Healthy Writing

As writers, we spend many hours behind a desk at our computer sitting on our backsides. The only thing that gets a workout is our brain and our fingers...and a foot if you're like me and tap your toe along with the music playing in the background. *grin*

We often forget that the health of our body determines the quality of our writing as much as the knowledge and imagination in our minds. When thinking of a fit and healthy body, we often think of our physical appearance. All of us would love to have a nice figure, but don't deem it important enough to take time away from our writing to get to the gym. We tell ourselves that what we look like doesn't matter as much as the quality of our writing. But what most of us forget is that health and fitness is more than the way we look and has much to do with good quality writing.

Besides making our joints, muscles, and bones feel healthier, a healthy body promotes a healthy mind. This means that we are better at dealing with stress, our self-esteem is higher, and we are more positive about life in general. This also means that we are more focused on our writing, not letting rejection or a million revisions deter us from finishing that long manuscript and living our dreams of being a writer.



Put in perspective, we can see that living a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and healthy eating is extremely important to our writing career. We wouldn't fail to go back through our finished manuscript for grammatical errors, so why would we ignore our health and risk letting an unhealthy mind affect our writing?

Some of the most common objections to considering a healthy lifestyle are: I don't have the money for a gym membership. Healthy food is expensive. I'm too busy.

We don't have to spend a ton of money on a gym membership or the next popular eating program. Our healthy lifestyle can be as simple as a walk around our neighborhood and smaller portions at meal time. We have plenty of time if we think about it. If we set aside one of those TV shows or some of the time we waste on social media, we'll find that 10 to 20 minutes for a walk isn't that hard to find. Start with baby steps. Make it a lifestyle change rather than thinking of it as temporary. You'll find that you can keep at it if your goals each day are realistic.

I am a goal person. I need something to work toward to go along with making exercise a part of my routine, so I've decided to attempt my 2nd 5K race in a few months. I did pretty good with the last one and it kept the running from becoming boring. If you're like me and want to add in something you can work toward, I would challenge you to look up local 5K's in your area. You'll be helping yourself find a healthier lifestyle and contributing to a worthy cause(in most cases) at the same time. You can't go wrong!

What are you doing to keep yourself healthy? I would love to hear any new or creative ways that my fellow writers are using to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Comments

  1. Hehe, timely post! I've been dealing with these thoughts a lot lately, because I've actually been sitting down more since starting my part-time job. Time to start moving more at home!

    I'm *cough* actually putting together a super-top-secret-project right now that I'm going to debut on my blog in June dealing with this subject, so keep an eye out :). I'll be revealing it sometime in the next couple weeks :D

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    1. I look forward to reading this top secret project! Today is as good a time as any to switch from thinking of to actively living that healthier lifestyle! You can do it, lady!!!

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  2. I just do the usual working out and watching what I eat, although since moving back to America recently I am all over the good American food, haha. When Ilived in Japan I walked everywhere but didn't eat much, and when I did eat it was usually jumk food since I can't stomach Japanese food (literally. buh bai food.) Back in America I don't work out as much because we drive everywhere but I tend to eat a little healthier and more balanced. (Having an actual STOVE helps, holy crap.) I don't worry about the way I look so much as how I feel and if I'm taking care of my heart.

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  3. What? You mean blog-hopping doesn't count as exercise??? Just kidding. Of course, you're right, but I must admit, all I've done so far is "think about exercising." Not good, huh?

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    1. You can do it!!! Don't let procrastination win!

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  4. What 5K are you doing? I'm in the Hot Mama's Run in Edmond.

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    1. I had wanted to do one in October...since the Hot Mama 5K is at end of Septemer, I decided to go along with that one. So I'll see you there!!!

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  5. great post. how can we experience life to write about it if we're spending all day at the computer? Keeping our body healthy keeps creativity flowing.

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Thank you for reading and commenting on my blog!
~Sabrina

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