Wow team. We made it today marks the 500th episode of the simply fit podcast. I can't quite believe it. It's happened in a little under four years and we have not missed a single week. You've either had one episode two episodes three or on some weeks at the point that I was doing the daily episodes, you had seven. So I just want to take a moment to thank you all for listening, whether you've listened to a few episodes, whether you've listened close to 500. If you've listened to close to 500, you are a very impressive individual. And I would imagine that you're very empowered. Obviously the missionless podcast from the beginning has been providing simple and actionable tips that you can apply to your health and your wellness and fitness journey. So I would imagine that you're in a very, very good position. Thank you once again for enjoying the episodes, for applying the tips and tricks, the learnings that you've taken away from them for sharing the episodes as well. I truly, truly do appreciate it. So to mark this 500 episode, we are going to wrap up my 30 reflections from turning 30. And we have already done two parts of this episode. So if you haven't caught them already, then I'll put them in the show notes below. You can catch episode one and episode two, which contains the first 10. And then the second 10. And today we'll go through the final 10, which are just as good as the first 20. So let's get to 21. Don't let go of the things that made you happy when you were younger, you might be surprised that they still make you very happy today. So I work with a ton of individuals who are in their 30s, their 40s, their 50s, and sometimes even their 60s and 70s. And what I found from a lot of those people is that they don't tend to prioritize the things in life that bring them joy or that they just have fun doing. That just seems like a little bit too much of a luxury. Yes, obviously, their families bring them joy. Maybe in some cases, their work brings them joy, but they don't have a great deal of hobbies or they don't do things that just light them up or bring an enormous smile to their face. That somehow got left behind and maybe lost within all the responsibilities that they have in their adult life. And what I found is that those things that you have left behind probably still bring you a great deal of joy. So in whichever way you can bring those back into your life, I would highly encourage you. Something that brought me a lot of joy as a child is football. I absolutely love playing it. I absolutely love watching it. I've sport Arsenal since I was like seven years old. And I at certain points in my life have not given myself an opportunity. I almost saw it as a little bit of a quote unquote waste of time or I should be doing something better with my time. Not the fact that I didn't enjoy it anymore. Just more in the sense that I had other quote unquote more important things to be doing. And recently, I've allowed myself to start getting engaged in that world again to start watching some of the games and start watching them guilt free. And I've really enjoyed bringing that aspect back into my life I truly, truly have. So think about it today. What are some of the things that you did when you were younger or even some years ago that you really enjoyed that you have just left behind just due to responsibilities, due to being an adult or due to thinking that you need to invest your time in a different way. And I would highly encourage you to see if you can bring it back in some way, shape or form. And you'd be surprised at how happy that may end up making you feel today. And it might be able to be integrated in quite a balanced way where you can still get to all the responsibilities and the things that you need to do, but also end up bringing that back in. And it just makes life look a little brighter. Number 22 is that love is far more important than I thought it would be. I really didn't put this on a pedestal when I was younger. I really didn't think it would really have that much weight in my life to be completely honest. I think I mentioned this in a previous episode where I thought that my professional accomplishments would be kind of the height of my life in that sense. And it would be nothing kind of to do with the fun that I was having or the relationships I had, etc. But that's really changed in the last few years. I have valued love in such a way that I never imagined to do so. And it's really only brought me great things. It's brought me greater connections. It's brought me greater moments, beautiful memories and so much more. And I am so glad that I gave myself the opportunity to open myself up to that because I didn't realize how much I was missing out on. And I get that also it requires you to open yourself up to be selective about the people you choose to love and receive love from as well. I think that's a really important aspect as well. But it really can add a lot to your life if you give yourself that opportunity. And I am very fortunate to be living that right now. Number 23. There is nothing wrong with pursuing money in life. And if you can add that to your purpose, you are winning. I don't know why there is such a narrative of money is the root of all evil money. Can't buy you happiness. X, Y, or Z. And no one has this narrative of money can open you up to a world of possibilities that you didn't have access to before or money can enhance who you are. And if you're actually a really good person, it can give you the opportunities to be even better. If you're a super generous person, you're gonna have better opportunities to give even more. There's just no real narratives around kind of this empowering mindset around money. I