(Photos by: Dorian Wright @_smartguy)
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself” -1 Corinthians 6:19
Hey blessed brilliant beauties! Welcome back to the blog! Today’s post is a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I thought it was really important to share with y’all. So, if you end up liking this post, comment done below to hype me up a little. Today I am going to be talking about healthy lifestyle tips for busy girls. Let’s go ahead and dive right in!
As most of you know, this June I will be competing in the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Pageant as Miss Cumberland Valley 2018. I won my local title back in November and since then, I have been preparing to compete for the state pageant this June. Part of the competition includes the swimsuit competition which is judged by on behalf of a contestant’s healthy lifestyle and fitness. This means that you can’t prepare the week before like we do with some college exams. Ugh, I wish!
For me this journey has consisted of physical, emotional, and spiritual growth as a young woman. I can’t thank the Miss America Organization enough for helping me realize the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and all the amazing benefits that come with eating healthier and genuinely loving the girl staring back in the mirror regardless of the size she is wearing.
I have had the pleasure of working with an amazing trainer who has taught me so much about my physical and emotional health journey! Read her blog, Healthy Meets Simple, here. Since I started focusing on my health, I have been doing a lot more praying, smiling, and, of course, dancing and singing at extremely random and inappropriate times! It is true what they say, healthy girls are happiest girls!
Physical Health: Just Get Up and Go
Right, now, take out your phone and schedule a workout class or sketch in a time to go to the gym next week. When it comes to your physical health, I have two tips that have really helped me on my healthy-happy girl journey.
The first is being proactive about your health. If you don’t plan to schedule out a time to work on your fitness and health, it won’t happen. As much as I would love for working out to magically work into my schedule, in reality, sometimes it just doesn’t. What can I say, I am a busy girl! That is why I try to always plan when I am going to workout and stick to it!
The second tip I have for you is to choose a workout that makes you want to enjoy breaking a sweat. For me, it is spinning. One of my college friends introduced me to a spin class and I can’t thank her enough because now, I love it! To start off your healthy-happy girl journey, start choosing workouts that fit what you like then work them into that busy schedule of yours. Trust me, you’ll body will reward you for it!
More physical health tips:
- Intake more water than any other drink
- Eat clean foods
- Try a green smoothie
- Switch to healthy snacking
- Cook meals instead of going out
- Workout with a friend
- Workout at home (You don’t always need to go to the gym)
- Limit dairy and sugar intake
Emotional and Mental Health: Learn to Listen to Yourself
Take a deep breath and let it out, slowly. Living a healthy lifestyle means focusing on ALL of your health. This includes your emotional and mental health. No matter how busy you think you are, you always need to remember to focus on your emotional health.
One thing that has really been helping me with my emotional health is investing time in journaling. I have truly found so much honesty uncovering how I am truly feeling about things by writing them down. My sorority mentor is actually the person that introduced this to me and since then, I have been feeling a lot more in tune with how I feel. As a natural writer, I found that journaling has helped me listen to myself more. I actually use my journal as a prayer journal which helps me practice a more genuine and transparent relationship with God.
More Emotional Health Tips:
- Take a social media cleanse
- Try meditating
- Practice mindfulness
- Talk to a therapist
- Write/draw how things and people make you feel
- Spend a couple of hours by yourself
- Binge watch Netflix
- Take a day to yourself
Spiritual Health: Nurture Your Relationship With God
Speaking of God, my faith has always been really important to me. During this season of change in my life, I have been spending a lot of time with God almost every day. Whether it is through listening to podcasts, worship music, or devotionals, growing my relationship with God during these times of change has helped me keep my foundation strong. If your faith is something that is even the smallest bit important to you, nurture it fearlessly.
More Spiritual Health Tips:
- Go to church with a friend
- Pray for someone you don’t normally pray for
- Make a worship playlist for long summer car rides
- Start a prayer journal
- Join a small group
- Try a daily scripture challenge
Personal Health: Don’t be Afraid to Challenge Yourself
My personal health has to do with the way that I interact with the world around me. Some of my personal health goals include empowering myself as a woman, being okay with being alone sometimes, but most importantly, challenging myself to being better than the day before.
Try choosing something everyday to get better at. For me, right now, it is learning French! Everyday I challenge myself to add a couple of new words to my French vocabulary. You see, we can’t forget the importance of always intentionally stepping closer to a better self. It’s important to love who we are, but we should never get complacent and limit who God wants us to ultimately be!
More Personal Health Tips:
- Plan a spend an entire day by yourself
- Give an old friend a call to let them know you still think about them
- Learn to cook a new recipe
- Plan the vacation you’ve always wanted
- Practice your old instrument
- Sing and dance really loudly in your room to your favorite song
- Make a challenge bucket list and check them off
As you can see, to me, a healthy lifestyle involves so much more than just getting skinny from the gym. It is about becoming so in tune with yourself that you don’t have to be dependent on Instagram likes or your significant other to make you feel good. It is about learning about diseases that are common in your ethnic group and making changes in your life to combat them. It is about getting closer to God and understanding when you need to ask others for help. Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean everything in your fridge has to be organic, but it does means that you have made a promise to yourself that you will love and treat you body like the temple it is. Thank you so much for reading! Comment down below on some healthy lifestyle goals you have for yourself! Stay blessed, brilliant, and beautiful!
<3 TD
