Happy September! It's Self Improvement Month! While we think you're great, it's never a bad time to establish healthy habits. These three healthy habits will help you be your happiest, healthiest self.
Speaking Kindly to Yourself
All of us engage in self-talk but not all of us engage in positive self-talk. Many of us have a negative inner critic that keep us from being our happiest healthiest selves. It's a hard habit to break when many of us formed our inner critic at a young age. But the way you talk to yourself has profound effects on your self-esteem. It probably doesn't surprise you that speaking negatively to yourself can erode your self-worth and can lead to stress. Some ways you can engage in positive self-talk is by practicing. One way to do that is positive affirmations. You can find thousands online and pick one for that day, week or month. Repeat it to yourself in times of doubt. Think of yourself as a friend. Another way to overcome negative self-talk is therapy. Negative self-talk always has a root cause. Therapy can help you to start working through those and help you get out of the negative self-talk cycle.
Eating a Healthy Breakfast
We've all heard the old adage that breakfast is the most important mean of the day, but with how busy many of our lives are it can be hard to eat a healthy breakfast. Breakfast is so important not only for our bodies, but for our minds. It helps us concentrate at work or school. Also studies have shown that people who skip breakfast are more likely to consume unhealthy snacks and foods throughout the day. If you are having a hard time finding time for breakfast, a simple way to compromise is to prepare a healthy meal the night before. Meal prepping some bowls of chia seed pudding or breakfast burritos for you to pop in the oven/microwave in the morning on Sunday for the week ahead is a life saver.
Moving Your Body More
I don't need to tell you the benefits of moving your body. We all know that exercise leads to a longer and happier life. But the reason most of us don't love exercising is because we have this image in our head of what exercise is supposed to look like. You don't have to spend hours at the gym to exercise and if that's not your thing you shouldn't have to. Maybe you enjoy dancing or walking your dog? Find some type of movement that you enjoy. The more you enjoy it the more likely you are to make exercise as part of your routine.