Welcome to the Simple Steps to Improved Health Challenge Day 1 Take Up a New Hobby.
What is this challenge?
Mostly I wanted you all to get improved health over the summer in a simple way that didn’t take a lot of time. I will be posting each challenge post on my normal Monday, Friday, every other Wednesday schedule throughout June and July.
There are 21 possible actions to this challenge and I know because these are simple steps that some of you may already have a couple of these down.
How the Challenge Works
The challenge to you is to take the listed 2 or 3 challenge items for the week and choose the one you 1. Need to improve the most or 2. Something you are good at and want to get stronger. There is always the third option to just do whichever you want.
There are two philosophies here for your decision. The first is to take the action you need the most improvement in and the second is to work hard at the thing you are good at to get the most out of your time. Either way, choose one and make it your focus for the week.
Why Do These Simple Challenge Steps
You might say, “Michelle these are all simple basic things I’ve been told over and over again to do to get healthier.” And you would be right. There is nothing eye-opening in this challenge.
My question is, “If the things are so simple and basic, why are you not doing them?”
Really that has to do with habit. These are all things you can do and improve on and the reason you may not be doing them is that you haven’t made them a habit. A habit is formed by consistent action towards something day after day.
Can you create a habit from one of these challenge items in the 5 to 7 days you do the item?
Probably not, many resources say 21 days to make something a habit. It is up to you and your bio-individuality as to how long it takes for something to become a habit for you. But 5 to 7 days is a good start and also a good amount of time to decide if it is even a habit you want in your life.
Here is another post about habits and your health.
So let’s get started with Challenge Day 1
Take Up a New Hobby!
How Does Taking up a New Hobby Improve Health
This is important for brain health and it’s fun. They used to believe that after adolescence you had all your brain cells and didn’t grow any more brain cells. But recent evidence suggests that one of the ways to grow more brain cells is by doing things you haven’t done before.
If you make new pathways for how to do something then if something happens to a typical pathway in your brain for that action then the alternate one is there and you can have minimal impact to your abilities to recover the activity. If you would like to know more about this then check out the book Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta, MD.
How to Take Action
I know often as moms we don’t take time for ourselves and may not even have any ideas for what to learn as a new hobby. That’s ok. There are so many things out there to try.
Is there a sport you might like to learn? How about a musical instrument? If you don’t normally do crafts, maybe try some yarn or needlework, card making, calligraphy. Did you think you could never be an artist but it sounds intriguing? Learn to draw or paint or sculpt. Do a search for hobbies and see what pops up.
The next thing you could do is do something you already do but do it differently.
This can be as simple as driving a different route to work. Maybe you make a recipe in a different way or with a new ingredient. Read a book on a new subject. Take a new path for your jog or walk. Go to a new restaurant that serves food you have never had before.
Go Do It – Take Up a New Hobby
There is no failure with this action. The purpose is to get your brain to do something new so you can’t fail at it unless you don’t try.
Even then if you thought about doing something new and maybe researched or thought of ideas about doing something new then you expanded your brain.
Choose to take a step towards better health.
(Reminder I am not a medical professional, check with your medical provider before making changes to your diet or exercise. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.)
19 Responses