Recalibrating

I grew up in a household where healthy eating was paramount.  My grandfather kept 1/3 of an acre in organic garden before organic gardening even had a name.  My grandmother was always into vitamins and supplements, but when my father had a health crisis when I was 10, she went into overdrive researching how to restore his health. There's been a lot of research on creating health in the last two decades, but not so much when I was a kid. Unfortunately, no amount of healthy eating was going to undo a cigarette-smoking habit that started at 7 and persisted through countless health crises before claiming my father's life.

Along the way, however, Grandma infected me with the understanding that we can be in control of our health outcomes.  Since I was 10, I've been aware that what I ate made a difference.  Not unlike many young adults, I didn't always eat the way I should, but I knew the difference.  By the time I was 25, my failure to eat the way I knew I should resulted in me packing an unnecessary 15 pounds. I was pre-diabetic.

A doctor sat me down and had a long talk with me about my intentions.  He made it very clear that if I kept my weight in the normal- to slightly-below normal range, I would probably never develop diabetes.  But, with that formidable disease on both sides of my family, he said, I was almost destined to develop it if I continued to carry that extra weight.  That may have been my first real conversation with anyone about my intentions and the impact of making choices in alignment with them. To this day, whenever I put on a few pounds, I hear his words and take them off.

Back then we weren't talking about exercise so much, but my grandparents were farm people and moved a lot.  Granddad covered miles hunting and fishing, and lamented at 94 that he couldn't jump creeks like he used to. (Really!  We had that conversation.) They were very active.  Three of my four grandparents lived into their 90s.  My maternal grandfather/organic gardener died just short of 100. My paternal great-grandmother lived to 106.  My parents, who didn't make healthy lifestyle choice, both died in their 60s.

During my Midwestern trip last fall, I visited with two aunts--87 and 89--and the mother of a friend who is 94.  All are in amazing shape and truly inspirations.  Healthy lifestyle choices really make a difference.  But that is no surprise to me.

I've been coaching for 25 years, and a number of my Intentional Living Intensive executive and professional clients were totally inflexible and had trouble taking the long walks that were part of the three-day process. I asked clients to stop caffeine and alcohol a week before they came, but a few didn't think that was important.  Several went into serious withdrawal from caffeine; one complained of headaches for the first two days. Most of my clients were around 50, and I'd seen first hand the impact of their choices. About 20 years ago, before it even had a name, I declared that my encore career would be as a health and mobility coaching for older adults, many of whom lose their ability to move because they don't.

It is not uncommon for coaches to have a number of topic-specific credentials.  I have a dozen or so, among them social and emotional intelligence, influence styles, human-centered design, and 360 feedback for government executives.  As I have contemplated this season of reassessment, I've made a list of things to explore--seriously explore, not just think about.  Among them was health and wellness coaching.

Tomorrow I start a four-month program to get my certificate as a health coach for adults and seniors, euphemistically called "prime time coaching."  I spent several hours today doing readings and viewing background videos online.  This material feels like "home" to me.  I guess it should, I've been thinking about it for most of my life.

While most people who know me think I look and certainly act much younger than my years, and I have really made healthy eating  a major intention in my life, I have rounded the corners.  (Geez, that sweet tooth gets me every time.)  Nothing in this material has been anything I haven't known for decades, but having it presented in an organized fashion, I was reminded I could do better.

Since the New Year, I have kept my commitment for at least 15 minutes of exercise a day and most days worked up a minor sweat.  In fact, once I got moving most days I've gone at least 25 minutes and was up to 47 once. This evening I visited the gym in my building.  (With a gym at work and one in my apartment building, I really have had no excuse for not exercising.)  I've lived here for over three years, and I think this was the second visit. Not like running 7 miles a day and lifting weights three times a week, but developing, or redeveloping, a habit.  Baby steps.

Most important, between getting my exercise groove back and focusing on health issues, I have been recalibrating around my intentions to create a healthy life. No earthquakes here.  Just consciously pulling myself from good to better.

At the same time, I believe that my sorting project is spiritual recalibration.  Not unlike my physical recalibration, I think I've done pretty well in staying the course with my spiritual intentions, but I could do better.  Focusing my attention on my intentions will help me be very clear about what I am creating in my life and in the world.  The reason that started the process a month ago now seems less important than that I am doing a body, mind, and spirit recalibration, and that has got to be a good thing.