It is hard to have a healthy, happy dating and married relationship if you yourself are not personally healthy. The goal of this article is to give you a review of several key elements to be personally healthy, happy, and ready to offer the best version of yourself to another. So, what are the important elements of yourself to work on? And how can you be personally healthy? Here are some ideas:
Elements of Personal Health:
Physical Health: basically, to be physically healthy involves giving regular attention to eating healthy, exercising on a regular basis, and developing a regular and adequate sleep schedule. Physical health also relates to keeping the Word of Wisdom in relation to avoidance of harmful or illicit substances to your body: prescription medication abuse, illicit drug use, alcohol or tobacco consumption, etc. Also, it is important to identify and maintain a healthy weight for yourself. Basically, if you feel physically healthy and energetic, you will radiate a positive energy that is attractive to others. Plus this will help invigorate you for the ups and downs of the dating process.
Social Health: regularly associating with the opposite sex both in and out of a dating relationship is important to feel socially healthy—especially before you have a fully committed dating relationship or marriage. Talking with and socializing with the opposite sex whenever possible will give you a spark to elevate your mood and give you momentum to find a new committed relationship. Look for opportunities and take them. Furthermore, spending time with same sex friends from work, church, or other places will also help you have fun, give you validation, empathy, and support on your single journey, and give you important peers to relate to and connect with.
In addition, regularly connecting with trusted and supportive parents, siblings, children (if you have them) and other extended family members can provide security, stability, and a safe base away from the social/dating scene. Finally, meeting new people and developing new friendships at work, school, and in society will energize you and give you new connections to add to or replace old ones that can fall away. In short, developing and maintaining a regular social life apart from/until you get a committed dating relationship is important so please do not neglect this.
Psychological Health: Your personal psychological health is an essential element of your overall health and readiness for dating and marriage. If you have notable relationship wounds or scars from the past, these will be important to address and work through so these issues will not interrupt or even sabotage a new relationship. To explore this subject in a deeper way and utilize numerous suggestions on the subject, you may wish to refer to other articles specifically devoted to this subject. Here are several to consider:
https://www.ldsdimension.com/articles/when-your-current-partner-pays-for-what-the-ex-did-134/
https://www.ldsdimension.com/articles/don-t-be-a-victim-131/
https://www.ldsdimension.com/articles/getting-ready-for-another-relationship-111/
In addition to working out and overcoming old would, psychological health is also boosted by working on positive self-talk, developing and maintaining optimism and a positive attitude, developing yourself through education and a fulfilling career, and enjoying personal hobbies and other interests. To improve in all of these ways, you may wish to consult a licensed psychologist or a licensed marriage & family therapist for additional professional help, support, and direction.
Spiritual Health: to be spiritually healthy is best accomplished by living in a manner that allows you to have and maintain the Spirit in your life. Numerous things you can do for this includes praying regularly, as well as reading or listening regularly to scriptures, conference talks, and other positive church related materials. Furthermore, regular church attendance and worthily taking the sacrament is essential. If you have callings in church, please fulfill those. Furthermore, being temple worthy and attending the temple on a regular basis will take your spirituality to the highest level.
To help support and direct you to stay on top of all of these spiritual goals and ideals, it may be useful for you to consult with your bishop, as well as others you would consider trusted friends or family members that are doing well spiritually. In dating, a new or potential partner will notice and feel that you possess the spirit, which will add to your attractiveness. This will also help to demonstrate to a potential significant other that spirituality is an important component of your potential lives together, which is a great selling point—and is personally essential to your eternal progression.
Final Thoughts:
Please maintain good, general health in all four of these key ways for yourself. The healthier you are, the more attractive you will be in the dating world. In addition, you will have much more strength, energy, confidence, and staying power to continually work to find and nurture new potential dating relationships until you find one that will be permanent. You can do this. And remember that “…neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.”—1 Corinthians 11:11.
Dr. G
P.S. If you can questions, comments, or a future article request for me, feel free to contact me at drgilchrist@yahoo.com.
| 2020-09-14 | Randy Gilchrist | Health and fitness |
About the author
Hello, my name is Dr. Randy Gilchrist (aka "Dr. G"). I am a licensed clinical psychologist, a licensed marriage & family therapist, and a certified hypnotherapist in private practice in Roseville, CA (www.dr-rg.com), practicing since 1997. Also, I am happily married in the temple (Manti) since 1996 and have 4 sons. I am a volunteer writer and contributor to LDS Dimension. I use my training, education, and experience to share insights with LDS Dimension on all things of interest to the LDS dating community. Please read my articles and columns on this site to assist you in your online dating journey. Also, to be considered for an answer in a future Q and A column, please email me your dating/relationship oriented questions to drgilchrist@yahoo.com. Finally, I also offer a powerful, effective worldwide custom hypnosis recording service just for LDS Dimension members for weight loss, pornography, and many other issues of concern to those in the LDS dating community (please learn more now at www.dr-rg.com/lds; email me questions to drgilchrist@yahoo.com).