Exploring Being Fit and Flourishing in Midlife [Ep 2]

In this episode, we’ll be exploring the elements of being fit, not just physically, but emotionally and socially as well.  

Then, we’ll dive into the concept of human flourishing - what it is and why it’s beneficial.

If you have mid-life related health and well-being topics you'd like to hear covered or questions you'd like answered on the podcast, send them my way by connecting with me on Instagram @lisadupreecoaching or email me at lisa@lisadupreecoaching.com. 

Until the next episode, keep your mojo rising! 

Thanks for listening!

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Transcript

Hello everyone! This is the first official episode of  Midlife Mojo. I'm Lisa and today we'll be exploring the elements of being fit not just physically but emotionally and socially as well. Then we'll dive into the concept of human flourishing - what it is and why it's beneficial.  

When you think of being fit, what comes to mind? It probably has to do with the physical body, like how someone looks, how lean they are, being at a certain level of cardiovascular endurance or even not having health conditions, like not having high blood pressure or pre-diabetes or high cholesterol. This makes sense because the standard definition of fitness is “the condition of being physically fit and healthy” another broader definition of fitness is “the quality of being able to fulfill a particular role or task”. I particularly like this definition because it encompasses more than just our body and it really highlights being able to perform well overall. 

For today, we're going to be exploring being fit not only physically but mentally and socially as well because these are all important aspects of well-being. Let's start with the physical. There are a lot of ways to boost physical fitness, starting with aerobic activities  - things like brisk walking jogging, swimming, biking -  these are things that increase your breathing rate and heart rate, overall improving your cardiovascular fitness or your heart lung fitness. Resistance or strength training is another one. This type of training is really geared toward making your muscles stronger and protecting against muscle loss as we age. Some examples of resistance training are lifting weights or even using resistance bands. Balance and flexibility exercises are also important and often overlooked. These type of exercises can make it easier to walk on uneven surfaces. It can help prevent falls and it also helps you stay mobile and limber . To improve balance, exercises and activities like Tai Chi or something like standing and balancing on one leg can help. Yoga and regular stretching can also help increase flexibility and joint mobility. Other things to consider that impact our physical functioning include getting enough good quality sleep, cultivating eating patterns and a personal eating style that aligns with your overall health goals and managing stress effectively.  

Stress also ties in with the emotional aspect of being fit. Being emotionally fit encompasses being resilient, positive and focused. It means that you have the ability and the wherewithal to re-orient your mindset from something like anxious or angry to more constructive emotions and tasks. So having good emotional fitness means being able to cope with handling our emotions and our reactions to everyday situations. Ways to enhance emotional fitness that are grounded in science include the practice of mindfulness, embodying an optimistic mental attitude characterized by hope and confidence, cultivating gratitude and having meaningful connections. Building off of connection brings us to the social aspect.  

Being socially fit is the degree to which someone can access, build and optimize relationships and interactions with others. The connections that you build with family members, friends, colleagues and those in your community are key to your overall health and your ability to perform and be at your best. Key components of social fitness include the ability to form nurturing and supportive relationships with others, family and community engagement as well as cultivating genuine connections with those around you. Forming relationships with others is important not only to get through difficult times but also it's important to be able to share in the celebration of the good times. It's important to note that all of these aspects of being fit – physical, social and emotional - don't exist separately. They are connected and they feed off or into each other, both positively and negatively. Positive changes in one dimension can positively affect others. An example of this would be starting a new exercise routine at a gym. After you've been exercising for a few weeks consistently, it's not unusual to notice that you may be able to deal with stressful situations a little better. You might not be as reactive. You've got a little bit more emotional regulation. You feel happier. It may be a sense of accomplishment at this point. In addition, if you are exercising at a gym, you may be meeting and interacting with more people who have the same kind of goals that you do and so this feeds into that social aspect. By taking action in the physical, it can have positive downstream effects on both the social and emotional aspects of well-being and fitness. 

Now we're going to move on to flourishing and talk about what really makes up human flourishing specifically. Before I started studying positive psychology and the concept of flourishing as it applies to health and well-being, when I heard the word “flourish” my brain immediately conjured up these images of vibrant, colorful plants happily growing and blooming. Maybe that had something to do with my experience trying to keep any houseplant alive for more than a couple of weeks, which to this day is still a challenge for me. You know, I knew what the goal was for my plants - to flourish and grow - but it wasn't always easy to get there . This is similar to human flourishing. Flourishing as a psychological concept was developed by sociologist and psychologist Corey Keyes and Barbara Frederickson. According to Keyes, individuals described as flourishing have a combination of high levels of emotional, psychological and social well-being. Flourishing people tend to see their lives as having a purpose. They most often have a growth mindset, really seeking out growth and change. They have a sense of autonomy along with the belief that they can influence the paths that their lives take instead of just being along for the ride. Researchers Fredrickson and Losada have described flourishing as “living within an optimal range of human functioning” and they have included four concepts. Generativity, which is the concern for people other than yourself. This usually starts developing during middle age more predominantly and encompasses the need to nurture and guide younger people as well as contribute to the next generation. Other concepts are goodness, growth and resilience. 

Flourishing is related to the concept of eudaemonia. Eudaemonia is a Greek word meaning “a life of activity governed by reason”. The modern definition can typically be summed up as “happiness”. These days, when we try to articulate the purpose of our lives happiness is really the typical go-to. The pursuit of happiness is the ultimate rationale for our jobs, our chosen careers, our relationships and even our day-to-day habits and behaviors. However, having a strong focus on being happy means that we may avoid or at least seriously question situations, events, opportunities that present a lot of challenge and maybe even involve some suffering. The concept of human flourishing encourages us to trust that many of life's most worthwhile pursuits will at times be in conflict with ease and contentment. Things like exploring talents, building new professional skills, managing a household, raising kids, keeping your relationships going, starting a new business or even beginning a new exercise routine are not likely to leave us feeling delightful and grinning from ear to ear all the time. These things will be challenging in ways that can be exhausting.  They can poke at our insecurities and even provoke us and yet they are ultimately worth it so a person that is flourishing is living a good life. A life that's fulfilling with a sense of purpose. They have the ability to do what they want to do and be who they want to be. Flourishing has the ability to help our bodies thrive, get our emotional needs met and to trust and function well in society. Sounds good, right.   

How do we get there? The ability to flourish can be developed by, one, believing in ourselves and our abilities. This ties back into mindset, to knowing about your health. Two, what would it take for you, specifically, to be healthy and what does it mean for you? This relates back to the different ways to being fit. And three is identifying your motivation to achieve your goals that align specifically with your values. 

So let's recap. We started out today talking about elements of physical fitness, what it means to be emotionally fit and then elements of social fitness. Then we moved on to exploring the concept of flourishing and touched on some things to consider for how to flourish. And that brings us to the end of this episode. 

In the next episode, I’ll be talking about a process for honing in on your own personal vision for living life to the fullest so that you are fit and flourishing. If this episode has been helpful to you, I'd love to hear from you. If there's a topic you'd like to hear more about, send it my way.  

E-mail me at lisa@lisadupreecoaching.com or connect with me on Instagram at lisadupreecoaching. Thank you for listening. Bye for now.