THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE

I’m sitting in the car heading back from a short break away in Cornwall to celebrate my birthday (don’t worry, I’m not driving), looking for inspiration for my next blog. But as I sit here, thinking about the 5 top tips for weight loss or the dangers of consuming diet products, all I really want to talk about is the awesome few days that I’ve just had.
It’s amazing how you can drive for 5 hours and feel as though you have landed in a different country. For me a break to Cornwall is the perfect getaway, I can totally relax but with some of the familiarities of home. The only thing that isn’t guaranteed is the weather, but to be honest, I’m really past the stage of wanting to bask in the sun on a lounger all day….What a waste.
Although saying this, I’m never going to turn my nose up to a couple of weeks in Hawaii.
So in the space of 3 days we managed to cram in loads; there was a lot of walking and sight seeing, we swam, I finally got to have a go at Paddle Boarding in the sea (slightly different to the calm waters of a lake but I still managed to stay on my board the whole time), we surfed, visited the theatre and ate a lot of fish!
I didn’t want to eat bad food because there was so much choice of fresh, locally sourced produce that tasted amazing. When you’re about to attempt to balance yourself in the sea on a small floating surface, the last thing you want is to feel weighted down by a quarter pounder with fries, you make good food choices to fuel your body.
The way of life down there seems to be far more relaxed, people enjoy what nature has provided them, they are active all the time. Yes I understand that this way of life isn’t realistic to all of us, we have work to get done, right?! But what’s stopping us from getting in from work, getting changed and running straight back out the door? I’m guilty of falling into the trap of thinking I don’t have the time to take an hour out for myself, god forbid I could actually have some fun!
But if I added up the time that I spent getting distracted by Facebook or responding to texts, I probably could have squeezed in a 1 hour bike ride, and I’m sure I’m not alone there!
You could argue that there is more to do down in the West Country, but we have a lot to offer right here in Sussex, we just take it for granted! You never need to travel far to be off the beaten track, we’re lucky enough to be near the coast and there are some great facilities available to us, we just don’t take advantage of them.
The fundamental difference that you cannot get away from is the attitude of the locals. They enjoy the simple things in life, they laugh and they do the things that make them happy. I can’t generalise the happiness of a whole County, but I did find that most of the people that we came in contact with were pretty chilled out friendly people. It’s like life isn’t quite as much of a rush.
Sometimes it could even be a little too laid back for my liking (I’m a pretty impulsive and impatient person)!
With stress being one of the leading causes of illness and obesity in the UK, we could all do with chilling out a little, including myself. When you are working hard to juggle everything in life, it is important to have some down time, if not for your sanity but for your physical health as well!!
The difference in how I feel from just a couple of days off is incredible, but why should I now go home and continue to work like a dog for another 6 months until I get another chance to have time out? Who says it has to be like that? Why should we get to a point where we NEED a break until we take time out?
Instead I’m going to try and manage my stress levels and happiness with a bit of time every day to increase my exercise and chill out. And on top of that I am going to go away again in September because I want to, not because I NEED to!!
Contact Potential PT if you need to add a little balance to your life, we can make it easy to implement exercise and fun activity to your life….Even when you don’t think you have the time!!
So my challenge to you this week is something that some of you will find very hard….I want you to choose a time where you would normally have to ‘get stuff done’, that could be work, cleaning or cooking. Just say to yourself “sod it”, it can be done when you get back!!
Go out and do something for you that is fun. maybe a bit different or even totally self indulgent, I don’t care!! We all need to realise that there is more to life than the daily in and outs that we convince ourselves need to be done, they can wait, you are more important!!
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