Tag: motovation

My why in video format.

Yesterday I wrote about “concepts” and the two things that are constant in life. The first was, Change is constant and the second is things fall apart. Shortly after I posted that video I was looking at My Facebook page and my mom shared the following video. I know I ask you to do a lot of things but I really think this is the easiest and maybe the most impactful way to show you the message that I’m trying to get across. Watch till the end and grab some tissues.

Epic, right? It made me tear up a little bit as well. I could not have scripted a better advertisement of why I make the decisions that I do every single day and why I’m trying to encourage others to make similar long term life choices as well. Life has very few constants as I mentioned earlier, Things are going to change and eventually all things fall apart and don’t function quite like they used to. We have the power in our daily choices to slow down the progression of the later of the two constants, Were never going to stop the aging process with any amount of superfoods and kettlebell exercises but the choices you make today, tomorrow, and 30 years from now could keep you around and active for your loved ones.

Whats the Point???

Covid is running rampant, cupcakes are delicious, beer is cold and in the end when your only promised death and taxes does it really matter if you eat that third slice of pizza. In the grand scheme of things one days worth of decisions doesn’t really add up to much or does it?

We as human beings are the sum collective of all of our life experiences and what we do today, tomorrow and the next day will have a profound impact on who we become a couple of years down the road.

Sure our genetics have some impact on our overall health but its a lot less than most people think. According to the National Institute of Health – https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/traits/longevity Our genetic make up accounts for 25% of our overall health. Leaving us in charge of the other 75% of how our life plays out. I’m not sure about you but I really like those odds.

With that being said If there is another constant in life we can count on its this, LIFE ISN’T FAIR. Not even a little bit most of the time. I had a coworker that ate healthy, exercised like crazy and fought and ultimately lost his 8 year battle with cancer a year and a half ago. It sucked really bad to lose him but there is no doubt in my mind that the way he lived and ate had a profound effect on his quality of life and why he fought as long as he did.

So whats the point when healthy people die suddenly of heart attacks and people who eat McDonalds and smoke a pack of cigarettes a day live to 100? LIFE ISN’T FAIR, some times you get pocket aces and the professional poker player gets double 2’s and he walks away with all of your cash.

I’m not a doctor or a dietitian so all of my advice is anecdotal and I surely hope that you don’t walk into your kitchen after reading this and throw out all your junk food, that isn’t the best way to make a long term change.

What I am advocating for is a slow and steady change to our diets and exercise routine. My mom has a few things that I’ve heard her say a couple of hundred times in my life and one of the best goes like this. “How do you eat an elephant, Brian? One bite at a time! (Thanks mom, I’ve been listening all these years. Love you) When your 8 and trying to write a book report its a little annoying but now its become one of my favorite mantras.

Falling back to the Exercise is where you find it post – https://subjects2change.food.blog/2020/04/13/exercise-is-where-you-find-it/ You will remember that we need to go from 0-10 before we start thinking about whats happening around level 90-100. There we go again how do we get back in shape, one bite at a time.

Call To Action

All things considered the decisions we make today, tomorrow and the next day add up and we can take “control” of our health. You wont see or feel the changes today, tomorrow or the next day but if you remember what my mom always says you will see and more importantly your doctor will notice at your next physical.

We are living to an average age of 78.7 years in America and that number has decreased over the past two years for men. The sadder fact is that we are also losing independent quality of life on top of that, this means we are living shorter and less healthy lives.

I’ve always thought the point of life was to live a long and healthy life so that you can continue to have an impact on the people who need you the most, and that seems like a pretty good point to me.

The people are the best part

About a month I ran in the Hellcat 50k at Historic Lee Field in Green Cove Springs Florida. The race is put on by the military museum of north Florida and features 5 loops around the airfield, in the grand scheme of trail races its not the hardest but the significance of the venue makes it pretty awesome.

I’m not going to focus much on the actual race in this post but more on a gentlemen that I was lucky enough to spend several hours with and some of the lessons that I will take away from this run in the woods.

The first loop I mostly ran by myself I was between the lead pack and the second group of runners. To be honest I was proud of myself that I stuck to the planned pace and didn’t run with the lead group as I’m sure that would have lead to some disastrous results.

On the start of lap two this guy looks at me and says “lets go” and off we went for about 15 miles. After some small talk about the day, races we had run and wanted to run he tells me that he’s 57 years old and that this is his 120th race of marathon distance or longer. Ultra events are great for putting you back in your place, just as soon as you think your’e pretty cool someone 20 years older then you drops an accomplishment bomb like that and your’r right back to newbie territory. But wait it gets even better the last 100 marathons were after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Exercising for 5+ hours is seriously difficult on your body and trying to stay fueled for optimal performance is difficult to say the least with a fully functioning endocrine system. This mans dedication to running and fitness was truly inspiring.

We discussed life, philosophy, jobs, raising kids and all sorts of other topics along the way until I eventually had to walk for a bit during the fourth lap due to a little bit of over heating. fortunately the next mile or so was shaded and the aid station had plenty of waters and a much needed banana and I was back to running strong for the remaining 7-8 miles leaving me with a finishing time of 6:12 putting me in the top third of finishers.

Now we can get to the moral of the story… life throws a lot of obstacles in our way, some are pretty small and easy to overcome like getting a little to hot on a run others like diabetes are massive boulders that can stop us dead in our tracks. This guy was a runner prior to what the doctors told him 100 marathons ago, he didn’t quit he just figured out how to overcome the extra challenges that were going to be placed in front of him and he made it happen.

We could and often fine the reasons to complain about any number of bad situations that get placed in front of us every single day or to paraphrase Scott Worthington, race Director of the Revenant ultra race. https://www.revenant.co.nz/

” complaining sounds like a lot like failing to find the solution to the problem that you are currently facing.”