Top 4 Health Areas People Struggle With Most

Living in a physical body is fun, weird, pleasurable and a never-ending challenge.

As an experienced health coach and holistic health practitioner, I’ve been honored to support many folks from all walks of life with different physical and mental challenges, and here’s the golden nugget I can share:

Every flavor of physical and mental/emotional imbalance is equally painful.??

The teacher fighting an autoimmune disease can’t tell the professional speaker in a deep body and soul fat loss battle that her issue is worse.? Let's respect that the young adult fighting depression is having as rough of a time as the person recently diagnosed with cancer.?

I’ve learned from hearing hundreds of client stories that when you’re dealing with a challenge in the realm of physical or mental/emotional well-being, it often feels overwhelming and like you’re the only one on the planet struggling with that particular concern.??Perhaps you can relate?

If so, don’t feel bad.? It’s human nature to not want to deal with what you’ve been dealt.

I’d like to help you throw this comparison game to the curb by normalizing what human physicality looks like in real life.??

In this article, I’m not addressing the details for how to achieve the positive side of human health.? You know, that magical utopian land where your weight is exactly where you want it, where you can sleep for only 5 hours a night and have boundless, joyful energy the next day, where you have zero aches, pains or ailments and where you’re as mentally focused, organized, strong and happy as you want to be.??

I know - it’s a utopian dream.? But without sarcasm, I hope you keep striving for it … because you can!

Today, let’s get real with what humans struggle with the most to help you not feel so alone.

Here are the top 4 health-related areas for which I’ve witnessed people having the greatest challenge achieving their utopia:?

WEIGHT LOSS

There’s a darn good reason the weight loss and diet space is a multi-billion dollar industry.

There is immense universal frustration that spans across gender, race, geographical origin, ethnicity and wealth status to attain and keep an ideal body size.? Attaining it is the immediate, short-term goal.? Keeping it for more than 2 years, more than 5 years or for your lifetime is the real goal.

What defines this goal is to have your weight or body size best represent who you are, right now, living inside your own skin.? A body size that shows the world how you feel inside.?

Everybody wants this.? Some people fight incredibly hard to achieve it by spending lots of moolah, time and resources trying to get it.? Others could care less because they already have it easily and naturally.? But, please know everybody wants it.??

When weight loss is the challenge on the table, it’s a squirmy ride because contrary to what popular diet culture teaches us, there’s no “one size fits all” method to achieve it.? Instead, true and permanent fat loss (I like this phrase better than weight loss) demands an audit of every self-care practice in your tool box; dietary change, regular body movement, consistent behavior/habit change, self-connection (with a focus on the mind-body connection), sleep and stress reduction.

You’re a whole person.? A big result like permanent fat loss requires all of you, and … the secret is knowing that using all of you is actually the joy of the process.? Accessing the many beautiful powers of your mind and pleasures of your body is not only required for permanent fat loss; it’s welcomed.??

PHYSICAL HEALTH

Health-related imbalances can occur with every bodily system you might imagine, but the effects of these many imbalances can be easily categorized into one; an unpleasant pain or symptom that hurts and is highly irritating, sucking the joy out of the moment you’re experiencing it.??

Whether it’s digestive distress, skin issues or feeling lethargic, or headaches, breathing problems or joint pain, there’s one thing you want and want now - for it to stop.??

And guess what, you’re not alone in that desire!

It’s a futile waste of your precious energy to think about whether your particular brand of pain is better or worse than what your friend is experiencing.? We’re all humans living in physical bodies and at some point those bodies get thrown off their game.? It could be a small one that only lasts a few days or a big one that challenges you for years.??

Your first step is to accept;? Thou shalt experience pain while living in a physical body.??

The fun part (and your grand soul challenge) is to navigate your reaction to it in a way that enlightens and strengthens you instead of pulls you into the snake-pit of despair and anger toward anyone who flashes you a smile.

SELF-MOTIVATION + DISCIPLINE

“I know what to do but I just can’t do it.” This is the mantra of the modern era.??

If I had a dollar for every time a client said this to me I’d be cruising in my yacht right now instead of slugging out another article at 6am with bad breath and a coffee funnel in my mouth.?

At this point in the game, we’ve got plenty of “do this to be healthy” information.? Thank you Oprah and every health expert who has published a book, blog, online course or YouTube channel in the last 50 years. (myself included, lol)

The Majority of Us Know What To Do.

You know the four basics that if implemented on a regular basis would make a huge contribution toward living in your healthy utopia;?

1. Eat better.
2. Move your body more.
3. Slow down to breathe, calm yourself and connect.
4. Get some darn sleep.

Yes, the Big 4 actually work, and they are quite basic in their essence so they don’t require yet another how-to book telling you exactly what to eat next Tuesday for dinner.??

The problem is not that you’ve been living under a rock and therefore aren’t aware of the Big 4.? Instead, the problem is the motivation and discipline to implement your own flavor of self-care practices in these 4 categories consistently.

This challenge my friends is gigantically universal so please stop beating yourself up if you relate to feeling like you have limited self-discipline toward your eating, exercise or general self-care practices.

Instead, pick the one that would have the biggest influence on moving you toward your utopia and focus there only for at least a month.

MENTAL/EMOTIONAL BALANCE + PERFORMANCE

Stress, overwhelm and anxiety, oh my.

All three were kicked up 5 notches during Covid, and from what I can see, the grip they have over folks worldwide is not loosening anytime soon.? We deal with anxiety in my household from the youngest family member to the oldest.

Unfortunately chronic stress, overwhelm and anxiety potentially negatively influences every area of health.? The physical body sure feels it with aches, muscle soreness, pain, lethargy and psycho-somatic conditions such as ulcers and headaches.? Mentally, if you feel challenged by chronic stress or overwhelm you may find you complain of cloudy decision-making, low mood and poor task or project execution.??

Plus, these states of being completely rob you of joy!? (can you see I'm a big fan of joy?)

Again, the takeaway here is to know you're not alone if you find your mental and emotional state is less than stellar.? The good news is that there’s an enormous amount of support out there for you, ranging from self-consumed content (i.e. online articles, courses and books) to guided programs to 1:1 professional support.

And, please remember the power of conversation with a trusted friend or loved one you already know.? Sometimes just connecting with another human does wonders to raise your vibration and change your outlook.

To end on a very positive note, my thought for you today is to please keep striving for the utopia.

You are a soul having a human experience, and that means you have this crazy human body giving you as much pleasure as it does pain.? I wholeheartedly believe your “natural” state is to have vibrant health and energy, be pain-free and to live in a body size that best represents you in this lifetime.??

If you’re not living in that state, take on the challenge of re-balancing your physical and mental health with joy and curiosity instead of dread or fear …. because you can.

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If one of these 4 areas has particular juice for you, please share it in the comments so you can see just how NOT alone you are :)

Need some help to move yourself closer to utopia in one or all four of these areas?

Schedule a complementary 4-Health Audit.

It's a 30-45 minute video call to reveal the hard-to-see blocks keeping you from your utopia in any of the four areas and the top actions you can take to turn it around quickly.?