Weighing In: Taking Time to Take Care of Yourself

I was just having a conversation about Tiger Wood’s knee and his performance during the third round of the US Open with my mom. We were discussing what we thought he would do in preparation for the final round and that he probably had a team of doctor’s traveling with him to care for his knee. We went on to discuss how his body is his tool and he likely spares nothing taking care of it.

After my mom and I talked, I couldn’t help but wonder why the rest of us don’t consider our bodies to be our tool? No matter what we do in this life, we can only do it as long as we are on this earth and we are only here as long as our body is viable. Everyone should take a lesson from elite athletes like Tiger Woods and treat our body as our tool, sparing no effort to ensure our health.

The sudden death of NBC News Political Analyst and host of Meet the Pres Tim Russert is a reminder for all of us that the body is fragile and life can be fleeting. From everything I’ve read, Tim Russert was receiving treatment for his condition of Coronary Artery Disease, had exercised the morning of his death and was compliant with his doctors orders. I don’t know what his health habits were before versus after his diagnosis, but I do know that most people don’t adopt healthy lifestyle habits until we’ve received a diagnosis of poor health.

I’m the first to admit that putting my own health in front of work and family and friends can be difficult. It’s hard to fit in the time to work out and prepare a healthy meal in the midst of everything else we have to do. We all have so many priorities in life and are being pulled in so many different directions it’s often hard to say, “Wait, I have to take time to take care of myself right now.”

And it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and forget to take the time to exercise or cook, sometimes it’s not even a conscious choice we just run out of time. With so many other factors like stress, age, genetics and environmental factors contributing to poor health, we have to do what we can to promote health. And the things we can do include exercising, eating healthy, not smoking and getting enough sleep.

Research shows that we are going to be healthier if we eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. We know this, it’s a fact. We have to find some way to remind ourselves in the middle of the craziness of life to take the time to take care of ourselves. Because if we don’t find a couple hours in our day to be physically active and prepare and eat healthy meals, than we will suddenly have a lot less time.

•    We only have time for what we make time for. Instead of leaving it to chance, schedule time to exercise and cook into your day. Time can quickly get away and your more likely to do things when you have them on your schedule.

•    Get up earlier in the morning to workout and prepare your first two meals of the day. Instead of grabbing something on the go for breakfast and lunch, get up a little earlier and prepare something to take with you.