There’s been a slight delay since I sent my last post, and I apologize for that. I point it out, though, because it’s important that you know where I’ve been: “off-the-grid.”

This short personal retreat I took reminded me to remind you of this: Vacations are not frivolities for the privileged.  We absolutely must take time to decompress and spend time with friends and loved ones in order to maintain not just a baseline level of sanity but to achieve peak performance, efficiency, happiness, and health.

So, for most of last week, I was out in the mountains of Colorado snowboarding, snow-shoeing, getting fresh air and movement, eating yummy yummy food, and most importantly, spending quality time with dear friends.

I am a busy entrepreneur with a mission burning in my heart to help others, a to-do list a mile long, and just as many financial obligations.  Was I being irresponsible to duck away into the Rockies for a week? 

Heck no!

I know I’ve got a busy spring and summer ahead of me, and if I don’t take the time now to calibrate my north arrow, I could set off hard-charging in the wrong direction, burn out, and end up being no good to myself or others.  Where’s the service in that?

–>  So let’s get to it!  How do I make sure my life is rolling in the right direction?  I make sure my “Primary Food” is in balance!

Primary Food is what I call “Vitamin P” for short.  These days, most of us just don’t seem to get enough of it and it is drastically – negatively – affecting our health.  Americans are plagued by stress-related disorders and diseases like IBS, hypertension, insomnia, and heart-attacks!

Have you ever seen someone at your local supermarket who probably spent an hour combing the store for the precisely perfect fruits, veggies, and whole grains, but then loses their cool at the cashier in the check-out line? Or, have you ever seen it “get real” in the Whole Foods parking lot?  What’s it worth to be eating “perfectly” if things are out of whack in other major areas of our lives and we’re stressed out, angry, or exhausted?

This is where Vitamin P comes in.  There are four elements of Vitamin P:
1. Career
2. Relationships
3. Physical Fitness
4. Spirituality

Two newsletters ago, we talked about career as Primary Food.  Today, let’s think about how relationships are Primary Food and how they nourish us.

“Love and work…work and love, that is all there is.”  – Sigmund Freud

Relationships include connection with family, friends, life-partners, teams, and even pets!

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): have healthy relationships that support you. 

I find that when I’m working with my one-on-one, as well as my group corporate health coaching clients, we spend a lot of time talking about what is going on in their personal life, not about the food they are eating.  Relationships are integral to your mental and emotional health, how you process stress, and how you feel physically.  Like having a career you love, it’s not a perk to be in a healthy relationship; it is required for a truly sustainable life of vitality.

Have you ever been so passionately in love that everything was exciting, colors were brighter, sounds were clearer, and everything was just more exciting?  Didn’t it seem as though your significant other’s touch, gaze, love, and attention were enough to sustain you?  You forgot about sleep.  You forgot about food.  You were, as I love to say, “high on life, drug free.”

We use the same word – full – to describe being satisfied both in our hearts and our tummies. Coincidence? Me thinks not.

Consider crowding out relationships that do not contribute to your health and well-being by adding in ones that do.  I’ve never been one for the “cut out.”  Heck, I’m still friends with every dude I’ve ever dated with only a couple of exceptions, but figure out what works for you.  Maybe you don’t have to do a full-scale elimination, but by adding in the really great relationships, there will naturally be less and less room for the unhealthy ones.  Ever heard of a relationship – or experienced one – described as “toxic?”  That description resonates so powerfully because we know how relationships – good, bad, or otherwise – can seem to literally inhabit our being, get into our system, and affect us on a mind-body-spirit level.

Studies show the infinite value of having a support network around you as a foundation during tough times.  Suicide rates outpace combat deaths for our nation’s veterans.  That’s why I partner with the group Team Red, White, and Blue to expand my mission to instruct and empower military members, veterans, and their friends, families, and communities to be truly healthy in order to heal.  My Just Roll With It Bootcamps are one way to really emphasize how important it is to be engaged, excited, and connected with those around you.

Your time is valuable, and it’s what you invest in relationships.  Time and love are how we really show what our true priorities in life are.

Perhaps you need to make a shift in your relationship life.  Honor your time and your heart by giving it to the people that will support you, and for whom you, too, offer support.  Let go of the stuff, or the people, who don’t.  Ultimately, you have to just roll with it.

“We have been created for greater things.  Not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work.  We have been created in order to love and be loved.” – Mother Teresa

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*What is your LIFE worth to you?

Would a small commitment to invest in your health go a long way toward improving your relationships?

Are you stressed out and want to learn simple techniques for zapping your frazzle that you can actually do every day?

Tired of being tired?  Sick of being sick? Constantly reaching for sugary snacks throughout the day just to make it to closing time?

Pissed that you’re in pain, have headaches, backaches, or stomach aches even when you feel like you’re “pretty healthy” compared to most people?

Are you ready to take ownership over your life and choose to live the one you really want?

Email or call me to find out how our working together will empower you to create a happier, healthier, peak performance oriented lifestyle that will last well beyond the 90 day timeframe of most fad diets or exercise programs.  Keep in mind, I can’t do your push-ups for you, so you have to be ready to face this thing head on with your whole heart in it.

This is your life.  What are you waiting for?

Check out my health-coaching programs, Mind-Body-Spirit retreats, and one day Just Roll With It Bootcamp to get the ball rolling in the right direction! 🙂

 

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