don't know why this pursuit of it seems to make people feel a little bit strange, a little bit dirty in a way and a little bit like they're not working towards anything that's particularly virtuous. And I think that that needs to change. And like I said, you can add your purpose to that as well. For example, I am someone who loves to help people get into the best shape that they've ever been in to get their health in a place that they never thought it was possible to allow them to get their confidence back to just ultimately help them solve the puzzle of health and fitness that they just haven't been able to work out. That is something that's incredibly gratifying for me. Unfortunately, I am a coach and I get paid for that at the same time. What a beautiful exchange pay us struggling with something. They have an issue that they haven't been able to solve. And I have the answer. I have the way forward and I can guide them to that place. I think it's an amazing exchange. And also, I think that this whole like money can't buy happiness thing should be something that comes in quotation marks. And maybe we should just not continue that narrative. Yes, you can't directly go to the store and buy happiness. I get that. But at the same time, there is a lot of anxiety. There is a lot of stress. There is a lot of depression. There is a lot of divorces that happen off the back of financial problems. And on the flip side, there are many beautiful things that you can do. You can experience you can create with the resource of money. So if you want to pursue it, go ahead and do not feel guilty about it. I really want to rewrite this narrative that we seem to have fixed into our mind. I don't know where it came from, to be completely honest. And I don't get the value of it either. So if you feel aligned with what I'm saying, then do yourself a favor as well. And just run as far away from that narrative as possible and start rewriting a better one. And again, it doesn't have to be I'm obsessed with being rich or whatever that might be. It's maybe just opening up the doors to say, well, what would my life look like if I was to earn the amount of money that I desire at this moment in time? And let's start creating a better and more individualized narrative that's going to serve us far more. Number 24, if you have a negative view on a certain age or stage in your life, you need better role models for that age or stage in your life. I used to think that being 30 being 40 was super, super old. And I think as I grew older and I got closer and closer to those age groups, or maybe as I just went through life, I started to meet more people at these different positions in their life. And I was like, wow, in the what 30 doesn't seem that old? Wow, 40, 50, 60. And then I see people at 70 years old continuing to work being super mobile and independent. I'm like, wow, maybe there's more to these later stages in life than I was initially giving them credit for, because I think if you start to fear these certain numbers, it's maybe you have this kind of pre built into your mind idea of what life would look like at that stage. And maybe you've actually seen people live out that stage of life and not in the most desirable way. And that completely makes sense. But if you've got examples of people around you who are in their 60s and 70s and they're living fantastic lives, and what do you have to fear? What do you have to not look forward to in that sense, right? You're going to be richer with experience. You're going to have a lot more self knowledge and self awareness. You're going to know more about what you like and what you dislike and just going through this different stage of your life. And rather than fearing it, you actually have an opportunity to embrace it. So I think that's something that's massively changed for me. I've actually realized that, you know, being 30 or being 40 or being 50 actually seems a lot younger than I used to think. And I think that's a really nice perspective. And it doesn't make me not look forward to reaching that age. Like I may have done before, maybe thinking it was doom and gloom. They all goes downhill from there actually makes me look at it from, wow, I'm not in a rush to get there. But when I do, I think I'm going to quite enjoy it, especially if I look after myself and make sure that I do have that independence and that ambition, like solid mental and physical health, because then that just means that I have a ton of opportunities and another decade and another year to just embrace and enjoy these things. So that is a big perspective that's changed of mine. Number 25 is that there's a lot of small things in life that can provide you with a lot of joy and meaning. Maybe I should add a little caveat here is that you have to open yourself up to find that joy and meaning as well. That first sip of a delicious coffee, the fresh air when you step outside for the first time in the day, that conversation that had you laughing and crying with laughter. Those are really the things that just add that touch of joy to life on a day to day basis. You know, it's not all about the vacations or the super super high moments. It's equally not about the super super low moments either. And I think that if you can take the moments, just be grateful for those small things that really do bring you a lot of joy and definitely engage and embrace those things as well. If you know that going out for a coffee every so often is something that brings you joy, but you don't give yourself that opportunity, then you're closing the door on having those small moments. And I think that it's easy to think that it's going to be the holidays or the highs, the big moments