Hell Yes Health: Adding Life to Your Years, Not Just Years to Your Life

In this episode of Hell Yes Habits, Elyse Bushard discusses the importance of creating habits that enhance life rather than just prolong it. She emphasizes the need to break free from societal pressures and health trends that can lead to confusion and frustration. Elyse encourages listeners to explore their own preferences and needs when it comes to health and wellness, advocating for a personalized approach that prioritizes joy and fulfillment. The conversation covers topics such as bio-individuality, the pressure of health trends, and practical tips for experimenting with new habits.

Takeaways

• If any part of this podcast gave you a hell yes moment, I would love to hear from you.
• It's about breaking out of autopilot and showing up for yourself.
• Your health is yours; what works for someone else may not work for you.
• You won't know unless you try things.
• There is no such thing as perfect in health and wellness.
• Every person's body is unique and responds differently.
• If something feels like torture, it's not your thing.
• Get curious about your habits and approach them as experiments.
• The habits you build should feel good and enhance your life.
• True health is about feeling good inside and out, not about restriction.

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#HellYesHabits #Habits #Health #Wellness #Individuality #Fitness

Transcript

Elyse Bushard (00:06)
welcome to Hell Yes Habits. I'm Elyse, a marketing professional by day and your go-to coach for building the habits that create a life you can't wait to wake up to. I'm so glad you're here. This podcast is all about ditching the just fine mindset and making room for the magic in your everyday life. And let me tell you, this isn't just a podcast. It's the start of a movement, a Hell Yes Habits movement.

It's about breaking out of autopilot, showing up for yourself in ways that matter, and creating small but powerful habits that lead to a big, bold, hell yes kind of life. Each week, we'll have real, honest conversations about juggling all the things, career, relationships, family, and those moments when you just need you time. I'll share actionable tips, lessons from my own journey,

and inspiration to help you stop settling and start thriving, baby. You in?, let's do this.

Elyse Bushard (01:15)
Hello, hello, welcome back to Hully-S Habits. Today, well first of all, let me do what I always do and paint the picture. I'm sitting in my room, you know, like always. I just did a workout and I did more dancing than working out, honestly, because I needed the mood boost. And who knew? I should just follow my own instructions, right? And listen to my body.

that needs joy this week. I have been in a rut, if I'm honest. I have been... Like, it is the week of my period, but there's something going on and I've gotta figure out how to do more things that I love this week. And it's already Thursday and again, I'm recording this ahead of time. Go figure.

even though I actually don't have to, but I'm starting to get in the habit of doing it at least the day before. And it's helping me feel better and not rushed. But anyways, so that is what, it's after a workout, so it's not late at night, so we're gonna try this and see how it goes. But today, we're gonna be talking about something that I think gets.

lost in all the noise in the health and wellness space. if you have been following me on social media, you know for a while, I used to be partnered with a company called Beachbody, then it became Body. And now they kind of changed their model. so I no longer like I still actually use their workouts because I'm trying to figure out what I want to do there. But long story short, I

I mostly work out from home. I do like going to occasional workout classes, but I started forming a habit working out from home and it's where I felt comfortable and where I could form a habit because I do work from home 70 % of the time. These past two weeks, it's been

less than 50 percent, but my schedule just varies and so it's just easier to push play at home. But I digress. The inspiration for this episode actually came from my friend Katie Saltzman. If you don't follow her, also look up her podcast. called Crying Burns Calories. It's one of my favorite podcasts ever. It's a top health

and wellness podcast and she is just a gem of a human. But she made a reel and I actually shared it on my stories because this quote just spurred, like I was like, my gosh, what an amazing way to put it. And she didn't quote this. It's another quote from someone else. I don't actually know the source of the specific quote, but it's basically

around the premise of we hear all the time that taking care of our health is meant to add years to our life. But what about actually adding life to our years? And I say that because let's be honest, what's the point of living longer if you're not actually enjoying it? And this dichotomy of like all of these, all of this noise around us. So let's talk about that noise for a second because

my God, it is loud. It's loud on social media, it's loud on commercials. Everyone has an opinion about health and wellness and what you should and should not be doing. And one person swears by fasting, another says, eat six small meals a day is key. Coffee will help you live till 100, unless it's gonna kill you.

See, there's the opposite of that. Cardio is great, but also terrible. The pressure to get it right is exhausting. And honestly, it makes a lot of us just throw our hands up and give up and say, screw it. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

But here's actually the thing is your health is yours. It is your body, your mind, your everything. And what works for someone else doesn't mean it's gonna work for you. But the key to saying that is again, not screw this, I'm not gonna try it because it's not gonna work for me. The key is you won't know unless you try it.

