…the rest is up to you.
We all start out with the gift of youth, provided by God Almighty. As we age it is up to us to maintain this body we are blessed with.
The common scenario. Most children start out healthy, active, eager, and resilient – physically, emotionally, mentally.
Many young people get involved with organized sports or are otherwise active throughout the schooling years, that is through high school and/or college. During this time our God given adaptive response, enzymatic potential, activity levels, and hormone profiles compensate for areas where we may neglect proper care.
What does this mean? OK, fair question. Smoking, drinking, recreational drug use/abuse, eating highly processed, packaged and fast foods, less than ideal sleep patterns, unwise choices for activity (high impact sports, unnatural movements, sedentary and inactive lifestyles, etc.) can be largely overcome by those things listed in the above paragraph.
In general, but in declining degree, this can be perpetuated until about the age of thirty. After this time or rather during this time (from birth until current age) the compounded effects of years of poor care begin to manifest themselves. Many people look and feel older than their age. Cholesterol levels, extra body weight, aches and pains, soreness, sleeplessness, inability to properly recover from many activities – or a prolonged time period to recover, undue stress induced by inability to cope, the list goes on and on.
Then the complaints and excuses come that try and rationalize or otherwise explain why: not enough time, I got pregnant and had kids, it’s hereditary, bad genes, can’t afford a gym, don’t have a gym, no one to exercise with, too stressed out, I deserve to: sit and watch TV (or eat ice cream and cake everyday, sleep in, be lazy on the weekend, etc.), or any other excuse as to why any person is having any particular or assortment of results from their poor choices.
This can be prevented and to a degree reversed. It all comes back to what we stated above: We all start out with the gift of youth, provided by God Almighty. As we age it is up to us to maintain this body we are blessed.
A change in thinking helps to illustrate how.
You don’t pay the price for healthy eating, regular exercise, and clean lifestyle habits – You reap the rewards of good health, plentiful energy, resilience to most of life’s stresses, a longer and a more enjoyable life, and you look and feel much, much better than others the same age as you.
Step one is to realize what is happening, what will happen, and to OPEN YOUR EYES and look around at others to see exactly how you do not want to end up at 30, 40, 50, 60,…, 90.
Step two and Step three happen at the same time. You start right now to implement and incorporate healthier and more positive habits and behaviors into your life. And you start learning what you need to learn to continually improve. Today all the information is available to everyone who has access to an internet connection – and it’s free.
There are no secrets.
How do you improve your health? You learn about and start incorporating healthy eating and regular exercise into your life.
How do you keep mentally sharp and improve your capacity to learn, remember, and think? You read, study, learn, and otherwise “exercise” your mind.
How do you improve any skill (sales, parenting, sharpshooting, lovemaking, gardening, etc.)? You read, study, learn, and practice that skill until your desired level of competency or mastery is achieved.
Step four is to just do it. You must be persistent, consistent, and have the patience to continue on.
How long?
How long do you want to have great relationships, great health, plentiful energy, pain free movement and continual mobility of you physical body?
How long do you want to be mentally sharp, have a great memory, and the ability to learn new things and grow?
How long do you want to enjoy making love to your partner? To being the best in your field or occupation? How long do you want to be a great parent?
The answer is rather obvious isn’t it?
Youth only gets us so far. (Thank God Almighty for that and the mental capacity to be able to learn and grow as we age.)
The rest is up to you.