What comes to mind when you hear the word “fitness”?

Top answers:

• Athlete
• Exercise
• Having a perfect body
• Being a bodybuilder
• Skinny
• Strong
• Working out in a gym all the time

All of these associations make sense. But I’ve found that fitness is much more than the above, and to get to where we want to be to embody truly vibrant health, a mindset check is in order.

Technically, the definition is fitness (n) : the condition of being physically fit and healthy.

90% of the time, fitness plans fail. Why? Because they address only our bodies, like most of the above associations, and like the first part of the formal definition. But there are two very important words at the end: AND HEALTHY. Those two words make the case that fitness encompasses so much more than only our physical selves.

While fitness is unequivocally connected to the state of our bodies, at the same time, our bodies are interdependent with our mind and environment. Fitness is a fluid state, not only about form, but function. Our bodies are affected by our our innermost mind, will, and emotions: the three elements that make up our soul.  In my experience, if our souls are overworked and spent, our bodies will feel the effects. If we’re mentally fatigued, our bodies lack energy. The sum of our whole well-being is made up of all the parts of us.

Personally, I’ve tried so many times in my life to make positive changes in my body and life just by making external changes to my exercise and diet. Feeling strong and healthy has always been important to me, and I understand that for me, I need to be intentional with my healthy choices to feel my best. But so many times, I’ve tried to work my way from outside to inside, sure that if I could just get my eating under control, or work out enough, that I would feel better and BE better. But this approach was never meaningful for me long term. I failed to connect the positive changes I wanted to make with a deep purpose, or WHY I wanted to make them, and so I wasn’t fully working on my fitness. I was only working on my body. While external physical training definitely has value, by nature, it doesn’t create fully realized value, or wholeness, in and of itself.  Wholeness is realized when we figure out our own holistic “why”, and commit to building our chosen habits from there. Why do you want to be physically fit and healthy at this point in your life?

I’ve created successful fitness programs for myself and many others for the last fifteen years. And I know there’s just no need to spend your life in a gym to be fit and maintain results. Who has the time? Do it if you love it; a gym itself is a tool to work with. Long-term, if you want to create evergreen effectiveness in managing your well-being, think about why YOU, as a person, want to upgrade your health. Like dedicating money to a long term sound investment, dedicating time to the pursuit of well-rounded fitness will benefit you many times over.

What do YOU need to be successful? How will investing in yourself energize your health, and give you the gift of fullest well-being for life?

Social support is vital to the process. The hardest part is usually getting started. You have the power to take the next small action that will get you closer to the positive change you want! I’m here to help. Send questions to me at blendablebalance@gmail.com.