Two important times in Your life...

It is easy to consider what everyone else would like you to do but, it's tragically not so easy to consider what it is you should really be doing with your life. I have always let people's perception of what I should be doing in my life get in the way of how I should really be living and enjoying my own.  Case in point, I tried to live up to others expectations, and when I would not meet them it would effect me pretty bad, (ex-relationships, terrible jobs, clients that could not be satisfied, etc). I would and could see how others feel trapped, like there is no other way that they could "Succeed" in life. We all have lived through moments of tragedy in our life. I mean we face the fact that this is the real world but, it's each of those unique moments that we build off of to make who we are, and what we were meant to do in this lifetime.   I will go back to my favorite epiphany, you have a designated expensive resource called lifespan, if you don't use it well you will never be able to get it again and you spent it on something you can't be happy or excited about later. Try your best and see if one little positive change a day, starting now, can't make the biggest difference in your life later, making that lifespan well spent! With that change you will hopefully truly understand the the two most important days in your life, the day you were born and the day you find out why....

Complacency be Damned

Complacency is really the "death" of lots of things but, in this case I specifically want to talk about it from the health perspective.  Let's look at What I would consider to be some of the most important aspects to health that keep us fit; exercise, challenges, and diet (specifically nutrition).  Each of these key aspects say a lot to what keeps a person healthy.  Let's start from there, because I can preach and preach upon the other benefits of being healthy but this is what I endured health-wise recently, speaking from personal experience.

Let's begin with exercise and the effects as it deals with a person's overall ability to do anything.  Exercise at its most simple form, as defined by Merriam Webster, "bodily exertion for the sake of developing and maintaining physical fitness." bodily exertion?  Holy moly!!! Does that mean we are going to beat ourselves up just to make ourselves healthy?   Well… in a way yeah, that's exactly it! However, It's so much more than that.  I mean if a person is here on earth living, technically  their heart is pounding away to push blood through their body.  Their lungs provide their body with more oxygen than ever really considered as they breathe as those lungs expand and contract.  Cells are dying off and be regenerated as an amazing rate constantly.  There are way more things happening but it's important to not loose site of the key.  The point is that a person's body needs exercise to continue to develop, and that same body knows its innately, without thought from the person's who's body it is! It does this by consitantly pushing, going and going so that it can take care of itself better as we grow.  Therefore, innately we should exercise as deemed by our own body!

Now complacency, as defined  by good old  Merriam "self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies" Say what now!!! Being self-satisfied so the point of being unaware of actual dangers or deficiencies?  Pffffffftttttt.... Holy cow, I couldn't imagine not being aware of dangers while being relaxed!!! I mean, for the most part, I try my best to make sure I fully know what I'm getting into when it comes to anything….. Right?  No…. living is completely that the feeling of just going and not knowing everything.  When we start off our life we are a baby, completely unaware of anything other than the fact that we went from a warm completely snuggled place to a cold non-snuggled place.  Dangers are everywhere but, to avoid being completely unable to handle what shows up we have physical and innate exercise.  Walking, from baby steps onward, is pretty much our first challenging exercise. Moving our body constantly is in fact exercise. Jumping, playing, running around!!! All Exercise!!! What does that mean!  At one point we have to keep it up because we become good at it, and begins the start of the vicious evil complacency.  

Hence from this point we move on to my next aspect, which is challenge.  Challenge provides us with a means by which we test where we are in life and if we defines whether have improved!  Let's throw that out there again, a means by which we can truly see a difference of what we did back then, to what we are doing now and then compare it to see if we did it better! Ok so that’s not Merriam's Definition, it's mine, I mean Merriam Webster isn't writing this, I am.  Here's the deal, if we sit here and look at the idea behind what we want to accomplish in life and compare it to what we don’t accomplish.  My guess is that we want a larger ratio than we started this earth on, right?  Correct.... that ratio provides worth to someone, probably ourselves, and that worth is what we live for.  So if we challenge ourselves to accomplish feats in life, no matter what they are, being  fit and living a healthy lifestyle will provide an optimal chance to accomplish that feat.  It's just logic and critical thinking at that point but, a good reason to keep up exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

Now to fuel everything we do, we must accept the importance of nutrition so that it gives us what we need to exercise and challenge ourselves, cause and effect sort of relationship.  I avoid saying diet because, we all see that word as such a negative word because it's associated with restriction of "tasty" foods.  So to not focus on the word "diet" but what the food gives us, we will focus on nutrition.  I'm going to go out on a limb here to say it like the '80s would advertise it, "it’s the building blocks of the human body."  Now…. So can I eat an infamous Twinkie and consider it a building block! No…. And yes….   I wanted to get the no out before I explain the yes. First, personally I try to avoid as much man made food as possible, and the main reason is that earth grows enough good food that we don’t necessarily need the man-made stuff.  However, at the core of the man-made stuff there is the components that our body can use which are the standard Fat, Carbs and Protein. Each of these in certain quantities and based on physical activities are useful in replenishing to help maintain the human body.  Does that mean go out and workout hard so you can eat Twinkies…. No…. So stop that thinking right now!!! But does that mean just for the sake of life we can eat a Twinkie once in a blue moon and live a healthy life…. Yes.  Then Queue, Complacency.

