Your Body Is Not a Side Project — How to Stop Neglecting Your Health in the Name of Busyness
Introduction:
Let’s be honest for a minute—how often does your well-being get pushed to the bottom of your to-do list? I know how it feels because I’ve done it and still do it despite my better judgment. I never really thought about my health until I was forced to monitor my blood pressure after a reading that was found to be off during a routine check.
This was a season where managing work deadlines, family activities, and running errands felt like the most important things to focus on. Yet, I constantly still felt like I was one step behind in everything. Basically, I had no time for myself, my meals, my rest, or my body—I was running on fumes. When you find yourself getting into this space, be sure that the default breakdown starts to happen and creeps into lifestyle diseases and other health-related challenges.
But here’s the fact: You can’t build a meaningful life on an empty tank. Your health—physical, emotional, mental—is not a side project. It’s the foundation of everything else you want to build.
This article, Part 2 of our 10-part journey toward reclaiming control of your life, is your invitation to stop sidelining your wellness and start treating it as a non-negotiable.
In case you missed part 1 of the series, here's the link on Taking charge of your personal choices.
Why Wellness Is Often the First to Go (and Why That’s a Problem)
For many of us, health feels optional in the whirlwind of modern life. Let’s get real about why we tend to put our well-being last: We’re taught to treat productivity like a badge of honor, even if it costs us our health.
Many of us grew up hearing phrases like:
- “You can rest when you’re done.”
- “Sleep is for the weak.”
- “Work hard now so you can enjoy later.”
The result? We unconsciously connect success with overworking and view self-care as indulgence rather than maintenance. Add responsibilities like parenting, leadership roles, deadlines, and family dynamics—and suddenly, even basic habits like drinking enough water or stretching for 5 minutes feel like luxuries.
And here’s what’s worse: Things don’t calm down. We have to calm down.
Neglecting your health doesn’t just affect your body—it affects your mind, your mood, and your relationships.
When you’re running on empty:
- You’re more irritable with loved ones.
- Decision-making becomes foggy.
- Emotional resilience drops.
- And over time? Burnout creeps in.
Think of it this way: Would you drive your car for months without refueling or getting maintenance, hoping it will somehow keep running? Of course not. But that’s exactly what we do with our bodies when we skip meals, ignore movement, or sacrifice sleep for productivity’s sake.
And the truth is—you don’t have to overhaul your whole life to feel better. You just need to start being intentional with what you can control.
That’s why I don’t recommend extreme routines or rigid health plans. Instead, let’s focus on simple, doable shifts you can make today that don’t require more time—just better choices with the time you already have.
Here’s how you can start.
3 Ways to Start Reclaiming Your Wellness with Intention
- Move in a Way That Works for You
When you hear the word “exercise,” what comes to mind?
Many believe that exercise means taking 1 hour to jog, doing cardio in a gym, or even purchasing membership for a gym membership, or committing to structured programs to be “healthy.” But if you’re like me, this can take a huge chunk of time that perhaps you’re not able or willing to invest. I’m also not naturally attracted to gyms – I get very impatient with gym instructors. I feel they’re paid to punish – something that just doesn’t auger well with me (personal opinion).
Gym membership might work for some, but it might also be a deterrent for others. Instead of completely missing out on the exercises, you should consider focusing on movement, not “exercise.”
Practical Ways to Move More:
- Walk during phone calls. Turn your daily check-ins with friends or colleagues into short walking sessions.
- Do 10-15 minutes of stretching while watching Netflix at night.
- Use part of your lunch hour break to take a 20 minute walk round the block
- Use an under-desk elliptical machine while working or responding to emails. (
Recommended Tool: Under-Desk Elliptical Machine – small, silent, easy to use.)
Remember: Movement doesn’t have to be a major event—it just needs to be consistent. Your body deserves circulation, energy, and strength—not just after work or weekends—but throughout your daily life.
2. Nourish Yourself, Don’t Punish Yourself
Do you think about what you’re about to eat or does lunchtime find you impulsively ordering for what your taste buds have demanded? Do you eat when hungry or you eat because it’s lunchtime and that’s what people do when it’s lunch time? And do you really need that snack for your 10am tea or is this just out of habit?