in your life that really going to be the things that stand out to you. But I think the more that you look back and the more that you reflect, it's more the simple moments, the moments where you're perhaps just hanging out with your family at home. You weren't on a yacht in the middle of Dubai or anything like that. You were just sat in your living room or that easy conversation you were having with your partner in bed on a Sunday morning. Again, you're not at some fancy restaurant and don't get me wrong, you can have these moments, but you'd be surprised at how much you get out of these small moments if you allow yourself the opportunity to do so. And I think that comes with a lot of presence, a lot of gratitude as well. I think that it's really, really important to just recognize the things that you do have in life. You might be thinking that I need this to be happy and I need this to be happy. I need this to be happy. And that might be taking away from the things that you already have that actually do make you happy. But you close the door on that happiness because you're focusing on the things that you don't have. But once you start opening up the door to the things that can bring you joy, you would be amazed at how simple that they actually are. Number 26, write your own story and make sure that the story that you are living hasn't been written by those around you. This is incredibly important because why often your identity, especially in the early stages of your life, are made up by the way that other people see you. So you aren't you. You are what other people think you are as you tend to live that out depending on who you're around and the habits that you've got into. And what's strange and what's difficult is that it's really hard to separate that identity of who you think you are versus who you actually are. Because of many times you haven't given yourself the opportunity to actually work out who you are, what you really do and don't like, what you really want to be and not want to be. Because you are living in the vision of other people. And this is why it's really important to spend time to reflect, to get to know yourself to journal, to go to therapy even. And it's so fascinating to understand why you do the things that you do and why you are the way that you are. And I think the key to success here is just knowing those things. It doesn't mean changing your life entirely and tipping it upside down because of this is not how you're truly supposed to be. This is how other people quote unquote wanted you to be. It's simply about knowing so you can make choices much more aligned with who you truly are and not what your narrative tells you that you need to be. This is a deeper subject for another day. I would go through some examples, but we'll perhaps say that for a future episode, but just make sure that your narrative is your narrative and not the narrative that is being written for you. Number 27. It's better to have hope and optimism than to be despondent and pessimistic. I think we're in a bit of an era right now where it's kind of cool and kind of popular to be a little bit more pessimistic, a little bit more nihilistic, a little bit more negative, so to speak. And I don't really get it to be completely honest. I don't really understand why that's become so cool. And I'm going to say and I have to apologize to my fellow British people here, but we are incredibly good at doing this as well. We're incredibly good at being too cool for school and a bit negative and a bit pessimistic. When someone asks how you are, you don't tell them, I'm good. I'm having a great day. You tell them, I'm not too bad. Even on the days that you're actually doing good or if you're not using your first responses, not too bad, then you say can't complain. Things could be worse. And out of all the responses we could pick, we pick that. And it just seems to be something that's built into us culturally. And it kind of seems to be something that's very, very normal right now. And I personally want to step away from that normal. And I do genuinely believe that hope and optimism are going to lead us to far better outcomes and also a far better quality of life in the moment as well. Because if you feel despondent and pessimistic, then really, what do you have to look forward to if everything is quote unquote getting worse, then in a sense, what's the point? What is there to be excited for? What is there to be hopeful about? What's the point in making any effort whatsoever? And I just don't see it as a really positive or particularly productive way to live to be completely honest. And I'm not saying be blind to the challenges of the world. They certainly do exist, but also maybe be a little bit more open to the positives in the world. You know, we're not living in the worst time ever. If we look around ourselves and look at all the things that the modern world is bringing us is definitely bringing us some challenges, but it's definitely bringing us some positives in the process as well. And this actually brings me on to number 28, which is be the change that you want to see in the world. I heard this quote in my early 20s, I think, and it really has stuck with me as well. It's that at the end of the day, if you're not feeling hopeful or optimistic or positive about things, your lack of optimism, your pessimism and your negativity and low proactiveness is not getting us any closer to a better outcome. You're actually contributing to part of the problem here. So if you actually want a better world, if you want a better day to day life, then you'd need to start with you, you need to look in the mirror, you need to be that change because of nothing is going to