I say Queue Complacency because I see it time and time again where people start to notice if they ate a Twinkie, they didn’t become unhealthy they could probably do it again sooner and still be ok! (By the way I want to go on the record here that I am not just downing on Twinkies, one could just as easily place something else unhealthy there and it's comes out being the same result.) Back to the point, the point is that complacency sits in and boom the vicious spiral that causes someone to lose their health because even though they are working out, and working  out hard mind you, they aren't getting anywhere health wise because they are just eating garbage, metaphorically that is and not literally.  They aren't improving only staying the same, no matter how much effort they put into it. So what did I just talk about because it was tuned out with all the words? Don’t eat crap and expect challenges be successful!  End…. Of….. Story…..

Bloody knuckles from my own complacency!

Lastly, I wanted to share my story about being complacent because it does even effect me, and really that’s what drove me to write this.  I have not done Martial arts for a few years now, and by few I mean probably about 7.  I worked out at the gym the other day because, I really needed to and it had been a few weeks since I had.  First, I noticed that  I lost weights when lifting (frustrating),  I lost speed while running (uber frustrating), and my knuckles bled because I had not done a punching back in a while (anger causing).  I was Complacent where I was at but, I did not challenge myself further everyday like I needed to.  So from frustration comes determination,  and now I'm back on the challenging/exercising train. I saw what happened when I missed and I don’t know why I lost sight of what I am trying to accomplish but, I did.  So, I chose from here to change, not dwell on the problem but, move forward and do what I need to do to be better than I was yesterday.  That I pose to you as well, reader, be better than you were yesterday just because…. I urge you to accomplish more than you didn't before your life is complete. Those accomplishments will always be worth it and so will the stories that you can pass the next generation, whether it's your children or someone else's.  

And lastly Complacency be damned!!!

Nutritional What!?!?!

Nutrition is the most vital thing a single individual could claim is responsible for everything. How they think, how they act and ultimately the result on the world from those actions. How can I make such a bold statement?  Simply for the fact that, along side sleep its effects everything a person does.  Here's the deal, no one really considers the impact of nutrition until its too late in the game. Such as when the general population will go to the doctor.  It will be due to one of two things, either a scheduled wellness visit or something is wrong that a person cannot determine by the symptoms they have.  If a person waits until the second option, its too late to be "healthy."  At that point the doctor tries to prescribe something that will help whatever the illness is, pass quicker than the body can do on its own.

Anyway, not to get too far off topic but, the idea is the same. Nutrition needs to be describe in a guide to follow as a human being.  We all have similar requirements when it comes to Nutrition, because we ARE in fact human beings.  As a creature of habit we can chose to alter our current stage of life and habitually become more vital to our vitality. We must understand to get ourselves to a positive frame of health, we have to understand what we are doing wrong.  You cannot make a choice to nutritiously nurture our body if we cannot understand what we are lacking to nurture our body.  I for one will step up and say I don't always make the best options when it comes to food.  Shoot I mean how can one really resist eating just one chip or just one small piece of chocolate when there are multiple sitting there for the taking.  I then take on the responsibility of what that means to do so, nutrition out the door give me the chocolate!

So where does this leave me?  Well, hopefully that didn't kill me right there, so I can change the next thing I eat.  What is that, you ask?  (By the way I'm glad I have such an interactive audience!) It leaves me pondering how can I make the change for the better? Only one word, and are you ready for it, better get the pencil out this might be super complicated! but not really.... Education.  When Education comes to play we analyze what it is we are consuming.  Veggies and fruit!! Eat them moderately but often!

How, is it we lose site of what we learn?  We listen to the media and people with agendas.  Fast food joints are a perfect example.  Granted they have started to pick up that people want healthy fast but, its still a long shot if the only thing healthy is a salad with probably 4 pieces of icerberg with carrots and ranch sauce.  Education will tell you that based on what was given, even in the event that iceberg and carrots were involved, it probably wasn't the most nutritious due to process ranch or even the minimal amount of veggies compared to the fried chicken we might have on top.

The end point is that god gifted every bit of the veggies, and fruits to sustain us for a healthy lifestyle.  If we deviate from that for too long, our bodies begin to fight itself or fail due to the lack of missing building blocks.  These are in fact necessary for a healthy life through and through. Imagine what it would be like to run your car without scheduled maintenance and appropriate fluids and gas. It might run for a little time,  but god help you if you drove that thing for years and years.  Please consider what just an orange, apple or even one nutrition dense salad a day will do for you over all! Stay healthy, live long, and enjoy what god has given us!

Today is the Day.... and repeat....

Today is the day.... How many days does one start that way end up overworked, over stressed and under appreciated?  Well, I did feel that way quite a bit through some of the positions I have held in the past.  Not anymore though!  I chose to help people get to where they want to go and that goal going to be my continued focus from here on out.  What I realized, as a manager, is that people do care about what they are doing but, they put forth what they get back from that same job the are doing.  A person cannot fully put 110% if they do not see 120% back!  Its called investment.  There isn't single person out in the world that wants to just put 110% into something and get 100% back.  That's almost as bad a slavery, with a touch of ownership to a cubicle.  I fully and wholeheartedly feel that't the truest form of effort is when a person sees the impact they make and pushes their self to go the extra mile to put their own mark on it, feeling accomplished in the task at hand. If fact something that Gary Vee said, which if you've never ever heard him before you should Google him right now before you go any further.... I will wait....       Anyway, he says if you can get an employee to care about your business 7-8 out of 10 you need to do whatever it takes to keep that person. Most people will be a 4-6 range out of 10 and that's okay, you can work with that.

Motivation is something to cherish and not burn up!  Each of us take one day after another but, when we are able to see the differences we make in life, we can strive for more differences harder or back away. Then in the end its what we have done that makes us, us.

Final words: Write your story, make it something that defines your name in your book.  You will be surprised how many people can relate to it, which then effects their lives for the better!