Today marks 10 years since I moved to Denver. I was lured here by friendships that began at an Applebee’s in Iowa. Friendships are incredible, but they don’t equal jobs, and I needed one because I was running out of money.

In addition to job searching, I was doing all of the things that you do after moving to a new city, like finding a new yoga studio. After I took my first class at Bikram Yoga Mile High, one of the owners asked if I wanted to sign up for a monthly membership. SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEIT. It didn’t sound smart to shell out for a membership without a job. On the other hand, this STREEEEEETCHING thing had started to guide me in the direction of healthfection. I was shedding pounds, my anxiety-prone mind was starting to calm down, and people were commenting that my skin looked good. SHEEEEEEIT––was it gross before?

I decided that, if I was going to go into credit card debt, it might as well be for my health. Yoga became my job search counselor. It gave me energy to keep searching, helped prepare me for interviews, and provided comfort after rejection. Within a couple months, I had a job and stopped sleeping on my friends Nick’s couch.

A few years later, when I first started purchasing organic produce, one of my friends asked me how much I was spending on food. They were shocked to learn that my grocery budget was nearly the same as my rent. But when I mentioned this story to a fellow hippie, they said: “You can pay the farmer now or the doctor later.”  

Humans are terrible at playing the long game, especially when it requires sacrifice in the short term. In his incredibly insightful new podcast, Seth Godin describes the reasons why people are terrible at playing the long game. When it comes to our health, we have to go on offense and play the long game. Don’t be forced into going on defense because of illness or disease.

Even when I didn’t have a job, I played the long-game and invested in my health. In my short book on self-care hacks, I talk about the importance of investing in yourself in hack #5. You don’t have to buy a yoga membership to invest in your health – even making time for a 10-minute walk every day at lunchtime is an investment in your health. Here at Right to Shine, we play the long game. Commit to paying the farmer or the yoga studio today, so you can save on the doctor later.