Are You Choosing Yourself?

Living a better life isn't just about eating a healthy diet. Of course that has a lot of impact but there are other things that need to happen for you to live a good, healthy life. One of the things that can help you do that is to make sure you're choosing yourself when it's important. You need to be doing things that make you happy.

Do you find yourself saying yes to people all the time - even when you don't want to? Do you have trouble saying no and setting boundaries for yourself? That's not good for you and will lead to problems long-term. You have things that you want to accomplish in your life right? There are things that make you happy and bring you joy and those are the things you need to focus on the most. Obviously we all have responsibilities that we might not enjoy, but for the part of your day that you get to do what you choose, make sure you're choosing what makes you happy. Make sure you're saying yes to you and no to things that won't bring you that joy and fulfillment.

Think about your daily schedule - is it full of things that are just keeping you busy all day long? Are those things part of your plan to accomplish a specific goal or are they accomplishing things for other people? Do you find yourself running around and taking care of things that should be someone else's responsibility? Don't be afraid to say no. When you say no to others, you say yes to yourself. Spend time on things that are important to you. Make sure that your quality of life is good and you're not over-stressing yourself or leading yourself down a path to burnout.

Take a look through this list is and see if you can say that most days you do these things:

• Get adequate sleep - at least 7-8 hours or more
• Prepare healthy meals and eat at an enjoyable pace (not rushed and on the go)
• Enjoy time on a hobby - reading, journaling, drawing, or whatever brings you joy
• Move your body - it doesn't have to be a major workout - just go for a walk
• Have downtime to relax and unwind - whether that's visiting with a spouse or a friend, reading a good book, watching your favorite show on TV, or maybe playing a game with your kids

If you can't say that you do most of those things regularly, it might be time to evaluate your schedule. If your schedule is so packed full that your first response is "busy" when someone asks how you've been, you might be doing too much. Being busy seems to have become a badge of honor but it shouldn't be. We are the one in control of our schedule so if we feel busy all the time and we don't feel like we have time in our lives to do the things that are important to us, maybe our priorities are a little out of order.

It's okay to put ourselves first. It's okay to say no to others. Like I mentioned above, we all have responsibilities we have to attend to in order to make a living and keep our families taken care of, but beyond that you have a responsibility to yourself to enjoy this life you've been given and live it to the fullest. Don't let it slip by and get to the end and think, "If only I would have done _____." Do the things. Live your life on your terms. Make those dreams come true. Live your best life!