Everyone Already Knows the Answers
I started chatting with a guy on the chair lift the other day. He asked me if I took off from work to be there. It was mid-day on a Friday. I told him I work from home, so I didn’t have to. I just skipped out for a few hours. When he asked me what I did for work, I told him I run a blog.
“That pays the bills?”
“No,” I laughed, “but hopefully one day it will.”
He asked me what the site was about, so I explained the focus on health and self improvement, which prompted the question, “Are you a psychologist, doctor, nutritionist? What qualifications do you have to give out this advice?”
“No credentials,” I said, “just a life long devotion to the cause, and 10 years working in the healthcare system, where I learned everything we do wrong.”
“Right, treat the symptom, not the cause. My doctor has me on a statin for high cholesterol, and high-blood pressure medication. He’s been telling me for 10 years I’m pre-diabetic, and every time I go back to him he says the same thing. But I keep telling him, this is my new baseline.”
“It might be,” I said, “but the problem is if you do end up with diabetes…” He cut me off.
“I’m not going to get diabetes. I know what my problem is. It’s the three beers I drink before bed. It’s the three brownies and Cheez-its I had for dinner last night. It’s not every night, it’s not all the time, and I’ve really cut back, but I know if I cut it all out, I’d definitely get rid of this belly.”
“But I’m happy,” he continued, “I’m having fun.”
Everyone knows but no one wants to do it. It’s this idea that prompted me to write this piece the other day talking about how the formula is always the same. It’s always the same, beer, brownies, and Cheez-its are bad, and everyone already knows it. But very few people act on it. Not until it’s too late.
The number one reason I hear and read about that makes people finally focus on their health is a health scare. Number one reason. I’d say the number two reason is for their children. I don’t know if there’s a third. Very few people wake up one day and just decide to do it for themselves, which is a shame.
But the problem as I see it is that drinking beers, eating brownies, and snacking on Cheez-its might sound fun, and it might make you happy when you’re doing it, but I have a hard time believing that it’s more fun and creates more happiness than doing the opposite. That it creates more smiles in the longer run compared to being healthy.
I can only speak from personal experience. I’ve been devoted to my health for more than half of my life. And during that time I’ve drank, I’ve done drugs, I’ve stayed up late, I’ve eaten shitty foods enough to know what it all feels like. But I’ve spent many more hours not drinking or doing drugs. Getting a full night’s sleep. I’ve eaten many more meals full of whole foods rich in vitamins, fiber, and other nutrients. And hands down, 10 out of 10 times, the latter is what has made me happy and have fun. And the more dialed in I’ve become over the years, the greater the returns on happiness have been.
If you’re just waiting until you have a health scare, until you finally cross that threshold from pre-diabetes to full blown diabetes, then you are wasting time feeling below optimal. You’re not feeling as good as you could be feeling, which might not seem possible to you, but I promise you it is. If you are allowing alcohol, added sugars, and highly processed foods to occupy a full time seat in your life, then you are allowing those substances to reduce your vibration. You are letting them keep you down.
Life is short, and you only get one. Don’t wait until you have a health scare or until having kids wakes you up. Start making the change now. Every day is a good day to try.