A maxim I come back to time and time again, that I tell my clients over and over, is ‘Don’t sacrifice good for perfect’. 

Always celebrate what you manage to do for yourself when it comes to your health.

So often we choose to do nothing because we can’t do everything. At Well & Truly, we believe it’s always better to do something. 

When it comes to health and wellbeing, it’s all too easy to fall into the black and white, all or nothing mindset. Either you’re running 10k a day, six days a week or you’re glued to the couch. Either you’re following the Whole 30 diet to the letter, or you’re eating nothing but packaged and processed foods. 

Because of this all-too-common phenomenon, I’ve put together some essential reminders to make sure you’re not sacrificing good for perfect when it comes to your health.

  1. There is no such thing as ‘not worth it’ when it comes to movement

    So you might not be a long distance runner or a dedicated cross fitter. That’s ok, neither are Kathryn or I. We’re often led to believe that certain forms of movement ‘don’t count’ as exercise, or that doing less than ‘x’ number of workouts per week is pointless. It’s this kind of thinking about exercise that gets us stuck in feeling inadequate and lazy and it leads to a dreadful long term relationship with moving our bodies. There’s no ‘only’ when it comes to moving your body – you didn’t ‘only’ have time for one bike ride this week, you took a bike ride and hopefully it was great. Every moment you spend moving your body is a moment well spent, look for opportunities to enjoy that even if the sum of what you do doesn’t look like a tailored workout plan. 

  2. You’ll eat around 70,000 meals in the first sixty years of your life

    So guess what, they don’t have to all be perfect. Didn’t manage to get 5 portions of fruit and veg in yesterday? Cool, try to get in some more today. At Well & Truly we’re fierce advocates of an anti-diet mentality, meaning there’s no such thing as ‘failed’ when it comes to food. Yes, we want to include as many high quality nutrients in our diets as possible, but it doesn’t have to consume us to the point where one ‘imperfect’ meal or snack leads to a downward spiral of food choices. If you’re often falling into the trap of wanting to cut out foods, try instead focusing on eating 30 different plant based foods a week and see how you get on (and remember, 25 is still better than 7!). 

  3. Self care routines can be as quick or indulgent as you can make them

    Maybe the ideal self care routine involves hours of yoga, meditation, breath work, journaling and home-facials. If you have time for this, amazing! Enjoy every second. If you don’t, don’t despair. 5-10 minutes of mindful time dedicated to taking care of yourself still has wonderful benefits. Check out our blogs on creating morning routines and joy routines for inspiration on how to spend that time!

Always celebrate what you manage to do for yourself when it comes to your health. If you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others online and feeling inadequate, I recommend a good social media purge. Simply find the points where what you need to prioritise for your health and what you enjoy intersect, then lean in as much as you can. 

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