The Search: Healthy habits and your politics | Columns | utdailybeacon.com – UT Daily Beacon

Its no leap in logic to say that healthy daily habits help your mind mature and function at a higher level. Therefore, your ability to operate within the toxic sphere of politics will be increased when you follow some practical steps that improve your daily life. These are steps that I follow, or at least try to, every day and have been proven to help many people.

First, clean your room and make your bed daily. While it might seem a trivial thing to do, and nowhere close to being affiliated with politics, everything has a purpose. It is much more difficult to organize and clean up the structure of western society if an individual is incapable of making their bed daily. Accomplishing small tasks in the morning is good for someones psyche, since it will give an individual the confidence needed to accomplish bigger tasks. It is also well known that an organized room and a neatly tucked bed will help an individual sleep better. If someone sleeps well, accomplishes small tasks to start of their day and eats a good breakfast, they are more prepared to begin the larger tasks of the day, and more prepared to explain their political views.

Laziness is not an option, dont settle for being an unhealthy person.

Next, physical exercise not only helps the human body in an obvious way, but it also sharpens the mind. This is a big task that needs confidence to begin, as walking into TRECS can sometimes be a daunting task as a wave of Gym Shark apparel meets you as you enter the lower level and no this is not a sponsored product placement. If you are seeking political empowerment, try maintaining a disciplined exercise routine its an incredibly obtainable way to gain empowerment. Its also proven that having a healthy amount of physical exercise daily can help prevent getting sick from viral infections, yes even COVID-19.

How does working out help my views on politics? Well, if working out helps strengthen both your body and your mind, then your ability to solve problems increases, which applies to public problems as well. Going to TRECS everyday has helped me respect how much stronger other people are than me and setting a goal to be like them. Dont look at other people that are better off than you, whether were talking about money or gains in the gym, and seek to tear them down for working so hard. Instead, build yourself up to be better than they are. Being a hard worker is more empowering than being jealous and toxic.

Dont wait for other people to empower you, do it yourself.

The last practical step to improve your ability to operate within the world of politics is respect. You have complete control over your emotions and complete control over your actions. Therefore, choosing to respect everyone no matter what is a choice and is very practical to do so. This means republicans need to respect the person who flies the USSR flag in their room, and democrats need to respect those who wear MAGA hats.

Respect does not mean agreement, and it does not mean you cannot stand for what you believe in. It means stop being vile, toxic and rude, and stop acting superior to those who are different than you. Inclusivity and diversity means including everyone no matter what. Respect means you cant use Taylor Swifts music as an excuse to hate men. Respect means putting your ego down and realizing that even if the other person is wildly wrong, they might still have a valid basis of an argument. This will help a lot in your political life but will also help you with family members on Thanksgiving and any other interaction you might have with other people.

Doing these three practical steps will help your personal life increase in prosperity, which will bleed over into your views on politics.

To be a healthy person, you must respect yourself and with others.

Maxwell Hawkins is a junior at UT this year studying political science, public administration and economics. He can be reached at mhawki13@vols.utk.edu.

Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon's editorial staff.

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The Search: Healthy habits and your politics | Columns | utdailybeacon.com - UT Daily Beacon