Engagement In Your Health

When you hear the word engagement, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? For many of you, it may be the vision of someone getting down on one knee to propose. For others, you may think about how a great speaker keeps an audience captivated, hanging on every word they say. With the younger demographic, it may mean how many comments you get on your latest Instagram post.

Engagement Takes Effort

     Engagement can mean many things to different people, but what each example shares is a level of commitment and dedication. For a marriage to thrive and be successful, you have to stay engaged in the relationship, loving and serving your spouse regardless of circumstances. For a student to get good grades, they have to stay engaged with the lectures and material in each course. Engagement in any area of your life requires a concerted effort with a goal in mind. This is especially true regarding your health.

     One thing that COVID has revealed in each of us is how we deal with adversity and stress. Times of adversity and high stress can take a toll on your body and your overall health. That’s why it’s imperative to stay engaged with your health so that you can make the necessary health changes during a crisis or even better, develop a high level of health engagement before a challenge comes. Here are a few tips to staying engaged with your health:

Self-Assessment/Self-Reflection

• The skill of self reflection is such an important skill to develop. The ability to self-reflect allows you to critically assess your habits and tendencies. This allows you to pinpoint areas you’d like to improve. For example, if you discover you have a tendency to snack on chips every night, you know that is an area to improve upon to up your level of health engagement. In what area of your health do you need to up the level of engagement?

Gain Knowledge

• Gaining knowledge on a topic is one of the best ways to stay engaged with your health. Read books, watch videos and talk to professionals to help build your health knowledge. Always remember, no one knows you better than you. So take what you’ve learned and apply it to your life depending on your abilities. For example, if you want to start working out but have never worked out in your life, don’t start off with P90x. Starting with small manageable goals helps prevent discouragement and increases the chances of achieving P90x success down the road.

Take Action

• Last but certainly not least, is taking action. Too often common phrases creep into our minds when we are trying to increase engagement in our health. “I’ll start next week”, “I don’t have enough time” or “I couldn’t do that”. Don’t get caught in the game of excuses or paralysis by analysis. Instead of waiting until you are ready before you aim and fire; just aim and fire. We often wait for the perfect time to take action in our lives, when the truth is, there is no perfect time. Every moment spent waiting for the perfect time to take action is a moment taken away from your health. 

     So what is it that you need to change to become more engaged in your health, who can help you stay engaged with your health and who can you help get engaged with their health. Engagement in your health takes effort and dedication but it is without question the most rewarding investment both for you and your family.