Like if I didn't try at home workouts with body six years ago, I wouldn't have known if I would have liked it or not. And then six years later, I formed a habit that I loved. And I say loved because like I said, I'm in the process of figuring out what I do and don't love about at home workouts and kind of what's worth it for me. But.

The point is you won't know unless you try things. So just because it works for someone else doesn't mean it's gonna work for you, but you actually won't know unless you try the things. So today I'm just gonna break down how to cut through that damn noise that we all hear, experiment with what actually works for you, and build a lifestyle that makes you feel good without the guilt, the confusion, or the pressure just to be perfect.

PS, there is no such thing as perfect. So let's just talk about first the pressure we have to get this right. And I don't know about you, but I feel like every time I scroll, someone has a new secret, quote unquote, my hands are quoting in there and I'm rolling my eyes FYI, to health and wellness. And half the time,

It completely contradicts what I heard last week. It's like an endless loop of this will help you. No way this will kill you. And I also bring up, because when I was thinking about this episode, I also bring up the funny drug commercials that are like, I know they have to say like, this might kill you because of legal reasons, but it's ridiculous, right? It's like, like,

This is an example of that. You're watching a pill that's like, will kill your depression or it will help remedy your depression, not kill your depression, but it will help remedy your depression. And then it's like, but you may want to kill yourself. And in the like fine print and they say it out loud on the commercial. And I just laugh because I'm like, why would I want to take that pill? Or why would I want to inject myself with that? If there's a chance that that

happen that would be worse than where I'm at now you know like I know they legally have to say it but please tell me why they even like make commercials like that anyways I went off on a tangent there but it makes it so hard all of this noise to know what's actually worth paying attention to and when we feel overwhelmed like that

we do one of two things. We either try to do everything, which is impossible and exhausting and you will burn out, or we do nothing at all because we don't even know where to start.

And I get it because I've been there. It took me forever to, I keep going back to body, but it took me forever to try those workouts because I was like, I tried everything else before that. Why would this work? And you don't know unless you try, but I get it because I've been there and it's impossible and exhausting to try everything. That's why in previous episodes of this podcast, I've also talked about taking small, consistent

wins and things. If you do a large list of things, you might last a couple days or a week max and then you'll be exhausted. Or on the flip side of that, you are so overwhelmed by that you don't even know where to start so you do nothing. And neither one of those are gonna get you closer to feeling better to the person you wanna become.

And again, the person you want to become, not the person I'm telling you you need to become or anyone else is telling you you need to become. But I used to think actually that if I wasn't doing the exact right thing, then why would I even try? And like if I wasn't going to meal prep perfectly like this girl on Instagram,

then what was the point? If I wasn't gonna wake up at 5 a.m. to work out every day, I might as well not work out at all. And that all or nothing mindset, it kept me stuck for a long ass time. But here's what I realized after all of that. Being healthy isn't actually about following any type of perfect plan.

It's about figuring out what actually makes you feel good and what fits into your life. Not anyone else's. Because if it doesn't fit into your lifestyle or what you want to do, you're not going to do it. You're going to try it and be like, what the F, like, this is not helping me. And let's go more into this, like this one size fits all, all or nothing type mindset.

So let's talk about that because the biggest myth in health and wellness is that there is a one size fits all solution. That everything that I'm saying on a commercial will work for everyone. Every age, every body type, every DNA out there. It'll work for everyone. And spoiler not alert, there is no one size fits all solution to everything. There's this concept called

bio individual individuality God that word has too many syllables Which is just a fancy way of saying that every single person's body is Unique and responds differently to food exercise and habits So what makes one person thrive might totally drain another?

I know I'm getting scientific on you. Don't hold your breath. won't be all the time that I'm scientific. I looked up, there has to be a phrase for this. so anyways, bio individuality. You'll learn something new. I learned though that this firsthand when I started experimenting with different health trends. So...

For example, I tried intermittent fasting for a while because everyone was raving about it. It was like when it first came out. And you know what? I was actually miserable. And I was cranky, my energy tanked, and I was thinking about food constantly. But my best friend, for instance, and some of my mentors that I follow, they thrive on it. It works for their body. And what's crazy too, is I want to point out,

that intermittent fasting, we actually do this while we sleep. Like we're not eating while we sleep. mean, unless you're like an amazing, unique human, you're not eating while you sleep and getting crumbs all over your bed. I'm trying to like picture that, like someone's sleeping and anyways, I digress. Same with workouts though. So I spent years thinking, for instance, that running.

