Year after year, many of us pledge to have a healthier year. Whether it’s for weight loss, better habits, or overall wellness, more often than not it feels like by the second or third month we fall off the wagon. While we may not always notice it, a lot of the time we put ourselves in a position destined for failure. Maybe we continuously keep sugary sweets in our pantry or focus more on a comfy place to lay down as opposed to a space for working out. In order to keep up our resolutions of healthy living, we need to optimize the environment around us for success. There are many modifications that we can do to our homes whether it's a house, a condo, or an apartment that can help us achieve our health goals.
Workout Space
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a gym membership or a fully stocked home gym in order to get a good workout. Organizing just a small section of your living room, bedroom, or home office with some simple pieces of equipment like a yoga mat, a couple weights, and a jump rope is all you need. If you feel like you want a little more, there are easily installable pull-up bars that can hang over the door frame. There are plenty of at-home workouts available on YouTube, Google, or even in an app on your phone. Some of which are even equipment-free! Using bodyweight to train has been shown to provide just as good of a workout as using weights. Making working out accessible and easy is the first step to integrating it into our lifestyle. If getting a workout becomes difficult to access and hard to complete, chances are we won’t even start in the first place. Additionally, choose a workout that matches your fitness level. While it’s good to push yourself, if you start with something too intense, you may feel defeated and not want to continue on.
Make Healthy Eating Easier
The kitchen can be a place where all dreams of healthy living can go to die. For many of us, eating well is the hardest part. Especially when life becomes chaotic and time seems in short supply, hitting up fast food joints or reaching for overly processed frozen meals can feel like the only option. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Organizing the kitchen to encourage healthy eating is not as daunting as it may seem. The first step is looking in the fridge. Oftentimes we reach for pre-made foods because of their convenience. But pre-made foods don’t always have to be the only convenient option. By pre-washing and cutting all your fruits and vegetables at the beginning of the week, you can make yourself pre-made healthy, unprocessed snacks that are not only better for you, but often less expensive. If you’re anything like me, the second spot to tackle is the pantry. If you’re really trying to cut back on the sugary and fatty snacks, one option would be to not buy them at all. But if you still want the option to treat yourself, try organizing your healthier snacks like nuts and crackers at eye level, and put the rest of the treats up high and out of your immediate eye-line.
Mindfulness Corner
Mental health is just as important, if not more important, than your physical health. Often when we think of living a healthier lifestyle we only really focus on eating well and working out. But having a healthy and happy mind can help elevate our quality of life more than anything else. Clearing out a corner of your home to put together a meditation space is an excellent way to incorporate mindfulness habits into your life. If meditation isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other mindfulness activities that you can do in this special space. You can opt for reading, journaling, listening to music, visualization, or even painting. There are a few easy tricks to make this space different from the rest of your home. Opt for soothing colors, like whites, greys, creams, and even blues to evoke a feeling of relaxation. Try to make it comfortable and inviting, this is a space that you want to be in. If it’s uncomfortable or not relaxing, you won’t want to spend time there. Some people emphasize the importance of scents to promote a feeling of tranquility. Lavender, sage, juniper berry, and yuzu are all essential oil scents that have been recognized for their ability to relax the mind.
Bottom Line
The beauty of home organization is that you can customize it to facilitate any type of lifestyle that you want. Healthy habits can be difficult to instill, especially if we have spent a lot of our lives putting healthy living on the back burner. But by optimizing our surrounding environment to promote wellness both physically and mentally, our goals can be more easily achieved. These are just a few tips to get you started on a healthier lifestyle. There are plenty of other options and modifications that you can choose to personalize your space to your specific lifestyle.
