Health — it’s the little things counting in the long-term
Reporting live into Paul’s 3 week so far extra healthy kick in the butt to his habits.
A few weeks ago I looked at a photo and realised how all the years of hard work I’d put into exercise and starting a great new job were not obvious from my unhealthy look.
The photo below was taken 3 weeks later.
Why?
I hadn’t realised the pressure I created with the continuous misuse of alcohol or unhealthy eating habits to my health. In recovery after my accident it was an entire push forward and a search for growth toward a finish line. Unhealthy food or alcohol were supporters along that journey.
I had reached the finish line, healed from Brain Injury and physical restrictions and here I was reinstating survival habits, during and after recovery. These were the overeating and the turn to alcohol as a comforter.
I realised my biggest obstacle was no longer to find a job (I went through years of hell in workplaces with less than intelligent or accommodating people/managers — explained in this post).
My obstacle had now become the same things that saved me during my worst days. A block of chocolate here or a sip of wine there (ok a bottle of wine there).
I wrote this post to make people think about the two factors that can make recovery from an accident difficult. This whether you are going through it or supporting someone in it.
- Overcoming the immediate challenges and then
- Overcoming the lasting habits we create to support the hurdles over these challenges
Try to think of how you replace things with habits. Personally I badly used food and alcohol. This relates to another post I wrote about the role of exercise in my recovery.
All I can say is that we shouldn’t downgrade one achievement through the negative impact of a habit. Kick those habits away slowly, bit by bit. It’s a process and we should accept that eating a pizza today doesn’t mean you never eat pizza tomorrow. Cut down the amount you eat or drink alcohol, bit by bit, little by little and success is there in each decision you make for a healthy you