Making the Most of Your Opportunities for Good Health

According to the Oxford Languages Dictionary, an opportunity is “a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.” If the something you’re looking to do is pursue good health, the good news is that you have chances to do that throughout every day. The building blocks of good health are embedded in the structure of a day: you have chances to sleep, to move or not move, to eat meals, to drink water or something else, to ignore the people around you or to look for ways to connect with them. Often it is easy to fall into unconscious patterns around some of these things, and it can be worthwhile to examine them. If you aren’t feeling like you have energy and vitality in your life, the first step is to notice this. Then notice your patterns. Then begin to take stock of the places to make changes. 

Every day, you have opportunities to improve your health. Rather than see these things as tasks or duties, as things you HAVE to do, try looking at these things as opportunities and be grateful for the chance to care for yourself today. A shift in your perspective can energize and inspire you to continue to work hard. 

1. Move

If you have the chance to move your body today, celebrate it! Are you able to go about your daily tasks? Are you able to experience nature? Are there ways that you can enjoy moving your body and get outside? Are there ways you can add a little movement to your day, taking the stairs or taking a walk or dancing in the kitchen? Take these opportunities and be grateful for all the ways your body carries you through the day.

2. Nourish

You have the opportunity today to nourish yourself with something delicious. Summer is full of fresh local fruits and vegetables, all packed with nutrition and flavor. If your food choices have been on autopilot, try choosing one meal to focus on and get really intentional about. Take the time to choose and prepare something you know is packed with nutrition and will give your body the fuel it needs. Pay attention to how delicious it is, and to how you feel as you eat it, and to how you feel after you’ve eaten. Take the time to be grateful for how your food gets to you—whether you’ve grown it, or shopped and prepared it, or ordered it from a restaurant. 

3. Rest

Today, you have a chance to honor the work your body does in a day and to rest at the end of it. Take the opportunity to prepare for sleep, perhaps with a cup of tea and some quiet time to read or journal, and to be grateful that it is time to rest. Whatever got done or didn’t get done in this day is over with, and it’s time to rejuvenate and heal, to prepare for tomorrow. It is kind of amazing that your body has this built-in reset schedule that allows it to heal and process and allows you to rise in the morning ready to face whatever a new day brings. Give yourself permission to enjoy that rest and to recognize the good it does for you. 

4. Hydrate

Take the opportunity to appreciate how refreshing a glass of water can be. Our bodies need it! Something as simple as a hydration break can give you a chance to reset and prepare for your next task. Your body is seventy percent water, and every single cell needs water to function, but sometimes it’s easy to get busy and forget to drink. If you feel like a snack, try getting a drink of water first because sometimes you can confuse thirst and hunger cues. 

5. Connect and Enjoy

Take the opportunity to connect with and enjoy the people in your life. Human beings are social creatures and taking the time to connect with the people you love brings joy and richness to your day. Expressing gratitude and appreciation gives a boost to both the giver and to the receiver. Practice being present with the people you come across during your day by making eye contact, by practicing compassion, and by sharing a smile. 

As you begin to look for these opportunities to make choices to support your health, you’ll see more and more of them open up. You will begin to notice how your choices add up. You’ll begin to form new habits and patterns. Learning to make the most of one opportunity at a time will build your confidence in yourself, and in your ability to make progress. Failures and mistakes happen to all of us, but you can recognize a mistake and take the next opportunity to make a different choice. 

If you feel overwhelmed, try just choosing one thing to focus on for the course of a month. It takes about twenty-eight days to form a new habit, and by choosing one small thing and building consistency with it you not only incorporate a new habit, but you also build your confidence in yourself and in your ability to make a change. Every journey starts with just one step forward. Furthermore, although you can find heaps of advice from people telling you “the thing” you have to do, you actually know yourself best and you get to choose what you want to focus on. Give yourself permission to really connect with your own needs and to take things one step at a time. If your goal is weight loss, you may be very focused on movement or nutrition, but maybe what you need to focus on first is improving the quality of your sleep, or learning some coping strategies to release stress and tension. If you desire professional support, our TruBalance offices are equipped for in-person and virtual appointments. 

If you’d like to explore the support of a community, you can join Dr. Kiernan’s online community, Lifestyle Mastery Monthly. This is an online space for encouragement, resource sharing, positive reinforcement, and connection. There are no short cuts to good health but there are steps to take toward long-term, sustainable foundations of health. TruBalance can help you make the most of your opportunities.