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Fight for your health

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Fear. It’s one of our more complicated and intriguing emotions. When we experience fear, whether, through real or perceived danger, it can cause us to react through psychological changes and eventually behavioral changes due to the event(s) we experience. Fear can cause us to excel in moments of uncertainty, unleashing a power or skill set we never knew we had, but it can also give us a paralysis effect and keep us from reaching great potential.

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As we venture on this journey through life, making adjustments to eat better and move more, some of us struggle greater than others. But why? Could it be, that for some, the actual emotion of fear itself is keeping us from making positive behavioral changes to eat better and move more? That our fears and barriers surrounding making changes are causing us to have a paralyzing reaction instead of excelling in our choices to improve our quality of life? What is it about our fear of change that keeps us from eating better and moving more?

For some of us, it might be that we feel our behaviors and habits are part of our identity. That we are not necessarily afraid of change itself, but of how that change will be perceived and received by those around us and what it might do to our current lifestyle.

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We sometimes think that making changes to eat better and move more means we need to make large-scale sacrifices to be successful and that we’re not ready to ‘give things up’; but we couldn’t be more wrong. To be successful we need to weave in small, simple changes to move more and eat better, that align with our passions, values, lifestyles and schedules. By making small substitutions of ingredients into our meals (grilled instead of fried, rich vegetables instead of packaged product and fresh fruit as snacks) and small choices to naturally incorporate movement into our day (stairs instead of the elevator, short walk breaks instead of sitting coffee breaks, bodyweight exercise’s while we watch our favorite movie) we’ll find those healthy choices and changes naturally happen and grow and we won’t have lost a thing.

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Our challenge this week is to be brave. To acknowledge our fear, accept it and give ourselves permission to push past it because we will indeed not lose anything, but rather gain everything. We can often be brave in the face of danger for others, this week we need to do it for ourselves. Being brave can mean anything when it comes to making changes to our habits. It can mean going out for a walk after dinner despite the rain, it can mean learning to cook asparagus or it can mean asking for help at the gym. We all have the power of being brave inside of us, we all have the power to make positive changes in the way we move and eat so that we can live the healthy life we deserve. There is nothing we wouldn’t do for our children or spouses, why should it be any different for ourselves? How will you unleash your bravery and let go of fear?

This column was written and provided by Strathcona County’s Recreation, Parks, and Culture’s Jennifer Wilson.

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