True health is a lifestyle. Laughter, passion and fun are important components for making you feel great and releasing chemicals that make your body happy from the inside out.

 

 
     Hi there, it’s Elaine Gardner, the founder of DesignYourHealthyLife.com. A lot of people think that a healthy lifestyle is just about what you eat, and how much you exercise, and whether you get enough sleep. But the truth is that your body’s ability to be truly healthy involves so many different factors. And one of those is your ability to have fun and enjoy your life.
 
     This was such a huge piece that I neglected, or forgot about, or had a hard time with for a really long time. I tend to be a very serious person by nature and I’m rather ambitious as well, so I was very much focused on what needed to get done and where I was going in life, and working hard. Those were part of the ethics that I grew up with. And all of that is good, and worthwhile, and important if that’s your thing. And that was resonating with me, so it was. But I lost the ability to learn how to be light, and to laugh, and to have fun, because I was really just caught up in the seriousness of where I was going next, and what my responsibilities were.
 
     Once my children were born, I got better at that in some ways because I really, really wanted to maximize the time, the quality time that I had with them (not just spending time with them, or taking care of them and feeding them, and bathing them, and dressing them). I wanted to enjoy them as people and get to know them and nurture their individual interests and skills and talents. So I took them to all kinds of places and I would really have a great time with them.
 
     But outside of spending time with my children, I didn’t really know how to have fun on my own or what was important to me anymore from that perspective. I had to relearn that. And I can say that even though my children are bigger now, they’re 18 and 22, I’m still a work in progress in that area. I’m trying to understand what brings me joy outside of work. I’m very, very blessed and incredibly fortunate that I love the work that I do. I get to have fun while I’m working because it lights me up and I’m very passionate about it and I have wonderful clients that I get to laugh with and enjoy and get to know.
 
     But I also want to be able to have free time and understand how to really maximize and enjoy my time so that I can just be grateful and happy as often as possible. I want to enjoy my life as much as possible because I know in those states, the chemical reactions that are going on in your body, the hormones that your body is making when you’re in those types of states, is just incredible in the way that it contributes to really, really great health.
 
     So again, it’s always going to be a work in progress for me, but it’s been on my mind lately because summer has begun and it’s my favorite time of the year to have fun, and it’s the easiest time of the year for me to have fun because the things that I really enjoy doing are in warm weather. I love being near the ocean and near any body of water. I love being in the water and swimming, as long as it’s warm. And I love spending time with my family outdoors. I did lots of wonderful things with my kids in the summer months when they were younger.
 
     Over the weekend I was just at one of my brothers’ homes and I went tubing with my nephew. I was floating on a tube in the water for hours and it just really lit me up and I felt so good at the end of the day. And yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the day at the ocean with my husband. These are things that make me so happy. So all of these wonderful things come very easily to me in the summer, but much less so at the other times of the year because I don’t enjoy outdoor cold weather activities and I tend to get caught up doing much more work inside at home.
 
     But I like to read and I like to watch movies on Netflix. I have no tolerance for commercials so regular TV won’t do it for me. I’ve been getting back into scrapbooking too. The whole point is that everybody’s interests are unique and very individual, but it’s really important to pay attention to what brings pleasure to your life, what brings laughter into your life, what brings fun into your life. And to pursue those things and to know that they’re not a waste of your incredibly valuable time, that they fuel your health and it’s non-negotiable. It’s really an incredible piece – such an important thing that you can do for yourself to enhance yourself by enjoying your life. We’re meant to enjoy our lives, it’s not supposed to be all work and no laughter.
 
     So as always, I am looking to connect with you and to provide you with useful tips and tools. There’s so many things that I’ve learned in my own health journey over the years that I want to share with you to make it as easy as possible for you to get the depth of health that you need in order to really live the life that you deserve. Until next time… talk to you soon!