On Choosing Healthy In The Time of Busy

I read a piece called "The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship"; it basically exposed the price entrepreneurs have to pay in order to succeed or run their businesses, at the very least. I love how it bravely tackled the hidden majority of an entrepreneur's journey, the one that's ridden with hardships, sleepless nights, binging, unhealthy habits, depression, and sadly, suicide, something that isn't talked about that much because society has glamorized entrepreneurship so much that failing or admittance of weakness is no sign of a good entrepreneur; in the end, everyone falls into a vicious cycle because of this glamorization: over burdened entrepreneurs and misinformed aspiring entrepreneurs who think that starting an empire is only all about the suits, fame, sitting pretty behind a fancy desk overlooking the skyline.

The majority of my journey as an entrepreneur is great: I control my own time, I get to hone my craft, focus on my strengths, do other things that interest me, and it has given me a steady life; but the other majority is just tough: sleepless nights, working while sick, working the whole day in bed and forgetting to take a shower, rejections, conflicts, day-to-day business challenges, and unhealthy habits. If there's one thing that I don't really like about this whole journey, it's how I'm always forced to settle with unhealthy choices and choose unhealthy habits just because they're most of the time convenient.

I'm a workaholic-there I said it. God knows how dedicated I can be with my work and unfortunately, at the expense of my own health and well- being. One day, I realized:

"If I can choose work on any day, why can't I choose me?"

How did we even get here? This place where neglecting oneself to please others is noble; where unhealthy dedication to work is considered a key to success. Will all of the fruits of our labor matter when at the end of it, we would be unable to enjoy everything just because we are sick or god forbid, dying?

A friend asked me once: If a billionaire asks you to trade your health for his money, would you do it?  That question made me think real hard about the importance of health. Since then, I decided to choose me and to choose healthy even if I'm busy.

Here are ways to make it easy for you to choose health and you anytime, whether you're an entrepreneur, CEO, manager, supervisor, or employee!

1. CHOOSE TO EAT HEALTHY (on health)

- With so many food options and services nowadays, the barricade to eating healthy is slowly going down. I tried cooking a week's worth of healthy, home- cooked meals one time after deciding to quit a 3-month instant food eating streak (blame it on work load and house transfer!). However, it sucked the life out of me; it's been a while since I cooked THAT much food and I got very exhausted that I was unable to attend to the other stuff that I had to do (so this is why a lot of people decide to eat instant food huh). This is the reason why food delivery services are invented!

I decided to go back to healthy, calorie- counted meals care of Diet Diva; at only about P186 per meal, I get to eat healthy, wholesome meals while keeping my calorie intake in check. Most of all, I don't have to deal with all the hassle that comes with preparing and cooking meals. Another great thing about having Diet Diva prepare my meals for me is it's very easy to choose to eat healthy because my meals are already made and ready to eat anytime!

2. CHOOSE TO EXERCISE (on health and wellness)

- If I give you a glimpse of my calendar, you will see meetings, meetings, events, events, workout, workout; I put important things of my day on my calendar and I treat my workout just as important as my work and blog commitments; because if exercise is only an after thought or something that you'll find time doing, trust me, you will end up not doing it. Work is my commitment to others, exercise is my commitment to myself.

3. CHOOSE YOUR DECISIONS (on spiritual health)

- It took me a while to learn the importance of saying no because I have a big heart for service and helping others; sometimes, at my own expense. But as I got older, I realized that saying no sometimes is simply choosing what's right for you: what you feel, what you think is best for you, and what you want for a certain moment; and there is nothing wrong with that. People may feel bad when you say no, but all is not lost because at the end, there's still someone who's happy and that's you.

Photo credit: ABS-CBN

4. CHOOSE ENOUGH (on work balance)

- One More Chance is one of the best romantic Pinoy movies of all time for me; there's this scene in the movie where Bea and John Lloyd are arguing in the office: JL wanted to get as much clients as he can, but Bea told him to stop because they won't be able to handle additional projects anymore due to lack in manpower and besides, they have enough clients to keep them afloat without falling behind tasks.

This scene stresses the importance of contentment. The desire for success can make us greedy sometimes and this negatively affects our relationships, productivity, growth, and health. We have to know when to put a limit to working in order to maintain a healthy relationship with it and for us to pay equal attention and respect to the other important aspects of our lives. In my business, as much as possible, I don't let my employees work during weekends because it's my company's way of showing respect, plus I want to deeply ingrain in them that there's life outside work and let them know that I care enough for their passions, rest, and relationships.

Captain Planet would always say at the end of every episode "The power is yours!" and I've never realized the importance of that statement until now. We've always had the power over our lives; it's just that we, most of the time, choose to give it away and let 'busy' overcome us to the point of self- deterioration. I hope my words have encouraged you today to take back your power and control your life, most especially your choices. You can always choose to be healthy, balanced, and happy, and it starts by choosing YOU.