Being home from college for summer break is a much needed oasis. A break from textbooks, dorm-life, food that is barely edible, and the constant stream of homework. However, despite the much needed break, we also need to keep ourselves up.
I have resolved to really get healthy this summer. I need to take care of the body that God has given me, and I would really like to look better too!
In the three years I've been at college, I have gained thirty pounds, and if I don't watch out, the scale will keep ticking. I stress-eat, as well as eat out of boredom, and it is always very greasy, unhealthy things.
Therefore, I have started out my summer with a fun, yet rewarding exercise plan.
Everyday (and I shoot for the morning), I have started playing Just Dance 3. I use the "just sweat" mode, and I started with the medium setting. This setting tracks your sweat points and keeps you going until you have reached the equivalent of running for thirty minutes that day. It is a seven day plan, and your goal is to reach 7,000 points for the week (1,000 per day).
I feel so much better all day when I stick with this, and I am so glad I am getting an adequate amount of exercise, but this is not all that is required for health. Health includes every part of you: body (which is taken care of by exercise AND eating right), soul (which deals with the spiritual part of us, and since I am a Christian, this includes reading my Bible, trusting God, praying, and obeying God) and mind (which requires right thinking and not letting yourself dwell on negative thoughts).
To address the spiritual, and to help my soul become more healthy, I have started reading Joyce Meyers' The Battlefield of the Mind. This book is about how Satan will take our mind and twist it to believe lies, that keep us from being as close to God as we could be, and keep us from fully fulfilling the purpose that God has for us. I chose this book primarily because my mom wanted me to dive in and apply the advice found within, since she knows that Satan getting into my mind is a struggle for me. I am only on chapter two right now, but I trust my mom and her judgement, and she believes that this book will really help. I am also trying to get better at daily study of God's word. This is something that I use to do well with, but have really struggled to keep up since I started college.
Spiritually, I would suggest that you find a book that addresses whatever issue you struggle with the most and read it this summer, along with the Bible and ask God to help you and draw you closer to Him. I feel that for all of us, it will make a world of difference.
I will add more about having a healthy mind later, as this is an crucial step, but we must be determined spiritually first, in order to be determined to have right thinking.
So, I invite you to join me on my journey toward health this summer: for body, soul, and mind. Hopefully, we will all find a way to draw closer to God and be healthier that will continue long past this summer.
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