change if you don't. And it's amazing because when you start working on yourself, you start looking at the world in a different way, you see more opportunities to make a change, even if it's small, because you'd be amazed that when you make those small steps within your circle within your environment and within your community, they actually make things look a lot brighter. However, if you're just kind of staying within your negative bubble and you are interacting with your negative friends in your negative community, then it just is going to breed even more negativity and nothing is going to get better. So put the power back in your hands and do something about the world that you see around yourself, and you might end up finding yourself a little bit more optimistic, a little bit more positive, and you might be starting to make that change that you want to see in the world. Number 29, health really is everything. And I think the unfortunate part about this reflection is that you only really learn this when it is taken away from you. When you're healthy, you don't really consider it as important as it truly is. You just kind of take it for granted, you wake up every morning with your fully functioning limbs, your fully functioning sights, your ability to hear, speak and all the other things that we are blessed to do to be completely honest. And we don't really think about it and we kind of neglect it. We don't eat the healthiest that we could eat. We don't exercise as much as we could. We stress too much and we don't sleep enough. And then it's only once we fall ill, do we think, damn, I should have looked after myself a little bit better. Damn, it's really my fault and my negligence to the fact that I'm not in a good position with my health right now. And I think it's so important to try and remind ourselves of this. I know it's really difficult to have this perspective of health being so important when it's just always there for us. But that's even more of a reason why we should value it so much. So I think it's just something to just try and plant the seed of on a day to day basis to remind yourself how important your health is. And if you are pushing your limits when it comes to your stress, when it comes to your nutrition, when it comes to any lifestyle variable that you know that you're kind of abusing a little bit, just try and remind yourself of that reality and don't allow life to have to give you a really hard lesson for you to learn. It would be so much better if you learned earlier. And number 30 on this wonderful list is that reflection is the key to making better choices and having a better life. I really think reflection is one of these major things that we're missing in our lives. And it's so fascinating to me with the work that I do. I have my clients check in every single week so they write kind of a summary or rundown of their week where they reflect on all the things that they didn't do. And they always come back to me and like, wow, it's so helpful to put all this down onto paper. It really gives me a good perspective of what I did well, what I didn't do so well, how I can improve, and just having that perspective even before you give me feedback is really, really helpful. I'm already starting to see the areas that I can do better and also what things worked well for me this week. And it's kind of like that light bulb moment. And it's like, well, that works in the world of health and fitness. But that also works in your life as well. If you find yourself going and picking the wrong relationships time and time again, or staying in jobs far too long when you know you shouldn't, or making poor choices with your health and wellbeing, if you just take a moment to reflect on why that might be, and you just take some interest and have some curiosity and think, okay, well, why did I do that again? And what are the trends here? And what could have I done differently? And what things am I doing when things work out really, really well? And you start connecting those dots, that's why self reflection and self analysis and journaling, I've tapped on journaling so much within these reflections, and it makes so much sense as to why now, but it gives you that opportunity to see things from perspective that you wouldn't have seen before. And with greater information about yourself, you can make greater decisions. And those greater decisions are going to lead you to a better life. So I don't think I need to sell self reflection to you too much more, but it's been a really big key in my life as well. So team, I hope you enjoyed those 30 reflections. If you haven't listened to the previous episodes, I'd highly encourage you to do so. And they'll be in the show notes below. And one final thank you for listening, for enjoying, for absorbing all the information across these 500 episodes. It has truly been a pleasure to bring each and every episode to you. And let's see what comes next. Let's see what the future holds. So that is everything from me today, team, take care, and I'll speak to you all very, very soon. And that was a simply foot podcast. I hope you gained a huge amount of value from today's episode. I feel inspired to improve your health and wellbeing. Be sure to search for simply fit in Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts from. And go ahead and subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. Also, if you like the episode, please don't forget to give it a five star rating. I'd love to hear your feedback on any questions you have. So reach out to me on social media, you'll find me on Facebook and Instagram @EliaHasun. Thank you so much for listening. And I look forward to talking with you all on the next one.
