How to Create Successful Habits for your Health
This is a big topic and an important one. But also one that we make into something even bigger in our heads. Think about it - we all know we should be exercising regularly, but many of us don’t currently have any kind of routine to make that happen. There are a lot of things that are “good for us” that we simply don’t prioritize. Even when it becomes detrimental to our health or quality of life.
So, how on earth do we change that?
Let’s start with an example from my own life. First, with a simple example. I went to the dentist last summer, it had been quite a while, and they did their measurements and pictures, and the picture was fairly bleak. I could have felt defeated and just said, well, I know I should have been to the dentist more and flossed more and felt bad about myself.
But instead, I envisioned what I wanted - coming back to the dentist and them saying my teeth and gums were in great shape. And I committed to implementing the dental hygiene routine the hygienist recommended, as well as coming back for cleanings more often. I already brushed my teeth morning and night, so it was simple enough to add the extra parts she recommended to my existing routine. I wasn’t perfect, but was much, much better than I had been, and now feel like I’m seriously missing something if I don’t floss and use my waterpik.
And six months later, they did those measurements again, and they were greatly improved. My gums are out of danger, and I won’t need the expensive procedure they were originally recommending.
I started with a picture of what I wanted - the dentist saying I had healthy teeth and gums. I consulted with the hygienist about what I needed to implement that routine, and then I fitted it into my existing routine, and committed to it, one step at a time, one day at a time.
So, let’s break that down into steps that you can implement, no matter what your goal is for your health.
Step 1: What would you love?
It starts with a vision of what you want for your health in your life. What part of your health is important to you? Be specific. For example, “I want to wake feeling energized each day, able to garden, go for long walks, and play with my kids.” or “I want to run the LA marathon, feeling satisfaction and energy after beating my previous record of 3:50.” or “I want to be able to walk through the grocery store easily, feeling full of energy and breath.” Try to stay away from negatives such as, “I want to be out of pain” or “I want to be able to walk without hurting.”
Focus on positive language and positive images of not only what you want but why it’s what you want. As in the examples above, that means focusing on activities you want to be able to do and how you want to feel doing them - like gardening, walking, running, or going to the grocery store. And be specific about your goals within that. In my example, I used a positive image of saying the dentist said my gums were healthy, instead of saying what I didn’t want - blood and loose gum tissue.
Write down your positive vision for what you would love if you were feeling your best.
What would you love?
Start from a place of loving yourself and determining what would make you the most happy.
Step 2: What can I do today to work toward that goal?
Sometimes a goal can feel so far away that it seems unachievable. If you have been in pain from chronic illness for most of your life, it’s hard to see how you could wake feeling energized each day and maybe even just walk through the grocery store on your own.
But the trick is that you don’t have to know exactly how you will get there. You just need to take the steps you know you can take that are within your control. If you’re in pain, making a call to a physical therapist could be a good step. If you’re already seeing a physical therapist, doing your exercises or other things they’ve told you to do can be a good step. Even if it doesn’t seem to do a lot in the moment. Baby steps will get you there. Good health doesn’t happen overnight. And if it’s gotten to the point that you’re in pain, your body needs a lot of support to get out of it.
And you don’t have to know the whole path - just the steps right in front of you. I didn’t know if committing to flossing and using a waterpik every day would be enough to improve my gums so that I wouldn’t need that expensive procedure, but I took the steps anyway.
Get ideas
Enlist help to determine the best ways to achieve your goals
Step 3: Take the steps / Build a habit
Now that you have an idea of where you’re going and some first steps to get there, start simple by picking one habit to implement daily for the next week. Pick a time to do it each day and commit to it for your health. It can help to associate it with an existing activity you always do and to have some kind of built in reward for the activity.
For example, let’s say you’ve decided with the help of your therapist that you should implement a daily meditation, and you know you’re most likely to do it in the mornings. Currently, every morning, you wake, shower and brush your teeth, get dressed, and sit down for breakfast and a cup of coffee. What if the meditation can come before your shower? Or even during the shower?
Pick a time, and then each day, you commit to doing some sort of meditation. If you’re short on time, maybe the meditation is shorter - just 1-2 minutes. And some days, when you have more time, maybe you can spend longer, 15-20 minutes.
Your reward can be continuing on with your routine, or even just the zen you feel after doing the meditation. After a couple of weeks, it will start to feel weird if you don’t do the meditation because you’ll be missing that zen feeling.
In my dental example, I attached the flossing and such to the routine I already had of brushing my teeth. I got a cleaner feeling in my mouth when I combined these practices, so there was reward already built in.
Form Habits
Pick a time, associate with another activity, create a reward, then stick to it, even if just for a minute or two each day.
Step 4: Continue building on those habits, one at a time
Once you have built one new habit, now you can try to add more. But if we try to do too much all at once, we are dooming ourselves for failure.
Also, it’s important to note that you don’t have to be perfect at this. You can miss a day and then jump back on the horse the next day. Even if you miss a week, or a month, that doesn’t mean you can’t start again. Just start from the beginning, picture what you would love, figure out what step you want to take, and then take it. Baby steps will get you there. But they have to be consistent.
It’s a winding road
Success doesn’t come overnight, and the journey isn’t straight. We’re not perfect and will take some turns along the way. Just stick with it. One baby step at a time.
For me, now that I have that routine in place, I’m focusing on getting a better routine of walking/jogging every morning for my cardiovascular health. I have a vision of being able to run 2 miles with plenty of energy and breath, and I’m going to get there by walking daily and slowly integrating jogging when I can. Even on days when I have less time, I plan to at least get out and walk some so that I don’t break the routine. My place to fit it into my routine is first thing in the morning, when my daughter walks to school, I will walk with her part of the way and then continue on my own. And on non-school days, I will do it first thing when I wake up. After doing this for just a week and a half, I already feel like I’m missing something if I don’t get out and at least walk daily. I will continue to listen to that voice and do my best to keep taking the small steps toward my goal, keeping that vision in mind as I go.
For many of our patients dealing with sexual pain, a routine they often implement is dilator use. Vaginal dilators can help to slowly retrain the muscles and the nervous system to see sex as non-threatening, pain-free, and eventually even pleasurable. While there are multiple steps to that end goal, one of the early ones we often recommend is dilators.
This starts with visualizing the goal of having pleasurable (not just pain-free!) sex, deciding dilators are the habit you want to start implementing, and then finding a time in your daily schedule when it fits to do it. Often, this is before bed. And then, even when you don’t feel like doing it, committing to taking at least two minutes to work with your dilators every night (or however often your therapist recommends). And find something that can be pleasurable afterward - maybe this is clitoral masturbation, maybe it’s just sleep, or maybe you do a meditation that makes you feel good.
If you’re not sure what habits you should prioritize for your health, call and make an appointment with a physical therapist today for a consultation!