It’s An Uphill Battle From Here

Earlier today I was in the YMCA finishing up a swim workout and I noticed this guy beside me that just had a HUGE grin on his face from ear to ear. I couldn’t help but ask what he was smiling about (because NOBODY gets that excited to be drowning in the pool). His response was incredible, “This is my first time in the gym in I don’t know how many years.” And after smiling at him for a few seconds to acknowledge his accomplishment he spoke again, “It feels good.” My initial thought was something along the lines of ‘I know’ or ‘Yeah, it’s kind of a staple to living a healthy life.’ But I didn’t want to rain on his parade, so I instead asked what motivated him to start. And like most people, he had been involved in sports of some kind while growing up, but then he wasn’t. Life happened. More important things started to pop up and his exercise got put on the back burners… Why do we allow this to happen?

I think any person you ask will tell you that they have a booked schedule and almost less than no free time available, no matter what their age is. My high school golfers have a full schedule between practices and class; my executives are constantly traveling and attending meetings, juggling a family life, and maybe even trying to sneak in a round, or two, of golf on the weekends with some friends; and my dance moms? Well they are consumed completely with running their girls around from practice to practice, competition to competition, and oh yeah…they have jobs too. As a new gym owner, I am training clients from 6am to finish at 8 or 9pm in the evenings, meeting new people in the afternoons, developing my online training platform, attend several bible study groups, and try to see my girlfriend a few times in between all that! So…life happens and all of the sudden we are bogged down and left with no time for “Me Time.”

Through my personal experiences, I have concluded that being rushed from client to client and from place to place sucks! Period. It left me feeling exhausted, unhappy, completely unmotivated, and kind of lonely in a weird sort of way. Living life in this manner is not sustainable, for me anyways. So, I decided to do something about it and create some much-needed change. At the time I was just starting this book called The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and it is packed full of different perspectives and ways to approach your day with a clear mindset, increased motivation, and squeeze just a tad bit more enjoyment out of your life. The only problem is that this is NOT a pill that you can take, it is NOT a quick-fix to your diet, it is NOT a new exercise fad. It is creating a mental mindset to be conscious of every decision we make. In everything we do, we are either making healthy and beneficial choices, or we are making unhealthy choices that drain us of our energy.

Now, I start my days early in the morning with time set aside specifically for reading my daily devotionals, drinking plenty of water to rehydrate, setting my top 3 priorities for the day, and even journaling from time to time about whatever is on my mind. Sounds goofy, I know. The sound of waking up even earlier sucks, I know. But that is the problem; many of us simply don’t show up on a day-to-day basis to take action on things that will ultimately lead to a happier and healthier life. Of course it is easier to grab some fast food, as opposed to going to the grocery store, AND cooking, AND cleaning up afterwards. We have all heard the expression that life isn’t easy…so why do we expect it to be any different when it comes to our health? It isn’t easy to make it to the gym; nor is it any easier to prepare most of our meals; nor is it any easier to just find a few minutes of downtime to even think about what you could be doing to make you happy. It gets worse. It is even harder to be consistent at any of these, much less all of them! BUT there is good news; no matter where you are at in your level of fitness, you are only one good choice away from making the right one. You will trip and stumble a few times along the way to creating a healthier lifestyle; it is guaranteed. The secret to remember here is that there is no secret at all! It comes down to hard work and actively making the right decisions for you.

 

“The most successful people in life are those that do the things that they know they need to, even when they don’t feel like it.” – Peter J. Voogd