What does being healthy mean to you?

I don't suppose any of us set out to be deliberately unhealthy. We may continue a behaviour that we know is not good for us, but we don't actively choose poor health. We may grumble that we ought to do more exercise of make some changes to our diet, but I am asking you to stop for a moment and just think - what does "being healthy" or "living a healthy life" mean to you?

I know for most of us, our default opinion will be towards diet, exercise, relaxation and sleep and yet is it not so much more vast than that?

What about the term "unhealthy relationships" or working "in a toxic environment" to name just two examples of things that affect our health but have nothing to do with what we eat or how much we move.

I had an insanely "healthy" weekend this one just gone. I did a couple of really good training sessions, I had an afternoon nap, walked in the forest in the late afternoon sun with the dogs and ate so well that if you cut me I would probably bleed raw vegetables. When I sat down to watch some t.v. I flicked over to a true crime documentary on Netflix. Now, I am the QUEEN of crime dramas, be it reading them, watching them... I would probably be quite an asset to the SOCOS, truth be told with my eagerness to establish who last saw the victim alive and protecting the crime scene, (although the waste of single use and throw rubber gloves is of some concern - can we find something more environmentally friendly?).

When I was running one of my retreats in Turkey, one of our guest's husbands was a detective actively working a murder case that week  and I was only too willing to offer my extensive knowledge on procedures (not taken up, bizarrely!).

Yet here I was watching this hideous documentary and finding my peaceful, happy mode deteriorate towards something quite dark and I just  stopped it to wonder what on earth I was doing. I had to flip it around and instead go full immersion into a podcast on The Archers, itself quite dramatic but in a much less gruesome way (although Peggy's will is a worry but so too is her entire family's attitude - poor woman has not yet gone cold in the ground and they are doing their sums).

I talk to people a lot about health and wellness. Of course I do. It's my business, a passion and interest of mine and I always feel privileged when someone chooses to discuss concerns with me and I reiterate - what does being healthy mean to you?

We need consistency in our lives in order to carry us over the lows as well as the boring bits - the highs can often take care of themselves but they will always have a downhill or at least a flat bit to follow. Sometimes, the boring is good - some familiar, chugging along, recharge and just hum drum normality but the lows are what are going to be the challenge.

So maybe for a change, think further away from the immediate - if you are still not sleeping well, or have that growly digestive issue or are more irritable or anxious or emotional, maybe your diet and exercise choices are not to blame but there is something else staring you in the face. I am not suggesting you choose divorce (worked for me but hey! may not be your first option) but maybe that friend is actually draining you more than you realised. Maybe work is taking up too much from you and you just haven't seen it because it has been like this for so long. We adapt to what we do and then it becomes the norm and perhaps we then don't see when it is no longer servicing us, or we forget that we change as we age and want and need different things.

I am not big into meditating per se, but I am into mindfulness, gratitude, recognising what I have rather than what I don't . Those are things that have helped me. Well that and stepping away from a few relationships that were not nourishing me and were taking up a lot of battery power. What other things might enhance your life?

What might your changes be? Perhaps your book club just isn't right for you anymore or actually you really do not want to continue Tuesday morning walking group- it might seem so trivial but if you are thinking and worrying about it, it clearly it is having impact.

What is one thing you could cut loose and what is one thing you could replace it with? If you are fed up, sad, stressed, exhausted, cant sleep, can't stop sleeping, get bloated or gassy, have no energy... then apart from any genuine medical concerns, maybe you need to look at your global health. As the motivational speaker Mel Robbins says - "No-one is coming to rescue you". You have to fix it. Take a good look, have a good think and perhaps it is something that diet and exercise are not a part of.

psst... but keep going on the exercise!