What if I told you I could make you look and feel 10 years younger, increase your energy levels and improve your quality of sleep? You’d do everything I said to do, right? Wrong. You’d do everything I said to do that didn’t require hard work. While I have not personally executed the multiple scientific experiments necessary to prove such a bold, blanket statement, I do know it to be true. Proper diet and exercise will give you all of the above, and then some. A complete eating and exercise program will improve your life from the inside out. Yet most people aren’t doing it. Not because they don’t want it, but because many don’t want to work for it.
Everyone wants a short-cut. Millions of people are making millions of dollars because of it. People spend bundles of money on pills, creams and infomercial gadgets to make them look thinner. It is big business. Food companies are in on it too. There are more all natural, fat-free, low-fat, metabolism-boosting, fat-blasting, no sugar, low-sugar, no carb, gluten-free, whole grain products out there than ever before. Yet every year we keep getting fatter.
Unfortunately, even gyms make money off of people NOT working out. In fact, they count on it. They sell far more memberships than any gym can hold knowing not everyone will show up. Gyms lure people in with low rates and long contracts, preying on the guilt people carry around because they “should” be working out. A seemingly unethical ploy, but it is how gyms make their money. Think about it, in January the gym is a crowded mess, but come April, where did everybody go? They aren’t all out of town. Most of them are in bed or at happy hour; their aspirations of fitness slipping away along with their money in the form of automatic payments to their gym.
Still not convinced? Take a look at the beauty industry. Women (I realize I may be accused of stereotyping here, but I write what I know…) will buy just about ANYTHING if you tell them it will make them look younger or thinner. The more expensive, the better. All natural you say? I want two! Women are paying embarrassing amounts of money on 15ml of this serum, 1 fl ounce of that potion. They are lifting and tucking, injecting and scrubbing all in the name of eternal youth.
Don’t get me wrong, I think a woman, or anyone for that matter, should do whatever it takes (within reason) to make them feel good about themselves, but I believe that it starts on the inside.
I think about it a lot. How come we know what we need to do, yet so many people aren’t doing it? It isn’t because we don’t want to look better (see above rant on face cream), or because we don’t want to feel better (who doesn’t want to feel better?!) I imagine some people get discouraged because they feel like attaining a healthy body the hard way is too far out of reach. I am here to tell you that is not the case. I believe everyone is one workout away from a better body.
I think the real answer to my question is because too often, too many of us are adverse to the hard work it requires. And believe me, it requires hard work. Your 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer did right by your heart and lungs, but it’s not going to make your butt look any better. Change in body composition requires the type of chest-thumping, muscle-burning exercise that isn’t happening in most gyms across the country. Yet another reason people give up: they start to feel a little better with exercise, but because they are simply “showing up” for their workouts, they don’t look much different. This is because you can’t just go through the motions and expect change. You have to challenge your limits.
Think about it. What in your life do you value that you didn’t have to work hard for? Anything worth having is worth working for, and there is no substitute for hard work. Your relationship? I am pretty sure it didn’t just fall in your lap. Or if it did, there have been days that weren’t as blissful as others. But you persevered. Your family? Please….who hasn’t dreaded a holiday gathering here and there? Yet those are the people you go to bed thinking about, who always have your back. Your career? Anyone who is happy where they are come Monday morning didn’t get there by being lackadaisical, I promise you that.
So how come when it comes to our own health, our own well being, we take short-cuts? This is the one avenue in life that has a specific recipe, a guaranteed road map to success, yet we don’t always follow it.
Life is short and precious, yet some days are long and arduous. So why not do everything you can to take care of yourself in order to feel (and a fantastic side effect…to look) your best; to do everything you can to make your journey long and blissful. It isn’t in a bottle, it doesn’t come in a package, and you won’t find it on a shelf. So get off the bench, and put yourself into the game.