like was the best way to stay in shape. But guess what? I actually do not like running. Every second of it, I like walking outside. I do not like running. I never have. And when I was doing it, I was literally forcing myself to do something that didn't bring me joy because I thought it was the best way, quote unquote, because I saw someone else getting results on it. But once I let go of that idea,

and started finding movement I actually enjoyed, like at home workouts, walking outside. Like I can still get outside and walk and walking is great for you. Or things like lifting, even hiking, yoga and stretching and mobility. Like I love those things. I wanted to like work out though, instead of dreading it. And don't we all, don't we all wanna enjoy?

what we're doing and the movement that we're doing or at least enjoy the feeling we get after it. Because if you're suffering through it, then you sure as hell are not going to like the feeling afterwards, which is like you just what wasted an hour of your day being miserable. Like that's ridiculous. And so that's the key. If something feels like torture, it's not your thing. And that's OK.

okay. So based on that, I want to just throw out some tips here, some general tips again, specific. I don't get really specific in this podcast because I want it to be, I want you to paint the picture in your head of what it could look like for you. So these are just general tips of how to find what works for you.

So here's the approach that I take and it's really simpler than you think. Number one is just to get curious. Instead of thinking of habits as something you have to do, approach them like an experiment. Like you're trying something out, you're seeing how it feels and then adjusting it as needed. So you're just trying it. Maybe you try working out in the morning and you don't like it. Maybe you try lunchtime.

then after that for a little bit and see if that works. Maybe you try evening workouts. Like there is no like perfect thing. It's what works for you. Number two. So number one is get curious. Number two is start small. You don't have to overhaul your life in one day. Pick one thing. Maybe it's drinking more water, moving your body in a way that excites you or

adding more whole foods to your meals. Don't do all three of those if you're not already doing some of them. Do one of them at a time. So start small, that's number two. Number three is listen to your body. This is literally the biggest one, and I cannot harp on this enough, that if a habit makes you feel better, more energized, more alive, more just you, like,

You feel so aligned with it, keep it. If it makes you feel like garbage, let it go.

So number one is get curious. Number two is start small. And number three is listen to your body. And at the end of the day, just remember that the habits you build should feel good. They should make you say, hell yes, and make your life better. They shouldn't make it more stressful at all.

And because that's what it's really all about, right? Like we don't just want to live longer. We want to live better. We want to have energy, to feel strong, to be able to say yes to experiences without hesitation or hell yes, because you're in this hell yes community. And that means sometimes you eat the damn cake.

Eat the damn cake if you really want it and you've like thought about it for longer than 10 minutes. Like have a piece of cake. Sometimes you skip a workout and sleep instead. Sometimes you just live your life without over analyzing every little single choice. And take this from an overthinker. This one like stabs me right in the gut. Like it's like a gut punch.

because I tend to overanalyze and overthink everything. And so the truth is though, because true health, it isn't about restriction, guilt, or following someone else's rules. It's about feeling good. Inside it out, it's about creating hell yes habits that make you want to say hell yes to life.

So here's your challenge for the week. You know I like to do this. Pick one new habit to try, but make it something that actually, like to your core really excites you. Something that you feel alive, something that makes you feel alive, not something that you think you should do.

And if you wanna chat about it, please DM me, like on Instagram and tell me what's the wildest piece of health advice you've ever heard. Cause I know there's some crazy ones out there. If you follow my friend Katie Salzman that I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, watch her podcast cause she talks about the ridiculous things that people say. And I hadn't even heard this one.

But apparently people are saying that lululemon leggings can, if you wear them during your workout, they will spread toxins into your body anyways. Like, let's laugh about these things together because again, we want to find joy in these things. if you're finding contradiction out there, it's probably because it did work for someone and it didn't work for someone else.

But what if it works for you? Like it could not work for someone else and work for someone and but like you could fit in the middle and and you won't know though unless you try. And so yeah DM me. Also tag me on Instagram. My handle is at Elise Machard. It's in the show notes as well.

And let me know what your takeaway was. Let me know if this helped you. And also review the podcast. That's the only way it grows. I don't have any sponsorships or any craziness on this. I basically do this because I want to build this hell yes community and I want to help people and it actually helps me to talk about these things that I'm experiencing as well. But until next time friends.

Go build those hell yes habits and live your damn dream life. Love ya.

Elyse Bushard (21:51)
If any part of this podcast gave you a hell yes moment, I would absolutely love to hear from you. You know here at Hell Yes Habits, we're all about finding what makes you feel good and turning your everyday habits into hell yes habits. We're building a community rooted in connection and growth and your voice is a huge part of that. If this episode was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me if you shared it.

on your Instagram stories and tagged me at Elise Bechard. Not only so I can thank you personally, but to help spread the word about this Hell Yes Habits movement. Thanks for hanging out with me today and I'll catch you next time. Let's keep creating those habits that light you up and build the life you deserve. Until then, go make it a Hell Yes Day.