Did you wake up one day and realise that you are an adult? Yeah, that’s a fun time – when you start to look at people who are just becoming legal to drink or who are in their early twenties and realise that you are definitely well into adulthood now.
At my age my parents were married with two kids one of whom (me!) was almost hitting double digits in age. They had a mortgage and responsibilities and whilst I don’t have any of those responsibilities myself I am still well into the adulting territory as I imagine many of you who are reading this post are.
Whilst at times I can be a bit of a dreamer, I am a realist at heart and the reality is that as an adult we need to protect ourselves – protect our health and our lives and it doesn’t need to be that hard!
Today I’m writing all about how to protect your health and life in a few easy steps which all take under 10 minutes – so there really are no excuses. Work through these tips and see which ones you aren’t doing anything about and find 10 minutes of your life to put them into action – don’t make adulting hard!
// Health
Protecting your health doesn’t need to be all Kale Smoothies & Tofu. A few simple tips can have you going about your day without stressing about the state of your health.
// Diet Choices
Yes, your diet choices absolutely have a lot to do with protecting your health. The good news is that you don’t have to eat strict 100% of the time to have your health covered. Follow the 80/20 rule and remember to eat your colours. 80% of the time make healthy choices and the other 20% of the time eat what ever you feel like even if it’s something deemed ‘unhealthy’. Don’t forget to eat your colours by consuming an array of different vegetables and fruit. A simple think about what you have eaten each day or each week will assist with this – run though how many serves of fruit and vegetables you have had each day and if it’s lacking simply add in a few more.
// Preventing Injury
Preventing injury is super important, ask anyone who is currently sporting an injury and unable to live their life as they usually would. Spend an extra 10 minutes warming up with exercises that are specific to what you are going to be doing in your main workout and you will greatly reduce your chance of injury.
// Reducing Stress
I believe that stress has one of the biggest single negative impacts on our health. Take a look back over the past week and see where you felt stressed out or burned out. Are there some things you could say NO too so that you don’t feel so stressed and overwhelmed? Perhaps you need to take 5 minutes each day to just sit and do nothing, or perhaps you need to remove yourself from certain situations or avoid certain people who stress you out.
// Health Insurance
This post is all about adulting so naturally I am going to mention some very adult words – Health Insurance. It could take as little as ten minutes to get yourself sorted but it could save weeks, months or even years of pain if you ever need to cash in on it. Health insurance is one of those things we often don’t think that we need because we are young and carefree, sorry to say that sickness doesn’t just favour the old and sensible.
//Finance
No matter how you feel about money, what you spend it on or how quickly, it can make a huge difference to your quality of life and your health.
// Savings
Yes, the accountant is going to discuss savings with you. Not the most exciting of topics but it’s something that will definitely help protect you against the unthinkable. Perhaps you just want to throw your career away and start something new that really excites you. Maybe you want to travel overseas or you want to be able to stay at home with your babies when you decide to have them. Unfortunately all of these things cost money, a few minutes right now to set up a savings account and an automatic payment may mean that you will miss those few dollars for the next few weeks but I can guarantee that in a few years time if you’ve been consistent you will be stoked that you invested those 10 minutes in yourself.
// Kiwisaver
Similarly, I’m a huge fan of kiwisaver because as a nation we generally just don’t think about our finances as much as we should, especially finances which won’t affect us until we are at least 65 (and let’s face it, retirement age will likely be 70 by the time we get there). A simple fix for this is to spend 10 minutes enrolling in kiwisaver. Just like the savings mentioned above, yes you will miss that two,three or 4% for the first few weeks, but you will adjust and 70 year old you will be super grateful you can afford to thrive and not just survive. (Failing that, kiwisaver can help you immensely in purchasing your own home if you haven’t done that yet!).
// Insurance
How will you cover your medical bills if something happened to your partner or yourself? If one of you were out of action for a couple of months due to an injury or illness, would you be able to make it through and get the appropriate treatment? What if that sickness lasted a year or more? I wouldn’t wish this on anybody, however a quick 10 minute discussion with nib could leave you covered should the unthinkable occur.
// Online
I wish I didn’t have to write this portion of the post, reality is that being online can be dangerous. However a few simple tips can help keep your life from being stolen or you being scammed.
// Scams
Scams are designed to con you out of your money, I don’t know about you but I worked hard for my money and would like to keep it for myself, not give it away to scammers. Common scams include selling fake goods online where the scammer will sell you something and once you pay for it either not send anything or send something which isn’t what you actually purchased. The reality with buying something online is that you don’t know what you are going to get, the key is to keep this in mind and look for positive signs that the seller is legitimate – typing the name of the website + scam into google for an unknown website is a good start, as is checking that the seller has lots of positive feedback from different people if purchasing online. These extra steps only take a few extra minutes but you save you lots in the long run.
// Identity Theft
Identity theft and catfishing are unfortunately a huge thing on the internet and it isn’t limited to overseas countries. Some New Zealand Social Media Influencers have had their identity stolen in recent times, it’s a very real threat. In this day and age where we post almost everything we do in real time on social media it’s more important than ever to be savvy. Some simple tips here are making sure the location is turned off, addresses aren’t disclosed and to post after the fact. I do this quite often, I generally try not to say if we are going to be away on social media and will post after we get back from an event or trip. You still get to share your photos but people don’t know exactly where you are. Be careful posting personal details, especially those that are the answers to common security questions on website – mothers maiden name anyone? Even better, use cryptic answers as you answers to those security questions. No matter how much you trust someone online, don’t give out your passwords and security information including address and credit card details unless you know that the connection is secure.
// Phishing
No you haven’t inherited millions of dollars from some prince and your bank will never ask you for your password or any other personal details in an email. Also if you haven’t purchased anything from iTunes or Amazon and then get emails saying that you have – it’s probably a phishing scam redirecting you to log in to a website that looks scarily like the one you have ‘purchased’ from. However now your details have been captured and the scammers have it. One of the easiest ways to see if a dodgy (or too good to be true) sounding email is legitimate is to take a look at the from email address. If you received an email from Amazon but the reply address is checkmeout101@gmail.com (fake email) it’s likely a phishing scam – the scammers are getting better at this though so have a really good look – for example customerservice@amazon.info (I made that up but I’ve seen some similar) looks legit but Amazon doesn’t use this domain extension. Be smart on the internet kids!
This post was made possible thanks to nib, as usual all content and opinions are my own. From 1 July all new customers that join nib on a combined hospital and everyday product before 7th August will receive a $200 Prezzy Card after three months of cover. Visit nib for more information.