Let the physical and emotional trials brought on by COVID-19 prompt you to rediscover soulful healthy living so that you can serve God and others from a place of spiritual and physical wholeness.
Maybe you haven’t been personally afflicted by the C-virus. Even so, the pandemic altered our lives in many ways.
In many ways, you probably feel alone in facing the struggle to transform your health. You are trying to harness the strength to overcome health obstacles during a global crisis.
Use the time spent sheltering-in-place for reflection about soulful health and wellness.
I’ve listened to your struggles, and in response, here are five action steps to move forward.
Lay foundation for soulful healthy living
Before COVID-19, you knew that you needed to redirect your food choices to avoid chronic illnesses. Then, once the pandemic circled the globe and wreaked havoc in your part of the world, healthy eating became an unexpected priority.
Healthy eating, exercise, and rest, all support immunity. In the past, you counted on the quickest way to try and lose weight and regain your health.
How often have you invested in programs that promise an easy way to weight loss or healthy eating? The weight reduction industry and diet gurus convince us that they have the key to lasting personal change.
God holds the only key to change.
Instead, we embrace the delusion that a monthly order of flavored powder will halt excessive eating, break bad eating habits, and alter poor food choices.
Each month the order arrives, and every day you swallow the pills and drink the shakes, but eventually, disappointment descends when you step on the scale or get your blood pressure checked.
For now, pack up the products from your monthly order and navigate a journey of change with a soulful mindset.
The COVID-19 wake-up call not only prompts you to develop a healthy lifestyle, not just to avoid getting sick, but it evokes a response of custodianship.
Entrusted by God, we are the custodians of our bodies.
Set Priorities
The virus hit us like a rogue wave, inherently unpredictable and inflicting damage.
The aftermath of a catastrophic event like a pandemic propels us to examine our priorities—a wise and reasonable thing to do.
Before you employ new strategies, programs, and techniques, take the time to reflect on your values and visions. It will help you reframe and manage your priorities.
Stewardship of Your Body and Food
Eating and the provision of food are both gifts from God. Therefore, exercise both in ways that please him.
The ripple in food supply during COVID-19 compels us to assess how we are doing in the area of being good stewards of our bodies.
Writer Rachel Marie Stone suggests that “purchasing and preparing fresh foods from the best possible sources available to you, you can allow the food that graces your plate and nourishes your body to speak more clearly of the sustaining hand of God.”
Soulful health-promoting priorities empower you to serve others from a place of physical wholeness.
Sustainable Living
The pandemic reinforced value in skills like cooking, baking, and gardening.
Ben Sciacca, director of leadership development at Desire Street Ministries, says, “we’ve been allowed to live with scarcity. We can look into our cupboards and refrigerators with greater scrutiny and better steward our food. Grocery runs entail risk, so they’re happening less frequently.”
With a continued ripple in the food supply chain, we have to roll up our sleeves and find ways to either grow our gardens or support local farmers.
Slowing Down
Recently, I spoke with two coaching clients, both of whom have chronic illnesses, told me that they started cooking healthy meals during the sheltering-at-home phase.
Being at home without the lure of outside activities and distractions prompted them to dive into meal planning and food preparations.
After months of doing this, they not only realize the benefits of healthy eating, but cooking and meal planning also need to be part of their weekly rhythm.
Restore soulful healthy living during COVID-19
You can turn the obstacle of a pandemic into an opportunity to transform your health. Establishing a lifestyle of soulful healthy living means more than just losing weight and exercising.
It’s a response to the desire for change in your health as a worshipful act to God.
Start Now
If you want to rediscover health living but aren’t sure how to take the next right step, then join my 7-Day Healthy Eating Challenge. Simply sign up, and you will receive a free workbook and seven daily emails that guide and move you forward on your journey.
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