LIVING IN INTEGRITY WITH MY VALUES: PART 2

 Part 2: Health

Being as healthy as can be is important to me.  Both physically and mentally, my wellbeing is a foundation that I build the rest of my life off of, so valuing my health is important to me.

Eating healthy food

I just want to start by saying that I love to eat unhealthy food and believe that it has a time and a place in my life.  I try and eat healthy most of the time so that any "unhealthy" choices I make aren’t such a big deal.  Eating healthy more often than not is my sustainable way of contributing to my healthy lifestyle without getting obsessed with perfection.

Meal planning & prepping ahead of time.  I like to plan out my weekly meals, ahead of time so that I know what I'm eating each day and can make sure that I buy the required groceries in my weekly shop.  I make 3 dinner meals per week with enough for at least a second meal of leftovers for each.  This means that I only cook 3 days per week and enjoy pre-made leftovers for the other 3.  The last day is usually reserved for take-out food or grabbing something stocked in the freezer.  This saves me so much time and hassle and means that I'm not eating the same food every day of the week.

Eating unprocessed foods.  I try not to buy too much processed food, the exception for me would be canned fruits & veggies because they are so convenient.  I am looking forward to a time when I can eat solely organic food and growing my food in a garden but that is not realistic in my life right now.  Instead, I focus on eating as cleanly as I can, shopping mostly the perimeter of the grocery store and eating from-scratch, but simple meals.  I eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies (or buy them frozen for convenience), fresh meats and dairy products.  I avoid pre-made meals and the convenience foods that are sold in the middle of the grocery store that are heavily packaged and processed.  I do eat chips, candy, canned soups, etc. but not every day.

Eating Meat.  I used to be a vegetarian and do believe that going vegetarian is a great way to reduce my environmental impact, reduce the suffering of animals and benefit my overall health.  However, I struggled with being healthy during that time, I had low iron and wasn't getting the nutrients my body needed.  For now, I try and limit my meat intake and cook vegetarian most of the time.  This is an area of my life that involves a bit of compromise and deciding what matters most to me.  I hope to try being a vegetarian again in the future.

 
Exercise

I love cycling and used to do a lot of exercise classes at the gym.  Exercise has always been something I've valued and paired with fresh-air and outdoor adventures has been the best way for me to make sure that I'm getting the exercise I need and full-filling experiences.  Whenever I struggle to exercise or am out of routine, I start small and build my endurance back up again.  I also count low-intensity activities (i.e. yoga & walking) as exercise because they genuinely keep me healthy with minimal effort. 

Sleep

This is something I haven't always valued.  In University I used to stay out late with friends and spend evenings alone binge-watching TV.  I would wake up early for classes and function on a shockingly low amount of sleep.  My "functioning" was sub-par though and once I realized that I'm the kind of person who needs 8-10 hours of sleep each night, I became a lot healthier.  Now I allow myself to have at least 8 hours of sleep each night, which means I get into bed and shut off TV/movies 8+ hours before my alarm goes off in the morning.  I usually read before bed and give myself about an hour of reading time before I should go to sleep.  I am so much more productive when I prioritize sleep and sleeping for 8-hours + per night has benefited both my physical and mental health immensely.

3: Living an enriched life

It is important to me that I enjoy my life.  Both my work life and leisure time.  The best way I've been able to feel like my life is enjoyable has been by investing in experiences and things I love to do. 

Travel

Pre-pandemic travel was something I valued incredibly.  I love travelling, seeing new places, meeting new experiences and living each day in a discovery mindset.  I enjoy planning out my trips almost as much as being on them and spend so much time dreaming of where I'll go next.  Travel doesn't have to be far away though and I've been able to enjoy trips locally and within my province a lot when I classify them as travel-like experiences. 

Hobbies

I think it is important to have something that I enjoy doing during my time off.  I think a lot of people struggle to stop working when they don't have hobbies that full-fill them just as much as their jobs do.  My go-to hobbies are reading, cycling, sewing, updating furniture and of course personal development.  By having things I value beyond my work, it's easier to live a full life and have an identity beyond my work.

Spending money on myself

It's easy to get caught up wanting to live minimally and save money whenever I can, however, there are things that I spend money on to add value to my life.  Most of this "splurging" money goes to experiences (i.e. travel) but I also spend money on things that increase the quality of my life.  Whether it be money on my hobbies, investing in coaching or ordering take-out from the nice restaurant this week, I believe that when I invest in myself and my well-being is worth it in the long run.

CONTRADICTIONS & COMPROMISE

When I'm living in integrity with my values there is inevitably compromise involved sometimes.  As I said in Part 1, it's impossible to follow your values perfectly, so I don't bother trying.  I use them as guideposts on how I want to live my life and do my best to follow them wisely. 

 Another area of compromise comes in when two values contradict each other. 

 I value living as environmentally friendly as I can, but I also consider travel to be the best way I can enrich my life.  As air travel is one of the largest contributors to my carbon footprint, it can be challenging to live exactly in integrity with both values and not feel hypocritical.  So I do what I can to minimize my carbon footprint in day-to-day life and when we can travel again will likely try and off-set my flights, travel slowly and opt for land-based transport when possible. 

 I eat meat for my health, though try and eat vegetarian for most meals so I can reduce my impact on the environment. 

 I buy some products that are packaged in plastic but do my best to make sure they are cruelty-free. 

 No-one has a perfect set of values to follow, and I focus on the ones that are most important to me.  I do my best to live by them because I know that my life is better when I am living in integrity with what I believe in.