A month has now past since you decided to begin your journey to live a healthier life.  Though it might seem like the distant past at this point, you must continue to keep pressing forward.   Now that the days continue to go by you might start to feel worn down, overwhelmed and just flat out tired.  Let me be the first to tell you, that’s fine! Believe it or not, it is perfectly normal to start to feel that way.  You are not the only one who is feeling this way, nor are you the first to experience these feelings.  If living healthy were easy, then anyone and everyone would be living a healthier life.   A wise man once told me, “If you want a fire to keep burning strong, then you must continue to feed it.”  So let’s focus on feeding your fire to help you continue to live a healthier life.  Recognize your accomplishment in making it thus far and give yourself praise, you deserve it.  If you have not started to live a healthier life is never too late to start.  Here are five tips to help keep your passion for wanting to live a healthier life burning strong:



5) Find Yourself a Theme Song - Select a song that best identifies you and that you identify with when exercising or working out.  I always give my clients this assignment during their second month.  Every collegiate and pro athlete that I have worked with and have trained all had one thing in common, and that is that they already had their theme song selected.  No one told them to do it, they all just chose to do it on their own, and when I asked them why they did it, they all responded that the song(s) help them get into a state of mind and mentality that helped get them motivated and inspired to push themselves.  One of the songs that were on most of their playlists was the theme song for “Rocky,” which I thought was pretty cool due to how old that movie is.  My theme song is “Neva Eva”(Gonna Get On My Level) by Trillville.  So now ask yourself, what is your theme song?



4) Listen to Your Theme Song - Once you have selected your theme song(s) try to listen to them when you are working out or right before you workout or exercise.  When I played college and pro arena football I used to listen to my theme song right before I went on the field before a game.  I guarantee that you will notice the difference if you do this.



3) Visualize Your Success - Visualize yourself exercising, working out or achieving your goal.  This is a proven scientific method and practice that works.  Try and listen to your theme song while doing this.  This is a great way to start off your day.



2) Learn to Love It  – Exercise and working out is a very demanding, difficult and stress relieving act. The more you do it, the more you focus on doing it, and the more success you get from exercising and working out, the easier it gets.  I have to admit that when I first started to workout, I hated it.  But over time and the more I exercised and worked out, I slowly began to like it and eventually I learned to love it, so keep on keeping on, and you, too, will begin to learn to love living a healthier life.



1) Have Fun and Enjoy It - Think of the time that you designate to exercise as your play time or recess time.  Physical activity is fun and should be fun. For instance, take a look at elementary kids and how they act right before and during recess.  Remember that living a healthy and strong life is not a destination, but rather an ongoing, never-ending journey.  So have fun and enjoy your journey.

 


 

About the Author


My full name is Toqua-Hanai Ticeahkie.  I am a full blooded Native American and a proud enrolled member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma.  I am also proud to be part Kiowa, Creek, and Cheyenne & Arapaho.  I am a certified personal trainer, former professional arena football player, and current Director of the All Nations Fitness Center for the Kickapoo Health Center.  I have been married to my beautiful wife, Sharon, shown above, for more than nine years.  We have three wonderful kids, Tomafa Tosiya Ticeahkie, our  eight-year-old daughter, Ahkeah Kaheeka Ticeahkie, our four-year-old son, and Sutai Mia Ticeahkie, our two-month-old baby girl.

Toqua writes this column each month for Oklahoma Native Times Magazine.