Are You a Healthy Person or Do You Just Do Healthy Things?

This might sound like a strange question to ask.  One would think if you do healthy things you would be a healthy person.  If you eat a lot of veggies, workout regularly and drink your water, all healthy things, chances are you will be healthy physically.  

We want to dive deeper into this question though and talk about the mental side of being a healthy person.  We believe the ball game really changes when a person get's healthy mentally and begins to identify themselves as being a healthy person.  

Let's start with talking about why the person doing healthy things is different that a healthy person.  

Do Healthy Things Person - This person likely has some goals to lose weight, change their body composition, get off medications, etc.  All great goals!  They also likely have been given a prescription to achieve those goals from a doctor, personal trainer, or nutritionist.  They are told things like eat less processed foods, eat more fruits and veggies, follow an exercise routine or drink more water.   

All of those things will likely make a person healthier!  So why are we making this distinction between doing healthy things and being a healthy person?  This person has a measurable and attainable goal.  What happens when they reach their goal? Game over... now what?  Their motivation was in achieving their goal, what is going to keep them motivated?  They were committed to those healthy things to achieve a goal.  No goal, No commitment.

Do you see where I'm going with this?  Doing healthy things can help you make progress and even reach some pretty amazing goals but I believe to sustain that change there has to be a mental shift.  So let's take a look at the healthy person.

Healthy Person -  This person's identity revolves around improving his health.  They are a student of health, always learning and striving to better themselves.  The healthy person's goals are constantly changing and evolving.  

A healthy person can still indulge from time to time but there is no guilt in it.  There aren't rules laid out for a healthy person that they HAVE TO do certain things to be healthy.  Their decisions come naturally, there isn't stress in decision making.  Exercise isn't a thing to burn calories.  It is something that they do to feel better or to be social.  

---

One thing that has helped us stay in the "Healthy Person" category has been our commitment to become health coaches ourselves.  As health coaches we are looked upon to be examples and leaders.  It doesn't mean we have it all figured it out.  It just means that we consistently do all those healthy things as a way to inspire others to switch from doing healthy things to becoming a healthy person.  Part of my identity is being a healthy person.  Yeah I get ridiculed at times but seriously like making fun of someone because they are ridiculously good looking.  I take it as a compliment!  

How would you identify yourself?  Have you not stepped into the world of doing healthy things yet?  Are you doing healthy things?  Or are you a healthy person?