Why Health Coaching?
(Not a picture of my first car-it was much cooler than this one)
What was your first car? Mine was a 1991 Ford Escort complete with automatic locks and power windows. It was smurf blue and my ticket to freedom. I was a senior in high school and thought it couldn’t get much better than that. Imagine for a moment that your first car is the only car you ever own for your entire life. By now, that Ford Escort would have hundreds of thousands of miles on it, leaking oil, covered in rust, maybe held together with duct tape. It would not be nearly as dependable as it was back when I had a spiral perm and a boyfriend to see across town.
We can’t imagine what it would be like to own one car our whole lives and expect it to hold up for us until the bitter end and yet that’s exactly what we expect from our bodies. If our first set of wheels were also going to be our last its likely we’d spend a lot of time and money making sure it remained dependable, safe and ready to take us where we wanted to go, but what are we doing to make sure our bodies remain strong and healthy? Sure many of us see our doctors regularly. We try to eat well, get moving a bit. We certainly spend a lot of energy trying to look like a younger model of ourselves but will it hold up?
When we really prioritize and take control of our health and well being we are taking the essential step in increasing the likelihood that our bodies will keep up with what we want out of life. For me, that is the crux of it all. I want to squeeze all the living I can out of this time I’ve got, and to do so I plan on having a body that can hang. No one wants a car that can only make it to the mailbox before it stalls out. They want a car to take them where they want and need to go. All that being said, humans tend to be creatures of habit and not always the best ones. A health coach is a valuable resource in helping you to build habits that last a lifetime. There is no quick fix or magic diet that sustains you for the long haul. It’s about building foundational habits, learning new skills and strategies that can be implemented day in and day out, figuring out what has held you back up until now and shifting your approach. A health coach helps you identify all of those components, keep your eye on the prize and help you get what you want out of life now and in the future. Health coaching teaches you to be the mechanic of your own body, knowing what tweaks to diet or exercise it needs to go the distance and help you enjoy the ride along the way.
What are some way a health coach could help you go the distance?