Sundays in our home are usually reserved for a relaxed routine—we often dine out or order takeout for lunch. Because this meal typically happens later than our usual lunch, we often find ourselves comfortably full by the time dinner rolls around. For the longest time, however, we’d still go ahead with preparing dinner simply because it was on the menu plan. I even found myself insisting that the children eat, believing that sticking to the set routine was healthier and more responsible—or so I thought. Then it struck me: I was letting the menu control me instead of me controlling it.
From that moment, I decided to take the lead. Sunday dinners are now intentionally flexible. If anyone gets hungry, we enjoy leftovers or prepare something light, but only as needed.
Another common mistake many of us make is failing to plan intentionally for nourishment. Often, we end up reaching for whatever’s convenient in the moment, without much thought about whether it actually supports our well-being. Take a moment to check your fridge or pantry—are there nourishing options available for when hunger strikes, or is it mostly processed snacks and quick fixes? The choices you keep within reach often determine how you’ll nourish yourself on busy days.
Practical Ways to Nourish Daily:
- Water before coffee. It’s one of the simplest habits that changed my energy. Sometimes that pang of hunger is not really hunger, it’s thirst. When you feel hungry during an unusual hour, try drinking water before looking for that quick fix. It might surprise you. I now keep my Hydro Flask Water Bottle on my desk to make it easy.
- Keep healthy snacks in arm’s reach. Mixed nuts, cut fruit, and Greek yogurt. Let these healthy options be within reach for all family members so that they become the automatic snacking options. You could also keep some in your car or office.
- Batch cook on weekends. If cooking every day is difficult and pushes you to unhealthy eating, try batch cooking on weekends. Your Monday-Friday self will thank you when healthy meals are ready to grab.
The goal isn’t dieting—it’s fueling your beautiful, busy, important life, by giving it what it needs, not just what it wants.
3. Rest Is a Leadership Skill, Not a Luxury
One of my mantras is that work is not supposed to end – that’s why you still have tomorrow to continue. Unless someone is dying, work can wait for you to rejuvenate. When you operate from exhaustion, the work you produce isn’t your best. And worse? It’s unsustainable. I marvel at people who try to put in many hours of work day after day and think they’re being productive.
Unfortunately, as your mind tires, your efficiency of doing work drops significantly. It’s called the law of diminishing returns. Past a certain number of hours, you’re better off taking a rest so that you are fresh to continue tomorrow or after recovering. One is prone to making more errors the more they work while tired.
Here’s the mindset shift I want you to embrace:
Rest isn’t laziness. Rest is leadership maintenance. Unfortunately, with gadgets with us making us reachable 24-7, one can tend to not fully rest and therefore this becomes a skill you need to consciously do.
Practical Tips for Better Rest:
- Limit screens an hour before bed—use apps like Downtime or Focus Mode on your phone. You can also choose to switch off the WiFi and airtime bundles past a certain hour of the night, like I do. This forces everyone to sleep and rest.
- When tired, take a break, you’ll be more productive after you rest than trying to push through the fatigue
- Time off should be time off; stop looking at work emails even when you’ve informed everyone that you’re away. When you die, you shall be replaced immediately, so take a rest and do rest.
- Learn to slow your mind down; there are various ways you can do this. I could recommend a book – Mindfulness by Andy Puddicombe, or similar books.
Other useful tips;
- Wear blue light blocking glasses if you must work at night. ( Recommended Tool: Blue Light Blocking Glasses)
- Try a 5-minute body scan meditation before bed. Apps like Calm or Insight Timer have free versions.
The goal isn’t eight perfect hours every night. The goal is consistent, quality rest that supports your ability to show up for your life fully.
3 Core Reminders from Today’s Article:
Small choices, done consistently, build powerful results.
Movement, nourishment, and rest are essentials, not extras.
How you treat your body is how you treat your future.
Next in the Series: Emotional Mastery
If you’re starting to reclaim your choices and treating your body with more care, the next frontier is learning how to process your emotions so they don’t control you.
Up next → Own Your Energy: Emotional Mastery for Busy People.
Let’s build this together!
