How Your Family Can Maintain Their Health in 2021

*Collaborative Post

Everyone is looking for ways to bounce back from 2020. It was a year we want to put behind us as quickly as possible. But that is a little challenging since most of what made 2020 so tough is still around. If COVID kept you and your family from living your best lives last year, you are in for a rude awakening. COVID is still here, and will continue to be here for a while. That means we have to stop making excuses and start making a plan to overcome the challenges.

The first part of the plan is to see what has to be done. The wild success of the video game industry tells you that your kids are probably spending too much time in unhealthy pursuits. The amount of money computer and smartphone companies made lets you know that your family is probably putting in way too much screen time.

You can’t just toss out the computers. And chucking the video games is probably a bad idea as well. So rather than focusing on the failures, it’s time to focus on the path forward. It starts here:

All the Health Things

You already know you should pick up the celery and put down the doughnuts. You already know to grab the yoga mat and not the game controller. These things are neither new nor interesting. So rather than launch into a sermon about less screen time, how about using that screen for the good. Load up your smartphone with the best apps to build better habits. Stop fighting the technology you love and make it an ally in your quest to improve family wellness.

Reducing Vices

Not every vice will bring you to ruin as fast as others. But they still have detrimental consequences. Just think about the vices you have being picked up by your children, or your neighbor’s children. At some point, we have to stop treating intoxicants as if they were cool. If that is the definition of cool, then studies you really don’t want to be cool. Help your family find higher values than popularity.

Practice Mindfulness

This is not about meditation. But a bit of meditation couldn’t hurt. It is about being completely mindful of the world and your place in it at any given time. The universe doesn’t owe you anything. But it also manages to keep you alive. That is something to be thankful for. Spread that gratitude to others. Be mindfully aware of the origins of all the good things that happen in your life. Be aware of the people who played a part in making you who you are. Then thank them. Be mindfully aware of the offenses you have inadvertently caused others, and apologize. Healthy relationships start with self-awareness.

Self Possession

When you have substance use disorder, you do not control yourself. You have given over control to a substance. You no longer possess yourself. The first step to retaking possession of yourself is finding a trusted addiction treatment. You have to do for yourself, that which you would insist on doing for any other member of your family: Find help. You would also ask them to trust you, as you have to trust those who are trying to help you. They love you. And you have to learn to love yourself one day at a time.Take the first step and trust the process for the rest.

Create Positivity

There are a thousand little ways you can create positivity by feeling your best everyday. Drinking more water than sugary drinks are a good start. Get up early and ready for the day by doing what it takes to get a good night’s sleep. A full night’s rest is not something that happens by accident. You have to work at it. You also have to work at building a wall of positivity around you with the people you have in your inner-circle. Turn your wall of positivity into a fortress. Doing that, you will be ready for anything.

Though it might not seem like it, 2021 is a new year full of new possibilities. Just make sure the new year includes healthy diet options, reducing vices, mindfulness, avoiding substances and a fortress of positivity. A happier and healthier family starts with a happier and healthier you.