All about choices

When I started this journey of health I did something that helped a lot. I put the words “I choose” or “I am choosing” before every thing that I said and did.

Good or bad, I said the words “choose” before I did anything. Owning my choices was probably the single most important thing I could have done for myself. Instead of just thinking “I’m going to go work out” it became “I’m choosing to work out” or on the flip side “I’m choosing not to work out”.

I followed this by telling myself the consequence or reward for my choice. So “I’m choosing not to work out” became “I’m choosing not to work out and I know that it would be a benefit to my health, but still am choosing not to.”

I added the second part, because I wanted to really own not only my choice but my reasoning. If it were about food I might say “I am choosing to eat unhealthy because I believe that eating something healthier would cost me more money.” I would say it out loud to make sure that I was being honest with myself, something about saying it was an honest test of sorts. If I felt any guilt at all about what I was about to do or not do, I knew that my actions needed to change. Not only did I want to own my choices, I did not want to make decisions out of feeling bad for myself.

Doing this enough times made me very strong and allowed me to take ownership of my life. I remember sitting in that doctors of in the very beginning. I remember being so angry because the doctor told me (after 5 years) that he knew that going plant based would more than likely cure my diabetes, but as he put it “it’s just not practical for most people”. Meanwhile I was facing severe nerve damage in my legs and feet.

The more I thought about it, I realized that I really should not be mad at the doctor. We make this mistake a lot in our society. We go to the doctor to heal every thing, with out making the choices in our own lives to change. We want to have the doctor choose for us. We expect them to tell us every last detail of how we should choose to live and what we should choose to put in our bodies.

The only person that can change your health is YOU. And the only way you can do that is to choose to do it. There are a billion excuses, trust me I’ve said all of them. But in the end, you make those choices, circumstances or not. There are people who are living completely plant based healthy lives who are not in the best situations, they make it work, because they choose to do so.

I think it’s an important step in the journey of life really. Owning choices, knowing that you have the power to make even the smallest steps can completely change your world. Even if it is small, choose things that add to your health and happiness. Be aware, don’t let life pass you by letting other people and circumstance choose for you.

Making excuses will not get you anywhere. Start making choices, not excuses and watch your life start to change.