Balance, and How Sometimes Life Just Gets in the Way

We have just completed a very successful week at Fitfarms weight loss camp and fitness retreat in the heart of the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. This week was ladies only and we put our lovely clients through their paces in the onsite studio and opened their minds with a series of helpful workshops. One topic that seemed to arise frequently throughout the duration of this course was how to maintain a positive mindset and in some cases it was evident the pressure these beautiful and determined ladies were putting on themselves. I think it's important to realise the journey to a healthier and happier you is to find and embrace the things you enjoy in life. For example, if you don't enjoy the gym, you shouldn't be in there. Enjoyment leads to sustainability and there are plenty of other ways to obtain a healthy lifestyle and become fitter outside of using a gym.

Unfortunately we live in a society where social media creates a huge platform for comparison. It's shoved in front of our faces every single day and everyone is harping on about a balanced lifestyle... but what even is balance? Quite often in these situations there is a lack of honesty so we never actually see the real balance. This makes it difficult for people to contextualise their want for certain things, (especially those naughty treats each and every one of us craves) and understand how their levels of 'balance' will have an effect on their long term goals. The fact is, the less healthy scale of the balance is never broadcasted by already established people with seemingly perfect lifestyles and this creates a sense of intimidation, resulting in the rest of us placing this unnecessary pressure on ourselves. Different lifestyles will result in different levels of balance, for instance one person may have a fantastic fitness regime and rather than deprive themselves completely, they sneak in the odd treat when they feel like it. For you it may be a case of one week you may have your nutrition and exercise on point and feel great for it, the next week you may be travelling for work, on the road, eating for convenience and not even getting enough sleep to provide you with the energy for a workout. The thing you have to realise is that this is okay! We are all human and the importance lies in looking at the bigger picture. If you can look at the reasons why you had to make those choices and accept them then you can rationalise your balance in a healthy way. Feeling guilty for having an off week, putting unnecessary pressure on yourself and self sabotage all lead to destructive habits and are these are often the start of a negative downward spiral, even if your journey was going great before hand. Some obstacles in life are simply unavoidable, but if you can accept the reasons for these obstacles and conquer them with certainty and mental strength then you're already half way there!