LIFESTYLE: Choosing a Healthy Lifestyle For Your Family
LIFESTYLE refers to a concept used by many psychologists to explain human behavior. Lifestyle is an attitude, behaviors, beliefs, and orientations, of an individual, a group, or society. The word was first introduced by Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler in his famous article, The Case of Miss R. The concept has since then been adopted by more advanced psychological theories.
The word “lifetime” first appears in a slightly different form. According to this view, it is a concept that is life-long, implying that attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and life-styles are eternal. This perspective is closely related to that of continuity theory, which suggests that there is no such thing as a fixed or unalterable self, but only a flux of attitudes and behaviors within a constantly changing environment. The two perspectives may seem to contradict each other, but they actually serve to enrich each other.
The difference between continuity theory and LIFESTYLE is that while the former believes that everyone has a fixed personality, the latter attributes the attitude and behaviors of the individual to a specific life-style and follows it throughout a lifetime. For instance, Adler claims that people’s attitudes and behaviors are characterized by their “flight or fight” response to danger. This means that while some people may be willing to take risks to gain an advantage and others may be willing to accept a certain level of risk to be able to pursue a goal, the first is more often the one adopted as a life-style. Some might argue that this is not really a choice at all, but rather a habit. After all, wouldn’t you have to be willing to lose weight, or to start running every time you get out of bed in order to live a habit?
To illustrate what I’m getting at, consider this: There are a million ways to shape your life – your values, your goals, your attitudes, your relationships, your spending habits, your finances, your health and fitness, and so on. The LIFESTYLE concept suggests that by adopting just one of these lifestyle patterns, you will be able to create a truly healthy and happy life. In fact, you’ll be able to design your own perfect LIFESTYLE experience! You can choose to follow the advice of your personal coaches, design your own customized lifestyle plan, work with a professional coach to develop a tailored plan that suits your needs and goals, follow the activities and advice of the support network, or work on your own self-help strategies to achieve balance between all of these aspects of your life.
All of these strategies allow you to adopt and implement the right LIFESTYLE style and approach. In fact, the key element of LIFESTYLE is to change attitudes about health and fitness. By adopting a more active lifestyle and promoting a healthy, balance diet and exercise routine, you can begin to address your overall LIFESTYLE goals. By creating a healthier mindset, you are not only more aware of how your body functions, but also have a unique opportunity to make positive changes that will benefit you and your family now and for years to come. As you start to change your attitude about being physically fit, you will also notice a change in your health problems as well as your behavior and the quality of your relationships.
The next step to create a healthier and happier LIFESTYLE is to create a plan and LIFESTYLE activity to get you on your way. This may include a course at a local community college, an active lifestyle class, a fitness workout, a singing lesson, an art class, cooking lessons, a pilates class, a Tai Chi group or other types of specialized exercise classes. You may want to consider joining a registered organization such as the American College of Sports Medicine or the American Council on Exercise. These groups have specific programs designed for people who are looking to improve their LIFESTYLE behaviors and lifestyles. If you do not yet know what you would like to do to start a healthier lifestyle, try a few of these suggestions to see if you might find something that works for you.
