Start today – it’s never too late!
How to start your health and happiness journey, one little thing at a time.
It’s 6am. Sarah’s alarm goes off…but she presses snooze five times. She had planned to make a healthy breakfast and walk to work, but now she doesn’t have time. So it’s fast-food from the drive through for her.
She’s forgotten to bring her lunch and snacks, so she gets a chocolate bar from the vending machine for morning tea. The sugar makes her feel good for a moment, but then she gets a sugar crash which makes her feel crabby and drained by lunch. By that time she’s so exhausted and hungry she buys more fast-food. Any chance of getting to the gym after work is gone. The thought of a full workout session just feels too daunting.
In the evening she puts the TV on, which she half watches while scrolling through Instagram. She looks at pictures of beautiful fitness bloggers and feels awful. She thinks “I’ll never be like that.”
Sound familiar? While not everyone’s day is quite as bad as Sarah’s, I’m sure we can all relate to at least one aspect.
Sometimes it can feel like changing your life and becoming healthier is a huge, insurmountable task. You feel like you need to completely change your diet, cut out all bad habits cold turkey, and go the gym for an intense workout every day. You see slim, yoga-pant-wearing women going for jogs in the evening, and it makes you feel hopeless.
Yet change doesn’t have to be drastic and sudden, and the people running past didn’t suddenly wake up one morning able to run 10 kilometres!
At Healthy Square, we believe in the incremental power of little things. And evidence supports that slowly changing habits to healthier ones works much better for sustainable lifestyle change. You deserve to take a few minutes out of your day to make the little changes that will make for a healthier, happier you.
Healthy Square’s four corners of happiness are a great place to start for making some little changes. The four corners are: eating healthily, moving joyfully, learning something new every day, and giving to others.
So if we look at Sarah’s day above, what are some small things that we could change?
Eating healthily
Improving your diet can start by changing some tiny habits. Preparing some overnight oats the evening before is so easy and makes for a quick, healthy breakfast in the morning. Throwing a Healthy Square Protein bag into your handbag before work means a super healthy morning tea. Healthy Square’s bars have 15 grams of protein and are low GI. This will give you a sustained release of energy, rather than the energy slump that Sarah felt after her chocolate bar. Something as small as switching from a high sugar snack to a Healthy Square bar can make a huge difference!
Moving joyfully
In Sarah’s day, a full workout in the gym felt like too much after work, and I’m sure we can all relate to that! Why not meet a friend after work and go for a fun walk or do a YouTube yoga routine at home?
Learning something new every day
Learning something new doesn’t have to mean sitting for hours in front of textbooks! It can be as simple as listening to a podcast on a walk, talking to a friend about a project they’re working on, or even getting an app to learn a new language.
Giving to others
This is something that is often forgotten in the craziness of a busy life. But giving to others doesn’t just help them. Research has clearly shown that when we do something for other people, it contributes to our wellbeing as well.
Again, it’s about the little things. Giving doesn’t have to be public and grand to be meaningful. Maybe it’s something as simple as stopping in to see your Grandma for tea. Or offering to walk your neighbour’s dog while they’re not well.
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In everything we do, we’re aiming for progress, not perfection. If you can make just one little change every day, you’re doing great!
So, grab yourself a Healthy Square bar today, and make it the first of many little things you do for a healthier and happier you.