MaryRuth Ghiyam - Everyday Wellness: 12 steps to a healthier, happier you

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First published in Great Britain by HQ

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

Text Copyright MaryRuth Ghiyam 2021

MaryRuth Ghiyam asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Paperback ISBN 978-0-00-842427-5

eBook ISBN: 978-0-00-842428-2

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To my mom,

who literally showed me,

by strong and loving example,

how to move forward every day

and

to my father, Richard; my brother, Daniel;

my husband, David; and my children,

Ethan, Elliot, Jacob, and Grace

THE ART OF HEALTH FOR BUSY PEOPLE

1. Liquids till Lunch

   Eat three small meals a day, at the anchor times of noon, 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. Make sure to hit all three anchor times!

2. Chew Your Food Until It Becomes Liquid
3. Drink Half Your Body Weight in Ounces of Water

   For example: a person who weighs 120 lbs. would drink 60 oz. of water.

4. Portion Control
5. Eat Healthy Foods
6. Get Fifteen Minutes of Direct Sunshine Each Day

   Vitamin D is crucial for the mind and body!

7. Sleep Seven to Eight Hours
8. Fifteen Minutes of Stretching
9. Thirty Minutes of Exercise Daily

   Walking, jogging, elliptical, or yoga. Whatever will get you moving for thirty minutes.

10. Stress Less

    High stress means higher cortisol levels, which creates cellular damage.

11. Think Positively

    Use positive thoughts to imbue your day with gratitude.

12. Believe in a Universal Force of Goodness

    It doesnt matter what you call that universal forceGod, Creatorit just matters that you believe that the universe wants the best for you.

Moving forward through the chaos and uncertainty that exists in this world can be so challenging. Or your day-to-day might be difficult even when you dont have any real struggles. You could be about to enter a great new phase in your life, but its fast pace and tricky challenges force you to work hard and develop true self-mastery.

Whether your situation in life is wonderful or awful, its easy to feel paralyzed or scared if you dont have a road map, cant summon your power, or worry you might fail or fall behind. When youre faced with a hurdle to clear or a mountain to climb, you might be tempted to crawl into your bed, turn on the TV, and stay there forever. But you cant. Youre worth more than that. Your life can be so much better than that, so you must get out there and make great things happen.

I have some fantastic news for you. You dont have to conquer all your challenges in one day. You also dont have to be rich, have a fancy degree, or have loads of free time to come out on top. To feel happy, accomplished, fulfilled, or like youre putting good out into the world, all you need are a few daily fundamentals that will help you gain momentum, operate to your highest-functioning degree, and move forward to whatever your goal or purpose is.

Its all easier than you think. You just need to boil the process of moving forward down to the essentials. The actions that will allow you to dislodge yourself from whatevers slowing you down or dimming your energy are as basic and straightforward as taking your daily vitamins.

I can show you how.

When I was twelve, my beloved forty-two-year-old dad died suddenly of a heart condition we didnt know he had. My dad ran our family business and, my whole life, Id never known a week-day when Richard P. Boehmer hadnt been pacing around the house scratching notes about work on a yellow legal pad with a red pen. On weekends, he and my mom got up early and loved to play golf together. He was always buzzing, chasing, and dreaming and then he was gone. Our house was very, very quiet after that.

Im the classic oldest childorganized, driven, and focusedand my dad always pushed me to hold my chin up, be a leader, and succeed. After he died, I assumed that going to school, making good grades, and getting into the right college would be enough to help me recover. I did all those things on top of helping my mom around the house, nurturing my younger brother, Daniel, and acting as a shining example of strength and courage for my family. I was just putting one foot in front of the other, though, not thriving. To top it off, I was crushed by grief.

When I was twenty, I came home from college for Easter break and was in my bedroom when I heard my mom screaming at the top of her lungs. I ran out of my room and saw her in my seventeen-year-old brothers bedroom, standing above his motionless body on the bed. Then I watched her drag him to the floor and start to give him CPR. But it was too late. He was dead, clutching a phone hed been trying to use to call for help. We didnt know it, but Daniel had developed a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Suddenly, the hole in my chest that I thought the passage of time had helped heal opened up again, and now the wound was even bigger. My brother had been my best friend. Daniel came to all my basketball games in high school. He made me countless playlists of the best songs to listen to, and he made me laugh about everything, especially during our summer vacations on the Jersey Shore or at Lake Nebo in Upstate New York.

I knew I had to keep going, though, so I went back to college soon after the funeral and worked as hard as I could to prepare for my final exams. I studied abroad in Italy that summer, and when I got back to school, I focused on graduating on time with the rest of my class. If I could succeed, wasnt I living my best life?

Just over a year later, my mom went to the doctor to talk about the right-side facial spasms shed been having, and she left with a diagnosis of two brain tumors. When she told me, I went numb. My entire family is going to die, I thought. Im twenty-one, and Im going to be the last one left. I didnt feel cursed or unlucky; my pain was physical, like a two-ton weight was sitting on my chest.

My mom endured one painful craniotomy surgery followed by another seventeen months later. Luckily, doctors determined that both brain tumors were benign, but the part of her brain that controls motor function had been damaged during the second operation, and she became partially paralyzed on her right side. During her long months of rehabilitation, I drove home on the weekends to help take care of her. It wasnt always easy but being present for my mom taught me I had a greater purpose: I wanted to help people live healthier, more fulfilling lives.