Penny for Your Health

During a conversation with a financial advisor a few years ago, he shared something with me that I have since adopted for health and well being.  We were chatting about ways to double investments when he told me the penny story. One penny, were it to double in value every day for 31 days would yield $10,737,418.24! He explained how, with consistent doubling of efforts, the lowly penny can potentially yield millions in its value, given the time and effort.

I went home and took out a piece of paper and calculated the daily doubling value of this penny and placed it on my wall to motivate me towards my goals. At the clinic one day, while encouraging a client to adopt healthy living for the long haul, the penny story popped in my mind. I went ahead and offered how the penny, doubling in its value daily, to yield a significant return, is similar to the value of daily healthful actions that yield comprehensive wellness results.

Often times we are overwhelmed by the thought of how much time it will take to achieve a health goal. The reality is we will spend the time anyway so we only need to focus on whether the time will be of benefit or a waste. By taking small consistent action, our daily healthful efforts double in their yields and within a short period of time, we can realize our health goal(s). 

LIKE THE OCEAN CURRENTS...

One of my favorite things to do, since I moved to the central coast of California over a decade ago, is to sojourn by the ocean on as many weekends as I am able. During one of my trips to Avila Beach, I was on the beach, enjoying my leftover smoothie bowl and my mind, as usual, began to take in my surroundings. The most fascinating that day, was the ocean itself. I sat there, spooning bits of the food from the bowl into my mouth and simply watched the ocean. Waves rolling into each other, washing up kelp and bobbing sea otters slothfully around in blissful sleep. As I watched the waves, I started to think about how the “ocean effect” occurs in daily living.

Often times we do things that, although ever so slightly, can kick our health goals down the drain. As I watched the small waves gently rock the sea otters and move the kelp fronds, I saw the subtle currents move some kelp fronds away and ashore. This natural occurence reminded me that seemingly small, bad health habits move us so far away from our health goals and derail our lives.

Someone I used to know a few years ago once complained to me about his weight creeping up for no reason. I asked him about his day to day activities and I found out his favorite past time, after work, every day, was to stop by the convenience store on his way home to purchase a six pack of light beer and some nibbles. I couldn’t believe it so I asked how long he had been nibbling and sipping and he told me for four years.

I saw the problems right away and I told him. The four years of evening routine of light beer and the evening snacks added empty calories to his waist line and were sabotaging his health. I also let him know he may be an alcoholic because he felt the need to drink every evening. Unbeknownst to him, he had created life depleting evening routine and he couldn’t see it until it was pointed out for him. 

What are your current habits and routines? When was the last time you examined them to see if they were contributing to- or depleting your health? If you haven’t put your habits or routines under the microscope lately, is it time to put them in the witness stand and cross examine them? You can easily check your routines and habits by writing down everything you eat and drink for 30 days. After 30 days, look and see if there are some unhealthy habits or routines on the sheet. If there are, replace each one with something better for 30 days; but do the replacement one at a time and track your results. Doing this will help you check your routines and habits and keep them from subtly drifting you in the direction you do not want.