It’s Never Too Late to Clean your Mess

A year from now, you may wish you had started today.
-Karen Lamb

I’ll be honest and say i never tried to improve my life much at all until I was in my 30’s. Up until then, I just went day to day living the same situation as the day prior.  Pretty much the most mundane hours, same daily traffic commute. All to come home, eat, sleep, and do it all over again the next day.

Fast forward 10 years, and I have 5 kids – though I don’t work outside the home, I still work IN the home. My husband still takes that daily commute to work, the same mundane hours each day, and when he gets home he’s pretty much taxed – he eats, falls asleep, and does the same thing I used to do, repeatedly day after day.

It wasn’t until this a few years ago that he realized he was in a mess of a situation. After having deployed to Iraq, and spending 2 years prior to that in military training, he had problems.  His problems led him to a doctor. The doctor prescribed medication. Six (6) medications later, he couldn’t figure out why he was always sick, and why he was having problems digesting even the most basic food.

Tired of seeing him struggle with pill bottles and eating problems, I looked outside of the doctor for information. I buried myself in self study to help find a solution to help him. Those prescriptions didn’t treat the root of the problem, but acted as a temporary band-aid to a larger issue (his anxiety).   The prescriptions were taxing his good gut health – which is where 70-80% of your immune system lies. 

There is no wonder why he was always sick – furthermore, by eradicating the good gut bacteria, he was unable to eat even the most basic foods.

And so it began – a lifestyle change. Slowly, one by one, he had to find a way OFF those prescription medications and seek out alternative health care that could provide him some grounding (that’s where our essential oils came in). 

One by one, he pulled his way off medicine over the course of a year – maybe more. I can’t remember, all I know is that it was a long, arduous process. Before then, he couldn’t drink dairy. We switched to raw milk. He realized that his intolerance to dairy was really intolerance not necessarily to dairy but what has been done to the dairy (processing). All those prescriptions had led to an acidic body – where illness thrives and your immune system is taxed.

Raw milk and organic, whole foods helped him establish his gut and build more alkalinity. And slowly, over the course of a few years, he weaned himself off prescription medicine and starting using essential oils for grounding and emotional support. His diet improved – he found that his digestive problems were no longer causing him pain and it wasn’t until then that he realized that he had dug himself out of what was once a rather HUGE mess.

Although some of his mess was created by medication that he was taking as a result of time in service (Military/Deployment), many of the issues he had were also the result of bad habits.  

You know those habits – you fill with fuel at the fuel station and you go in to buy a big gulp.

You pull into Starbucks for a latte on the way to work.

Your head is hanging at work so you run into Circle K for that energy drink to give you a boost to get you through your day.

And even worse, after work you are tired, and the thought of cooking dinner is just daunting. So you pull into the drive through and pick up a value meal .. or a $5 pizza at Little Caesars – after all, it’s a Friday.  You just want to relax and put your feet up.

Your less than healthy eating habits have more than likely led to some type of chronic condition you have… if not now, then at some point they will. And while you can eliminate the pain through a prescription, it won’t alleviate the source of the problem: your lifestyle.

It’s those lifestyle choices that have probably led to some type of a mess – whether it be your health, your finances, your marriage. The list could go on.  Thankfully he was in his early 30’s when he realized the tremendous impact his habits have on his overall health.  

Even if he would have been a little older, would it have been too late to reverse the effects of poor choices?  Not at all.  

If it’s one thing we learned, it is that it’s never too late to clean up your mess.  

Whether that mess is your lifestyle, or eating habits, perhaps your relationship with your spouse, partner, or family. Or … it could very well be your finances – no savings? Little retirement? Too much “stuff” in your life?

Is cleaning up your “mess” limited to just eating habits? Definitely not. 

The most important thing you can do is admit that you have a mess going on. Then, taking care of the mess – whether money, relationships, your health – the list could go on. You need to clean up that mess by make a list of the top 3-5 things you would like to change and make a goal for each – something measurable, realistic, and achievable.  

Cleaning up your mess requires that you actually take action on it. It’s like giving your kids a broom and telling them to clean their room – their mess. A broom will help them. But they need to move the broom back and forth for it to work – right?  They can’t move the broom once and expect the mess to stay away. The movement must be constant.  They have to take action, instead of complaining.

Finances a Mess?

So many times we get to a certain age, or we might reach a milestone in our life and we assume that it is too late for us to pursue the things that we really want.

You know that you should have an emergency fund, but you don’t.

You know that you should be putting away for retirement, but you’ve lost out on the last 20 years that could have been working in your favor.

Or, you have 3 kids – one of which is hitting college soon and you think to yourself “… I wish I would have put away for him/her – but now it’s too late.”

Or perhaps you have been stuck in your same job for years – clocking in, and earning the same paycheck that you have been reliably waiting on for the last 20 years. Instead, you would love to be self employed with your own dream business.

Obviously it would have been better if you had cleaned up your student loans 15-20 years ago so that you could put money in your 401K more easily – but you didn’t.  It would be nice if you had an emergency fund that you could fall back on – but you don’t.  

What happened in the past happened in the past – but it doesn’t mean you can’t change things going forward.

If you haven’t paid off your loans, started your 401K, or even attempted to open a college fund for your kids, determine what is holding you back – is it your consumer debt? Lack of work? Shortage of hours at your job? Or maybe you just haven’t had time to sit and analyze where you are.

Sometimes books can help you find motivation (The Total Money Makeover is always a great one). Listening to a podcast can help.  Taking a course like Financial Peace University can get you on track.

Marriage a Mess?

Perhaps it’s been years since you have talked to your parents, or had a relationship. You think your relationship is too far past to even attempt to make it work. Or, you are an have been having marital difficulties. .. and at this point, fixing the problems seems to be unachievable. In fact, it’s just easier to let it go – not realizing that those bad habits or mess that you have in your life might just indeed spill over into the next “new” relationship and leave you with the same problem 10 years down the road.

It’s never too late to clean up a relationship, or mend a relationship that’s been struggling for some time. 

Is your Health a Mess?

It took my husband a long time to realize that his health was a mess. Even more, he never thought his habits were all that bad – until he was suffering.

It’s not too late to change your eating habits – and there is always room for improvement. Incorporating organic produce into our diet and making a switch to whole foods will help establish a healthy gut.  Being willing to do your own research to find the root of your health issues in efforts to avoid unneeded medication is another step in the right direction.

Understanding the role of the food you eat in relation to your health is just as important  – self research is probably the greatest thing you can do. Instead of relying on an industry that thrives on your sickness, take care of yourself and learn how to ask your own questions about everything you put IN and ON your body. 

It’s never too late for you to improve something in your life that you really need to change. No matter what age you are at. Although you may look to the past and say “If I had only…” – that might be true.   Reliving the past does not change where you are at today. It just keeps you hooked on mental reruns – those reruns keep you in a rut of regret.

Most people’s lives have real limits – at least ours does, I’m sure yours does too. Personal development isn’t something that magically happens – it takes you time. Time to recognize the mess you got yourself into, look with optimism towards some realistic solutions, and work feverishly to achieve those goals over time.

Start by doing what you can with what you have. From there, try to make small changes that will help you gain confidence and see small results. Build upon those small changes and results to make even bigger changes to help you develop new healthy habits. 

No matter what your age.