What Are YOUR Health Objectives?
Everyone’s different. What works for one person may not work for something else. As you consider which healthy lifestyle program fits you best, consider which of these statements best describe the way you think about your health and wellbeing? Remember your answers when you talk to one of our Wellness Ambassadors.
To me, health is:
- A means to an end: For example, “I want to be able to walk all day on vacation” or “I want to shop regular sizes again.”
- A destination: For example, “I want to be that person in the yoga ads who’s confident and greets every day with a smile.”
- A way of life: “I want to take care of myself so I don’t end up like my parents.”
- A state of mind: “I want to stop feeling anxious and guilty about my health” or “I want to feel good about myself again.”
- An event-driven goal: I want to fit into my dressiest outfit before my son’s graduation.”
- A numerical target: “I want to lose twenty pounds,” or “I want to get my cholesterol below 200.”
- Something else: ___________________________
There are no right or wrong responses, of course. Your answers help determine the approach that will work best for you, and how you’ll define your next steps, progress milestones, rewards, and most important of all, your life strategy for protecting your wellbeing.
The best program will provide personalized guidance and recommendations tailored to the goals and priorities you’ve identified above. Avoid programs that expect you to adhere to their predetermined goals.
As an example, if you define health simply as a means to an end, what happens when you achieve that end? Sometimes, people who define health this way adopt strict or difficult strategies that produce short-term results that are tough to maintain. We believe that the best healthy lifestyle strategies are the ones you actually enjoy and find rewarding, because those are the ones you’ll keep following.
On the other hand, if you define health as a state of mind, you may achieve that state of mind well before you meet certain progress milestones. Does that mean you’re done? Probably not.
For example, often just starting a program immediately relieves the anxiety you’re feeling about your health — which is great, as long as you keep going, and tackle the next steps that can actually move the needle on, say, your cholesterol or your blood sugar.
Making progress toward any of these objectives is self-rewarding and indeed, self-perpetuating. People who have begun making progress toward living a healthy life quickly start to feel empowered, energetic, and motivated, rather than helpless, burdened, or self-critical.