Healthy Integrity

“How you do anything is how you do everything.”              -T. Harv Ekar

College students I’ve worked with know I’m fond of the quote above . I truly believe that you can find examples of how you live your entire life just by looking at the little things you do. Like working out.

A photo of me before the pregnancy and weight gain.

Since the day I chose to start this transformation blog, I realized that a few things, big and small, were out of line with who I wanted to be.

I’m sure some of you can relate. One day, you’re sitting on the couch, eating takeout, watching TV, and you have a fleeting thought:  ”Is this it??”

I was that person, and I think I was watching reruns of CSI: Miami. I felt like my life was going by, and as my son sprouted before my eyes, I had become stagnant.

I realized that I had not been honoring my word:  that my health is a priority.

Let me introduce the concept of integrity briefly, as taught by Landmark Education. Integrity is the act of doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it, in the manner by which it was supposed to be done. What you say is important, because that’s your word. And as they say, “Word is bond.”

So, back to Ekar’s quote. I realize that there’s a lot of excuses that I make. At first, they might actually seem justified.

I had a difficult time giving birth, and the emergency C-section left me disconnected from my body. I actually lost feeling in my lower abdominal area.

Taken the first day of this blog.

As I’ve mentioned before, my son is developmentally delayed. That’s a fancy way for health care professionals to say, “We don’t know why he’s progressing slowly.” There’s a lot of unknowns around this situation, which is intimidating for me. Not to mention, a whole host of medical and therapeutic appointments and paperwork to manage.

My parents are also elderly and not financially independent. In Hawai’i, your ‘ohana is everything, and the concept of filial piety is woven into all that we do.

It’s not surprising that I chose to indulge in eating whatever I want. Some say that during times of stress, they eat “comfort food.” I just ate food– all of it was comfort food!

Sometimes I felt overwhelmed, which is completely normal. My reaction to this level of stress, however, wasn’t to do something proactive. Actually, I went inert.  

Everything seemed to be okay, more or less.  If  “how you do anything is how you do everything,” then my life was all about temporarily soothing myself without regard to the long-term consequence.

As a family-oriented woman, I now realize that taking care of myself is the first step to helping others. Setting boundaries, being aware of the stressors around me, and saying “No,” when it’s warranted are just a few ways to make myself a priority.

There’s tons of reasons why I didn’t make time to exercise. I’m not even going to waste blog space on them. I just wasn’t willing to make the choice to do it. Like other things in my life, avoiding making a choice is another pattern I’m aware of.

Honoring my word is so integral to maintaining good health that I think of it as “healthy integrity.” As Stephen Covey says in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:  

“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.”

By working out consistently, making the choice to eat foods that support my energy and balancing my family responsibilities with my own care, I will consciously change my old habits to build my character and transform my life… one swing at a time!

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