Prioritising Health - Rebecca Conlin

I have come from a very stressful job in a secondary school, where my role was looking after a particularly naughty year group and often dealing with less than supportive parents/carers. I was also leading an expedition to Borneo for some students who had to raise over £3500, which I was only given an hour a week to do. I did not receive very much support from colleagues; in fact it verged on bullying.

On top of this I was studying a full time distance learning degree in Psychology which took up most of my spare time. If that’s not enough I was also training most nights and competing for Eastwood Amateur Boxing Club… it doesn’t even end here! My partner was also serving in Afghanistan on the front line. As you can imagine I was very busy, and there is only so long you can go without it catching up with you.

About 10 months ago I had a mini melt-down and had to reconsider my life and put things into perspective. I had to prioritise what was important. Firstly, my health. Without health, you cannot enjoy anything else in life. I’m not just talking about physical health, but all round mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. After a lot of soul-searching I made the decision to quit my job, quit my degree, quit boxing competitively and focus on what really matters and guess what? I’m happier, healthier and fitter than ever.

So my point is: drop the excuses. I don’t care if your job is stressful. I don’t care about your family commitments. I don’t care about any other personal problems that you're using as an excuse NOT to prioritise health and fitness. That might sound harsh but without the latter you have none of the former! I’m not saying quit everything and hope for the best. I'm not saying to ignore your family and friends commitments. I’m saying act now and don’t let the hustle and bustle of everyday life grind you down, eventually putting you in the position that I ended up in.

If you want to put your health and fitness first then please contact Real World Fitness and together we will put a plan together that addresses your personal commitments and advise you on how you CAN do it. Sometimes failure just isn’t an option.