Cultivating a sustainable wellness practice is crucial towards attaining deep health. Deep health is having the ability to thrive in different dimensions: physical, emotional, mental, environmental, relational and existential.
Often, when we begin a wellness practice it’s because we are unhappy with how things are going and we want to change now. But the all or nothing attitude can really stall our progress towards a sustainable wellness practice.
When we start a challenge or a diet, we will often go all in.
We are all getting up early, going for a run, measuring food, tracking macros and drinking tons of water until…we start to lose our footing.
We slip with one thing, then another. We slowly begin to get pulled back into our comfort zone. The ingrained habits we had before we tried to change. It’s really challenging to change everything all at once, and ultimately, when we aren’t able to keep up (because we haven’t integrated those habits yet), we fail.
So how do we integrate sustainable wellness practices while having a stressful, hectic career?
The first step is simple awareness. Take a step back and assess your life objectively in the context of the deep health dimensions. Then, you can take steps to change your situation.
Begin by assigning each domain a number on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “poor” and 10 being “amazing”. This exercise will help to identify areas of your life that are doing well and those that need improvement.
Now you know what you need to work on, but it can be still be overwhelming trying to navigate the obstacles. Simply take small steps. Taking steps that move the needle in the right direction motivates us to take more steps, and before we know it, we are making real progress.
Now, take action! Begin by taking a “5-minute action” each day – one small step that takes 5 minutes – toward your goal of improving your existence in that domain.
You'll be more likely to stick with one habit that makes a difference than if you tried to change everything at once. Once you have that habit down, you can begin integrating the next habit.
When it comes to integrating wellness, we use a curriculum of skills that are broken down into habits and actions. You’ll learn how to manage your energy balance, normalize and routinize eating behaviors, planning and preparation and even integrating movement.
We offer both 1:1 Wellness Coaching and Team Wellness Coaching to help veterinarians integrate wellness strategies to improve their overall wellbeing and performance at work.
PS. A habit tracker can help you integrate sustainable wellness practices and provide a positive feedback loop so you are more engaged and motivated!
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