While running the other day I had a big aha moment. Good health can’t be attributed to one sole aspect of our lives. To truly be healthy you must have balance in your body, your soul and your mind. 

This realization was like working a puzzle and all the sudden the pieces start coming together. While I had considered the importance of taking care of each of these areas before, now I was  seeing the bigger picture with clarity! 

A Healthy Body = A Healthy Runner

I used to be convinced that if you wanted to be healthy, the most important thing you could do was to exercise. Exercise would prevent weight gain and maintaining a healthy weight equated to good health. I believed that exercise gave me permission to eat whatever wanted to eat and exercise would erase the negative effects of whatever I was putting in my mouth. 

However, I learned the hard way that diet was just as important to good health as exercise. (You can read more about that here.) I worked to clean up my diet. I learned that as a runner, low fat diets, processed foods  and not eating enough vegetables were keeping my body from optimal performance and hindering recovery from hard workouts and races. Getting the right nutrition from diets and supplements made a drastic improvement in my health and my running. (You can check out my supplement recommendations here.)

Nurturing the Soul

It was during this time that I also begin to see the role my spiritual life played into my health.  Making healthy food choices didn’t have to be an issue of will power. I have given my life to Christ, there for I have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside me. (Romans 8:11) With this power I can overcome and do anything. (Philippine 4:13). My relationship with Christ really grew and I leaned on him more and more. I began to understand that if my body was the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) then I should treat it with the same respect I would treat a church building. 

Empowering Your Mind

Running has helped me keep my life long struggle with fear and anxiety in check. However, once I was unable to run, I began to feel out of control. I was diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis (again!) and I had a nagging piriformis injury that refused to heal. Eventually I sought professional help. With counseling I began to feel the life return to my body. I was able to take control of my diet and eat to fuel my body. I was able to start running again. I had a new found motivation and a desire to crawl out from under my rock and to really live. My counselor helped me understand that fear, anger, depression and sadness were all contributing to my poor physical health. 

This brings me back to my aha moment while running the other day. Running alone won’t make you healthy nor will a great diet. Yet they are important components of good health. You still need to nurture your soul and your spirit. You also must guard your mind. The way you treat yourself (think you’re inner critic) and how you allow others to treat you are important to your overall health and well being.

My friend, to achieve good health, you need a healthy body, soul and mind. Running can and will play a part in your journey to good health, but you should also seek and make healthy choices in all these areas. Seeking professional help for my fear and anxiety is one of the best decisions I have made. Let me encourage you, if you are struggling in any of these areas, please seek help.

My hope and prayer is that this post has blessed you or finds its way to someone who needs this message. If it has been a blessing to you, please leave me a comment below.