You're Worth It
by Yesi Morillo-Gual on 11/13/12
As
working women, mothers, executives, entrepreneurs, students and more, we are
limited on time and over burdened with responsibility. Life gets hectic, sometimes chaotic and
instead of taking time to care for ourselves, we just keep it moving.
Keeping it moving means not sleeping nor eating well, and definitely, NOT exercising. Even when we try to be in sync with our health we think it too difficult and give up before we even try.
This neglect not only leads to struggle with our weight, our mood and self-esteem but inevitably we end up crashing and burning, or terribly sick.
When
it comes to your health, if you’re not right, nothing around you will be, and
you’ll be totally useless to yourself and those who need you.
Time to be selfish. Not a blatant selfish, but a selfish that helps you think about your health and understand that small changes make big differences.
After leading a life of “crash and burn” for many years and experiencing too many days where I was either very sick or so exhausted I could not get out of bed, I began to really consider the long-term damage to my body. As a result, I promised to commit to three things:
- To Rise & Fall Within the Same 24-Hour Period – I would often get up at 6:00 am on a Monday, and not get back into bed till 3 am on Tuesday. Taking on a full day on three hours of sleep wrecks havoc on your mind and body.
- To Walk, At Minimum, One Mile A Day - I had a tendency of sitting at my desk for nine consecutive hours. This led to swelling, pain and, I’m going to self diagnose this one, Varicose Veins!
- To Drink, At Minimum, One Liter of Water Daily – The sugary drinks caused energy spurts, and then left me feeling like I was dragging my weight.
While I haven’t completely embraced all aspects of good health, I’ve stuck to the three goals above – all pretty simple, free and within my control. This new approach has led me to find additional, simple, and effective ways to get healthy. In fact, last week, I went without eating bread, and managed to hit the gym twice! After walking the treadmill for 20 minutes on both visits, I was so energized.
What exactly did I exchange for those 20 minutes? I did less social media and left my email alone.
See how you too can make small changes and fit health and exercise into the craziest of schedules. Join us on Thursday, November 15th as we discuss “Staying Fit & Healthy In a Busy World".
During this call, our guest speaker Alexandra Morbitzer of Fit Latina, will discuss how to:
- Fit exercise in at work and find a routine that works for your lifestyle
- Get yourself going when the motivation is simply not there
- Prepare in advance for healthful eating each week - and why it doesn't have to break your budget
- Find simple ways to take care of yourself without feeling guilty about "me-time"
More information and registration, visit www.proudtoblatina.com
Most of us take our health for granted. It’s time to make changes, so you can feel good, look good and live longer.
You
are worth it.
Getting Through The Storm
by Yesi Morillo-Gual on 11/02/12
In my neighborhood of El Barrio, stores are open, cars are moving and the hustle of a working New York City is on. It’s business as usual.
But turn on the tube and that reality changes quite a bit as we watch images of the horrific devastation Hurricane Sandy left behind.
With parts of the City still in the dark, some still affected by flooding, businesses counting their losses and families without homes, this experience is overwhelming. You can’t watch without being brought to tears.
As my son watches with me, he quickly says “It’s just stuff, our lives are more important”. He’s right, but there’s a lot of difficulty in trying to put that into perspective. Still at some point we have to find the strength to regroup, rebuild and move on from this experience.
In the toughest time, remember three things:
- Be Grateful for the Positive Things – As my son said, “our lives are more important”. While many lost their material possessions, they still have family, friends and neighbors. Oftentimes, it takes a tragedy for us to recognize what’s really important in our lives. When you recognize that, the material possessions are not as important.
- Know That We Were Built to Overcome Hardship – Life is full of challenges, decisions, choices and sometimes, difficult situations. Think of a time when you thought a bad experience would break you. You overcame and continued living a prosperous life. We were built to be resilient and courageous. We will get through this.
- Give Back – Volunteer if you can. If you’re not able to, donate to a charity, or check on a neighbor. See how you can help someone else. This is also a perfect time to do some deep cleaning and donate clothes and other goods to places like the Salvation Army and Goodwill. Many will be depending on those resources heavily as they try to get their lives in order. If you need assistance, are looking to donate and/or volunteer, the American Red Cross is an invaluable resource. Visit them at http://www.nyredcross.org/
No matter how you were affected, or what you are going through we are sending you prayers, positive vibes and pounds of resiliency.
Whether you’re hurting from actual loss or feeling heavy hearted from watching we are thinking of you all.
It’s a long road ahead – we each need to have faith in ourselves and others, and trust that we will come back stronger.
