Most of the time, you, not your doctor, are in charge of your health. And it doesn't really matter if you have health problems or not if you take charge of your health.
To take charge, you need to make habits and be disciplined.
Education is the most important thing you can do. Find out what's wrong with your body and how you can take care of it. What have the most recent studies found? The Internet is a great place to find information about health issues. Sometimes, it can help to just find new ways to do things.
Now, take some time to think about what your health goals will be for the next year. Write down the goal(s). Here are some examples of goals:
- to stop dieting back and forth and work on getting healthier.
- to start working out every day.
- to get close to my ideal weight.
- to find other ways to keep diabetes under control.
Then write down specific ways to reach these goals. Try a new healthy dinner recipe once a week, go to the gym five days a week, or spend 10 minutes a day reading about nutrition on the Internet.
Think about your mind and how you think. Before you can get healthy and reach your ideal weight, you have to believe that you can. The most important thing is to learn to accept what you can't change and work hard to change what you can. A big part of being successful at improving your health is being happy with yourself to start with.
Find time to do something good for yourself as a reward for making the decision to get healthier. Give yourself a reward every week as you reach your goals.
You will be more likely to reach your health goals if you have someone to work with. This person should be someone you can trust and talk to about how you feel.
Having a partner helps keep you on track. When someone is watching us and making us answer for what we do, we work harder. A good partner also helps us keep our goals in check and pushes us to get better.
Try to find someone who will cheer you up when things are hard and celebrate with you when you reach your goals. And you should be the same kind of friend to your friend in return.
You could get together with some friends or people you know to form an informal support group. People get more done when they are part of a group that shares their interests and has the same goal. A group might get together once a week or once a month to talk about progress or problems and cheer each other on. Sometimes, all a person needs to get past a problem is a second opinion or a little encouragement. Even if things are going well for you, you might be able to help someone else who is having trouble.
When putting together a group, it's important to talk to each other. Set a regular time and way to check in on each other's progress and stick to it. Set reasonable goals so you can track your progress. Give yourselves a reward for your hard work. Every once in a while, do something fun as a group.
There can be great rewards in working with others toward common goals. It makes the trip more fun and useful at the same time.
