The Holistic Lifestyle

For sometime I've been interested in leading a more holistic lifestyle. By holistic I mean the yoga loving, meditating, natural remedying, healthy eating type lifestyle that is the subject of so many instagram accounts across the planet. It's not a new fad for me, having studied Aromatherapy about 8 years ago, and dipped my foot in a whole load of other subjects in between, it's something I have a longstanding interest in.

Of course, this lifestyle isn't a one dimensional thing, it incorporates everything from exercise to spirituality. From respecting yourself, to respecting the planet you live in. If anything though, I find the internet a bit of a disheartening place on this topic. Healthy lifestyle bloggers have a tendency to portray a life filled with sunrise yoga sessions, lazy tofu lunches and bohemian nights around beach bonfires. A life without offices, public transport commutes or cares in the world. Great if you can get it. If you can make a living from blogging, bag yourself a lucrative book deal or creatively generate the income you need to pursue the idealistic life, then more power to you.

For many of us, however, we do the daily 9-5 (I even enjoy it) we pay mortgages and have to deal with days when simply getting out of bed in time for the train is an effort and morning yoga sessions are no more than aspiration.

That doesn't mean that we aren't living 'authentically' or being 'mindful' in our every day lives, it just means that we have other priorities too. Granted, when those other priorities take precedence, as they often do, all of your holistic good intentions go out of the window. It doesn't mean they completely fall by the wayside though.

I intend to pursue a healthier, holistic lifestyle. To be more in tune with my body, mind and the world around me, but guess what? I'm not going to give up on my career, my home or my responsibilities to do so. I believe that one doesn't have to be exclusive of the other, that I can be both bohemian and corporate. I dont't care if people think that's a contradiction, I am being true to myself because I am multi-faceted and to deny one aspect of my personality would be to stagnate my continuous development and life experience. To restrict my potential. So, while its lovely to see those sunrise yoga sessions, and I certainly don't rule them out, they aren't an essential ingredient to a healthy, natural, authentic lifestyle. Not being able to dedicate yourself 100% should not prevent you from dedicating at all.