Making fitness a priority can be tough.

Why is your health and fitness important to you? I know why mine is important to me. A few things helped me realize how important. The first was what I'll call a vision of the future. I was a smoker for 17 years and as you know, I had just about given up trying to quit. But then I had this vision. I was sitting across a large desk from an intimidating doctor, who was telling me some very bad news. I could feel the emotions pulsing through me as though I was really having this experience. I knew for certain the deep regret I would feel if I didn't stop smoking and had to hear that devastating news. The regret of that moment was so clear. I had the chance to do something about this, but now it was too late. And knowing that moved quitting smoking from the bottom to the top of my list.

The second reason is about how I feel about myself. I was a girl who struggled with never feeling good enough. On this long and winding path, one of the things I've learned is that my life works better when I am exercising. It levels out my thoughts and my emotions. Whatever those feel good chemicals are, I am someone who needs them and they really make a difference for me. They bring me to a place where I can make good decisions. I also experience the benefit of feeling stronger and more empowered with each workout. I feel good about myself when I exercise consistently. Knowing that this one choice has that much direct impact on my self esteem keeps exercise at the top of my priority list.

The third reason is about my health. I have chronic kidney disease and my food choices have a direct impact on how long my kidneys will last. When I am 90 years old, I want to be out in Arizona or Utah hiking around all my favorite red rocks or SCUBA diving in Maui, not sitting somewhere tied to a machine. I have some say in that! Knowing that, I am going to make the best food choices I can and when I don't, I am going to forgive and move on because quitting isn't an option. Giving up isn't the answer; I am going to fight. I know which foods are good for me and which ones aren't. (Don't we all!) That's not the issue. Keeping good food choices at the top of my priority list is the issue.

There seems to be a constant battle for the top spots on my priority list and I've learned that it takes a great deal of clarity and commitment to define my core values then support them with the best choices. Without acute, urgent health issues it is not as easy to see. For example, if I break a bone and am in pain, I know to take care of it right away. No matter what else I am doing, I need to attend to that right now. Or if I have severe chest pain, my health will suddenly become a priority and I get to the hospital to get checked. But with chronic health issues like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure there probably aren't symptoms that need to be dealt with urgently. We think, "as soon as things settle down, I will make my health and fitness a priority". But "as soon as" never comes and each day we get a little bit closer to the symptoms becoming urgent.

Did you know that two 45 minute workouts a week equates to less than 1% of all your time? That really shocked me. Walking one hour a day every single day is still only 4% of your total time. When I say I don't have time, I see that what I really mean is that it isn't a priority to me. If it were at the top of my list, I would do it instead of something else. We must own our choices. It is NOT that we don't have time. That excuse must go away and we have to replace it with the truth. I have it low on the list today; other things are more important. The beauty about the truth is that if we are willing to own that, then we are able to make a different choice. As long as we are living under the lie of "I don't have time", we are POWERLESS. When we tell the truth, we can look at our list and decide. Does this choice really support my core values? Or am I putting something first that is not as important to me. I am free at any moment to move something to the top of the list.

When I am clear on what my core values are and the order of their priority, decision making becomes so much easier. All I have to do is stay connected to the present moment. So if I am running around getting errands done and realize I am staving, I can grab something quick without giving it much thought, or I can make a better choice knowing that getting home to my veggies will support my long term health much better. Once I realized that every choice matters and that it is really a string of decisions that is creating my life's path, I learned to be more mindful and make sure those choices are in line with my priorities.

I believe that every single one of us is capable of living our best life which includes health and fitness near the top of the list, not the bottom. The only thing that stands in our way is our excuses and all those really are are lies. Remember the truth. It is possible to have a family or a job or a business or friends or a dog or all of the above and still take really good care of yourself. In fact, you deserve exactly that. You were never intended to put all your energy into these things at the expense of your health. You matter. Your family needs you. Your business needs you. Your friends need you. Your dog needs you. YOU MATTER.

Now get moving.