The Whole Health Thing. By Jake Phillips

“I just cannot seem to stay motivated to exercise and eat right. How do you manage to do it day in and day out?” I am often asked this question by clients, friends, family, and really anyone when I say to them: “I’m a personal trainer.”
Chances are that for them, like 95% of people I know or coach, a typical day looks like this: you have at least one coffee in the morning, go to a job you have no passion for, have some more unhealthy food for dinner, watch TV or use Facebook for 5 hours, go to bed feeling worse and do it all again the next day. And you wonder why your life is the way it is.
“But I want to look great and fit into all my old clothes and be really fit and healthy.” That’s a lie. If you really wanted those things you would have them because you wouldn’t rest until you were there. And then keep going.
Now when I get asked “how do you do it?”, it is really a simple answer. I love myself. As narcissistic as that sounds, let me explain.
Many people believe that love is an emotion. This, in fact, is not the case. If you look at the language of nearly every progressive society since the dawn of man, the word love is used as a verb. Love is not an emotion. Rather it is a way of being in the world which is reflected in your thoughts, words, and deeds. It is not an emotion – it is a quality of being.
To be honest, I do not really care what your goals are, what you do for a living or what got you where you are today. If you want to change how you look, feel and live your life, you need to love yourself. Look at any of your friends or family who keep running back into the same crappy relationship over and over again. Do you think they would do that if they really cared about themselves?
In saying that, if you really look hard at yourself in the mirror, eventually you will realise that you are the way you are now because of every judgement, choice and action you have made be it good, bad or ugly.
And this isn’t just for how you look naked or feel when you wake up in the morning. This applies to everything. Money. Work. Relationships. After all, if you don’t love yourself, how can anyone else? If you don’t love yourself, how can you make good choices that will have a positive effect on your life?
Do this: when you wake up in the morning go to the mirror. Look directly into your eyes, and say “I love you”. Tell yourself something you like about yourself. Laugh. Enjoy. You are the only you there will ever be. There will never be anyone with your fingerprints or your smile again. Once you honestly have love for yourself you will notice something. People will be drawn to you. People will feel safe around you. Once they feel how much love YOU have for YOURself, they will definitely want to join your little party.
My original article was about how to stay healthy and fit over christmas and new years, how to prevent gaining any weight during silly season. I soon scrapped this idea because 99% of the people who would read it don’t care enough to put it into action. It’s “too hard.” But in reading this article I think you know how to do it. I can give you all the tips and the best program in the world, but you really only need to do one thing to answer the question at the top of the page. Fall in love.