When I was learning to drive, I remember being taught to look at the far distance of the road I was driving, rather than the pavement immediately in front of me. By looking far ahead, you see what's coming sooner but you also have the benefit of your peripheral vision. If you are driving and only focusing on the pavement (or the car) in front of you, you can miss obstacles or miss seeing something that would have otherwise been prevented.

When it comes to our health, we don't always see things clearly in front of us, but the analogy still is an important one. If we are only looking at the day we are in, that unhealthy meal or missed workout won't seem that significant. We won't see the impact that is having longterm, or how much of a deviation we may have taken into a direction we don't want. If however, we keep today in our field of awareness while looking further into the future...of what we WANT to see...to anticipate things we may have to handle, we can take actions to support that.

When life feels frantic, or like we can't stay on top of our healthy habits, taking a pause to assess the days, weeks, months (and maybe years) to come is an asset. Identify what you WANT, what activities you want to enjoy. If your behaviours are supporting that, great. If not, this pause can offer helpful perspective and give you direction to get things back on track. Your future self thanks you.