Tired, stressed, garbage needs to be taken out, dishes are piled up, a week of dirty laundry in the hamper, grass needs cutting, unprepared for Sunday School, haven’t had time to shave, and you are telling me I must spend an hour a day in the kitchen preparing home-cooked meals? On top of which, educate myself reading labels, shop in unfamiliar aisles, get my family to sit in one place long enough to eat, deal with fussy taste buds, clean off the table, wipe everything down, wash dishes, put them away, sweep the floor and start all over again the next day. So much easier to pull up to the 24-hour drive-through, inhale and throw away. Backseat kids squeal with approval which always feels good.
Fitting health into an unhealthy lifestyle will never work. Something will have to give, and you can guess what it will be. So how do you make time for the things that really matter? Effectively moving toward a healthy body will mean reordering your whole value system of time. This is not a bad thing. Life can be like fly paper—over the years, little time wasters stick on until the paper is full. We are addicted to busyness. Slowing down long enough to look at what’s eating up all your time will initiate withdrawals. When sickness hits, it will force you to do this very thing anyway, so why not be proactive and get ahead of the game.
There is a great upside. As you start to displace clutter with meaningful moments like preparing a nutritious meal or a family hike outside, you are going to have more energy, need less sleep, and have a clearer mind. Creating colorful, healthy meals is de-stressing, and brings a pleasant feeling of satisfaction.
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Socrates
We all have rare moments of awakening. It may be at night, on a camping trip, at a weekend retreat, or a near-death experience, when patterns are interrupted and in that space you are reacquainted with the deeper you. It is often in those times we make the enriching decisions to spend more time with the kids, be kinder to our spouse, live a healthier life, and develop a deeper relationship with God. They seem so clear at the time, so real and important. But…well, somehow they always get lost in the clutter of daily life. Lost and forgotten, until tragedy rudely barges in and reminds us again of what really matters.
Take time to examine your life and remove the things you are doing that result in feelings of meaninglessness. If you struggle with undisciplined overeating, chances are your lifestyle will be the same. Trim the useless calories from diet and useless time from lifestyle, and although there will be withdrawals, in the end you will have a richer, fuller life of vibrant health. But be prepared, it’s not going to be easy.
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