Bored With Healthy Habits?

I am a health writer, but I am not a health freak. Don't get me wrong -- I absolutely love people who take their health seriously and do whatever it takes to look good and feel great. But having a healthy lifestyle does not mean that I don't live my life. When I go out I intend to have a good time. When my birthday comes around, I am dug into that chocolate cake deeper than a tick.

"Everything in moderation" is what my momma taught me, and even if it IS cliché, it is true. It is our habits that define who we are. The occasional vitamin C acid tablet doesn't mean someone is a health freak, or is even taking their well-being even somewhat seriously. Likewise, the odd beer or bag of buttery-golden popcorn does not make me a junk-food-junkie-junk-junk.

When living a healthy lifestyle, balance is key. Time and time again, when I have been far too strict on myself, verging on 100% raw food veganism, some stressful situation will come along and BAM! I fold like origami. I see this happen in my clients and in my friends as well.

Health is not about strict rules, diets, regimes and laws. It should be a natural expression of loving yourself, caring about how you feel and wanting to give yourself something wonderful. It shouldn't feel HARD. If you aren't enjoying it, then you aren't doing it right.

When things are looking too dull, do something different. Mix it up. Change something. Change yourself. Eat a breakfast filled with fresh, delicious berries. Add nasturtium petals and daisies to your salad -- they're edible and good for you! And most importantly, don't feel bad for enjoying your wine or having the odd ice cream. The worst thing to have with your meal is anxiety.

Creativity, Reading, and Eye-Strain

Well, now I've done it.
I've got eye-strain and it hurts like hell. Every time I so much as blink, it feels as though I've been lifting weights with my eyelids at the gym, and I forgot to do stretches afterwards. For me eye-strain is probably one of the top health hazards of being a writer. Normally it isn't an issue, but during weeks like this one -- late nights reading and editing articles, working 10 hour days at the computer, and spending my entire day off reading "The Painted Boy" by Charles De Lint -- usually leads to me walking up looking like I've had a stroke or something.

What's the cure? Well, usually time. Plus some eye exercises and lots of breaks away from the computer. Going for walks and focusing on trees and buildings in the distance usually helps. Also, taking a break from reading novels often does the trick, too.

It's painful to stop reading though, isn't it? -- especially when you are currently enthralled in the characters, the world, the language of a particularly good book. Julia Cameron, author of "The Artist's Way", actually recommends that writers and artists take time away from reading books. It's part of the process of breaking through creative blocks and unleashing potential. Television, books, news, articles, friends -- we are always TAKING IN information and ideas.

According to Julia Cameron,  we should stop stuffing our heads full of 'stuff' for at least a week, and get quiet and real to the voices, the fluxes, the ebbs of our inner selves. That is where our creativity is. That is where our art comes from. From the well inside of our hearts -- and if we plunge into it -- like the protagonist in the Grimm's fairy-tale "Mother Holle" -- we find another world, entirely different to the one we live in everyday, with its own magic, hardship and journeying.

Perhaps my body is telling me something.