Being Authentic: Are your actions in conflict with your values?

How many times have you told yourself today’s the day; you’re going to eat right, get moving and practice self-care like it’s going out of style. Then, LIFE. Obligations abound and stress follows. That smell of fast food tickles your nose on your route home. But today it’s enough to send you over the edge, parked in line at the drive-through and half regretting your decision before it’s complete.

But you can’t back out now. There are cars behind you and a growling belly; you must complete your mission. So you do, and you get momentary satisfaction followed by guilt. You promise yourself that tomorrow it will be different. You have goals to meet and dreams to achieve. If only tomorrow weren’t so stressful.

Even though we’ve established values and goals when our actions don’t follow it’s easy to fall into an unhealthy cycle. We get in a conflict state with our inner being and it’s all downhill from there. Let’s dive deeper and dissect this as it relates to your health and wellness:

Step 1: Decide what you value and why.
Get deep with it – not the surface level fluff like “lose 20 pounds”. That’s great, but once you get there you’ll need something bigger to keep you going. Make a list of 5 things that really truly motivate you to make healthy choices. Examples include:

• Being able to run around and play with your kids or grandkids.
• Feeling a sense of unstoppable confidence in daily life.
• Avoiding the preventable diseases of your family or that you’ve seen others succumb to.
• Waking up and having the energy to really enjoy each day instead of just “get by”.

Once you’ve got that deeper set of values outlined, your actions will have more clout. They won’t be the superficial stuff born from societal nonsense. They will be based around quality of life and embracing the “health is wealth” mentality. They will carry you through on the days you just want to throw in the towel.

Step 2: Align what you say is important with your actions.
Now that you’ve got your list of 5 deeper things that motivate you to make healthy choices, it’s time to get your actions in gear! Does swinging by the drive-through on your way home align with avoiding disease? Nope. And that euphoric moment just after your meal doesn’t last long either. Does skipping another workout improve your life in any way? You can guess the answer to that one. Make it a point to demonstrate, through your actions, that you are committed to your deeper values. What was a ‘maybe’ now becomes non-negotiable? Even when the weather’s a hot mess. Even when you’re stressed. Even when your excuses sound tantalizingly wonderful.

If ever you find yourself in a rut, ask yourself: “Are my habits getting me closer to or further from my values?”. If the answer is ‘further’, make it a point to change direction ASAP – not stopping to dwell and get down on yourself – ain’t’ nobody got time for that 😉

Step 3: Make your actions automatic and part of your daily life.
The key to making something stick? Make it a normal part of your day. Integrate it into your life instead of complaining that it’s too hard. We’ve found this to be especially true with our little girl. Instead of boohoo-ing at home because we can’t do all the things we used to, we’ll often just bring her along! She has a blast being outside and socializing and we can still enjoy our time doing things that brought us happiness pre-baby. Examples of how to make your healthy actions automatic and integrated with your week:

• Schedule your workouts on the calendar each week and GET SPECIFIC. Where will you go? What will you do? Who will you do it with? And when will you do it? Then, your workouts become just as important as that meeting (and they are).
• Food prep. Food prep. Food prep. Did we mention food prep? How good would it feel if all you have to do is spend a couple hours each Sunday getting your food ready for the entire week? Temporary sacrifice for long-term gain. Throughout the week healthy meals will be as easy as 1-2-3 and your body will thank you.
• Get a grip of your time. It’s the most valuable thing in your toolbox. How you spend your time is vastly important. On your calendar for each week, start to keep track of how much time you’re spending on things like social media and email, then start to block out time for those specific activities versus scrolling mindlessly.

Step 4: Understand your personality.
Stop! Before you go any further, check out this awesome personality test by Gretchen Rubin, called The Four Tendencies. Understanding how you operate at your core can unlock a lot of answers and get rid of frustration because you’ll now have a roadmap instead of getting irritated with your inability to follow the plan. Here are the tendencies Gretchen outlines:

• Upholders respond readily to outer and inner expectations (I’m an Upholder, 100%)
• Questioners question all expectations; they’ll meet an expectation if they think it makes sense–essentially, they make all expectations into inner expectations
• Obligers meet outer expectations, but struggle to meet expectations they impose on themselves
• Rebels resist all expectations, outer and inner alike

For example, if you know you’re an obliger, it’s a good idea to get some outside help/accountability to keep you focused versus going it alone.

When you align your actions with your values, powerful stuff starts to happen. You erase the guilt of not doing what you know you should and instead celebrate all the mini wins. But first, take time to step back and get real with yourself – what do you value deep down in your core, and why?

The surface still will only last so long (and that’s why it’s harder to stick to long-term). You’ve got to be willing to dig DEEP and get a little uncomfortable. Be imperfect and be authentic. Then, watch the life you know you’re capable of living start to manifest.

We’d love to hear from you: what’s one thing you can do each day that gets you closer to your goals?

Dedicated to your success,

Christina Sanghera

About Inspired Wellness
We are a wellness movement aimed at cultivating greatness in all areas of life. We believe that everything is connected and that having the body of your dreams shouldn’t come at the price of your mental and emotional health. You CAN have it all; you just need some determination, grit and the desire to truly change your life!

Catch us locally in sunny Sacramento CA inspiring lives at our wellness center with fitness, nutrition and lifestyle programs, or online doing the same thing with our new online training site + community coming soon!

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