How to maintain a healthy lifestyle when living alone

I’m a therapist in Charleston, SC, advocating for a healthy and balanced lifestyle. 

How does someone create accountability for themselves when they live alone and do not receive support from friends and family or pressure from a parent or partner? 

• Find a fitness community – There are so many fitness options out there. Find one that fits your interests and fitness level, whether you find one locally or online, or create your own, such as a neighborhood walking or running club, local gym, online spin or exercise class, yoga at the park, etc. 
• Feed the mind – Moving your body is important but what about the mind. Don’t forget to feed it. It needs to be stimulated so feed it new information. Promote growth and creativity with new ideas that encourage a healthy mind and mind such as self-care, self-reflection, mindfulness, learning to how to better communicate your needs, eliminating inflammation with food, or alleviating body pain with stretching and other movements. Podcasts, books, documentaries, and TED talks are excellent sources.
• Surround yourself by people who will challenge you – Growth and change cannot happen when you are surrounded by people who don’t like to step outside of their comfort zone. 
• Focus on one thing a time – It’s so easy to get caught up in so many things. You don’t want to be exhausted and never complete anything. Try focusing on one thing at a time and work on building realistic goals for yourself. For example, instead of eliminating everything that’s “unhealthy” from your refrigerator, start with eliminating one of those things, and gradually eliminate one more “unhealthy thing”. On the flip side, you could work on adding one “healthy thing” to your daily regime and gradually add another “healthy thing”.
• Become your own coach – So often we get lost in our own negative self talk. How little that does for our mental health. Instead, work on developing a that third person voice in your head that acts like the your personal coach. This voice is programmed to build you up and encourage you with phrases like: “Let’s go!”, “You got this.”, “I’m proud of you!”, “You are strong.”, “I knew you could do it!”, and “Let’s do this!”.  Just watch and see how much more positive and resilient you become once you realize how much you can accomplish. 

I hope you find these helpful. I’m happy to elaborate on these tips and include more if needed.