The following is a metaphor I thought up & have since adopted wholly into my health & fitness journey. In fact, it sits at the heart of my long-term goals with The Coaching Collective. So, it’s only right that I share it with you all & take you on the journey to grow with me.
In my eyes, there are 4 key pillars of your health. Think of yourself as the roof on top of these pillars, each session ensuring that corner stays strong. A meditation or a walk in nature reinforces the mental wellbeing corner. A weights session or yoga class helps strengthen the physical fitness corner. Choosing Nando’s over Maccies or getting enough vitamin D is improves the nutrition corner. Sleeping an extra hour one night or making up for a late one with a nap keeps the sleep corner standing.
In its most simple terms, this represents the idea of all-round health, in all its forms (fitness, mental, nutritional, sleep etc.). I believe we all have a yet to be unlocked ability to combine them together, creating the HAPPIEST possibly version of ourselves.
Using this method, you can start to appreciate how all areas work in tandem to create a balanced, happier, healthier you. Some weeks you’ll put an extra few extras in some corners, some you won’t put any in. But the overall positive pattern is overwhelming when all areas are looked at together. You end up with a rock-solid roof, held by 4 unwavering pillars of health.
At first, the missing sleep after a big night out, or the poor nutrition from a couple of takeaways might send you off balance. It might make you feel terrible or leave your mental health pillar full of cracks.
Yet with experience, eventually missing one corner every so often won’t affect you as much, as with 20+ sessions of reinforcement accumulated on each pillar, one missing session won’t be enough to weaken your roof.
As you’ve gathered this is a balance tactic. You start doing too much physical fitness & you won’t have enough time for the other 3 pillars. You skip your nutritional goals for too long & suddenly that side might start to sink. Everything is linked, everything is important, & everything is in moderation. In an ideal world, we’d spread our effort evenly between the 4 pillars. But life doesn’t work like that & you’ll find yourself constantly finding cracks in each corner which need some attention to repair. Leave them too long & that area of your health may start to decline slightly.
My pillars will have much different needs to my parents. I’m in my twenties, meaning my physical fitness pillar is hardy & well built. However, my mental wellbeing pillar takes a little more work. Someone in their 50’s will be far more prone to cracks in their physical health pillar, but with recommendations of 7 hours per night, sleep may be of less importance to them than an 18-year-old requiring nearer to 9 hours per night. Take the time to become self-aware of what you need, then (with the help of this methodology) this seemingly impossible world of health becomes far easier to navigate.
But here’s the most important part… Extra sleep also reinforces the other pillars a little too. Just as good nutrition helps you sleep better & work out harder. I could go on, but you get the picture. It may help you, it may not, but either way it’s food for thought which goes to show us all that it’s not about being perfect. It’s about being aware of what you need to keep that roof level for years to come.
In the meantime, you can find more articles below to broaden your fitness, nutrition & wellbeing knowledge!
Elliot Hutchinson // 20.10.2024
© 2024 The Coaching Collective
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