her well and emotionally nurture her, and love on her consciously. In the past, I treated my pets better than I treated myself, and I paid the price by burning out.
It’s just crazy. If we paid one million dollars to enter this world, we would not feed ourselves crap foods or emotions. If we paid upfront for our health and life, we would know the cost of our investment and respect it. I know I would not have partied as hard as I did when I was younger and taxed my body the way I did. I would have respected it and treated it differently.
I learned this in my mid 20’s when a mentor Zig Ziglar shared this analogy, and it hit me between the eyes. No sensible owner would subject one to that kind of treatment, and yet we do it to ourselves.
What’s your priority?
But eating healthy is expensive, Jen? I get it. On a ferry to the San Juan Islands off Seattle, I saw two vending machines and a mum there with three kids. Water $3 Soft drink $1. What do you do?
The real question is, what do you prioritise? Because we always pay the price – it’s either now or later. Prevention is so much cheaper than trying to find a cure. Less than 3% of health budgets are set for prevention. The balance is for the cure.
On a side note, the phrase ‘prevention is better than cure’ is often attributed to the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus in around 1,500. It’s still relevant today, even more so.
Every day I ask myself, what is this costing me? What is this costing me in terms of my physical, emotional, and mental health?
What is the environment I choose to be in, the people I hang around and what I feed my brain costing me or giving me? I am so protective of who I hang with as I know the value of hanging with upbeat, positive people who add to my life versus energy suckers.
Everything that we do today costs us and works to feed the quality of our life to tax it. I was introduced to living from prevention when I studied naturopathy and have lived this way since. It just made sense.
I’ve talked about that I respect the benefits of sleep and am disciplined with it. I know it positively feeds my body to go to sleep early 5-6 nights a week.
Where do you need to make a tweak?
Is it physical health or mindset? Mindset is so important. What are you feeding your mind? Does it lift you or drain you?
Make a choice once as I did with surfing. It’s my version of a gym. It feeds me energy. It’s also a solid part of my mental health plan and better than meditation for me. All my happy hormones get turned on.
When I work with people, I like to set people up for success. It’s not about turning your life upside down. It’s about finding ways you can feel powerful to keep moving forward. It’s generally the tiny tweaks that compound to bring the biggest results.
What is one thing you can do today to move in the direction of better health? What conscious choice can you make to live from a place of prevention? Do that and then build on it.
Healthy Life Hacks
The Healthy Life Hacks I want to share with you today are:
- Ask yourself, what areas of my life are most taxed right now?
- Make the life choice to live from prevention
- Ask yourself, what’s one step I can take today to move forward?
- Get into the habit of asking yourself daily, what is this costing me?
Did you enjoy the podcast today? Please let me know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Every month I draw one lucky reviewer to have a free one-hour consultation with me. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you’re tuning in from so that you always catch the next episode.
Are you looking for more great resources? Get a free copy of my Feed Your Body ebook here and be sure to explore my blog while you are there.
