I ran across this article today….and while I do not typically write on topics like this, I find that it is very important……important enough for me to share with you. The whole article is not very long and worth the read for sure!

The three items of gold from the article that particularly hit home for me are:

1) “Everything involves sacrifice. Everything includes some sort of cost. Nothing is pleasurable or uplifting all of the time. So the question becomes: what struggle or sacrifice are you willing to tolerate? Ultimately, what determines our ability to stick with something we care about is our ability to handle the rough patches and ride out the inevitable rotten days.”

2) “What most people don’t understand is that passion is the result of action, not the cause of it.”

3) “What is your legacy going to be? What are the stories people are going to tell when you’re gone? What is your obituary going to say? Is there anything to say at all? If not, what would you like it to say? How can you start working towards that today?”

Something I have realized lately are that the things that use to hold value for me and were my extrinsic motivators have changed. I no longer derive satisfaction and fulfillment from what I have the past 15 years of my life. I currently am at an in-pass of where I have been and where I want to be. At the age of 38, I hardly think this is the appropriate time in my life to have these thoughts! Yet, here they are and here I am.

My thoughts:

1) Life is made up of a lot of different cost/benefits jammed together. The sacrifices/costs that I used to be willing to tolerate are no longer so. Now the rough patches are increasingly more difficult. Is this the true catalyst to change??

2) I have never been much of a “talker”; I am a “doer”…..an “action taker”. The less you do the less you want to do. Motivation is not cultivated from complacency. Doing something, anything is better than not doing at all. At the very least by doing, you will learn what or how not to do or what you do not want to do.

3) I said before and I’ll say it again….if you do not know where you are going you will not know how to get there. If you can define, imagine, visualize, describe, believe, know…what the end game looks like you are much more likely to arrive there. It can be argued there is never a “there” there though; the end game is always moving and evolving.

The problem is that most people while not content, fulfilled, or satisfied with their life or areas of their life, do not put forth the time and effort to soul search and think through these things…..to answer those questions. People go day-in-and-day-out knowing they want something different but just keep living the same life anyway. Life is short, really short, too short….

The other day I heard someone talking about a family member who was ill with a cold or flu or something like that. The the person said something to the effect of “it gets harder and harder to fight-off and recover from” the cold or flu “the older you get/are”.

It took everything I had inside of me to not interject my opinion on what the person had said.

Let’s talk perspective for a second….it is true that it seems like the older people get the easier it is to get sick and the more difficult it is to get well.

What’s age have to do with it?!?

I’M HERE TO TELL YOU THAT, THAT STATEMENT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE TRUE!

Regardless of your age….young, teenage, middle aged, retirement age, twilight-years….if your body is in less than optimal health/poor health you will get sick often and have a difficult time recovering from illnesses. If your body is healthy you will not get sick often and when or if you do you will recover quickly.

This is not a state of age, it is a state of the health of your body.

It is NOT a given that as you age you have to resign to being unhealthy and wasting away.

I am getting into my middle aged years and the idea of muscle loss, posture loss, health and immune system loss is scary to me. I want to be old and healthy and strong. I want to wipe all my parts myself util I die.

If you are like me, you are interested in longevity and quality of life through he twilight-years. You can be healthy and strong!

You have to eat nutrient-dense foods, quality foods, quality water, have a healthy gut and digestion, support your immune system, support your brain health, walk during the day, exercise the right way (aka: sprints and lifting weights), mitigate stress, get quality sleep, spend time with those you love…having community with others.

Your body is one machine, all your systems are intertwine together, treat it as such when dealing with your health. Your body is a miraculous machine that wants to survive and thrive. Your body will heal itself and be healthy if you give it the inputs to match the outputs you want.

Do not resign to what society tells you will happen to you as you age.

Live long, live well, be healthy!

Does a New Year = Change for you?

Going into a new calendar year usually brings up thoughts and feelings of a clean-slate, a new start, change for the better…..

Most people do not like change….we are creatures of habit….

Although I am a creature of habit – I personally know, think, and believe that change is the one thing that is dependable, therefore it should be embraced. That is the kind of change that we do not necessarily see coming….

But….I want to talk about deliberate change….meaning conscious and intentional engagement.

Deliberate change occurs with consistent and persistent action.

The word consistent is defined as “of a person, behavior, or process unchanging in achievement or effect over a period of time” and “not containing any logical contradictions” and “holding firmly together” and “fixed; firm” (sources: google.com and dictionary.com).

The word persistent is defined as “continuing firmly in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition” and “continuing to exist or endure over a prolonged period” of time and “lasting or enduring tenaciously” and “constantly repeated” (sources: google.com and dictionary.com).

I have heard it said and believe it to be true that permanent change cannot be made without a person being aware of their “why”. If a person does not have a strong enough attachment to the reason “why” the change needs to occur then the change they want will not come to pass. I agree with this thought.

In my life there have been changes that I have wanted and perhaps needed but my reason “why” was not big enough or strong enough to effect the change I wanted. For example, I smoked for years. I knew that I needed to stop, I wanted to stop, but I did not have a strong enough reason “why” to actually stop. I went back and forth for years, I stopped for 3 years and started back up again. When a family member close to me was diagnosed with cancer (not related to smoking) it hit me….”why” am I deliberately killing myself? This person did not treat their body the way I was and they are sick! All of a sudden my “why” became very BIG and STRONG. I stopped smoking immediately and that was that.

We all have desires, wishes, dreams, and improvements to be made; the need for deliberate, conscious, and intentional changes in our life. If you want and or need to make effective permanent change find your “why”. Make sure your “why” is specific, big, strong, and important to you. Remind yourself every day all day “why” you are going to make the choice that will bring your closer to your goal instead of further away from it.

Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. – Hippocrates

Nutrition, Holistic Medicine, Eastern and Western Medicine – Why does it have to be one or another? Why not use the best of all four to live a healthy, long life?

You are not only what you eat but you are what your body can digest and absorb. The first line of health and fitness is a healthy gut (aka. digestive tract – from mouth to colon).

The Candace Philosophy of eating includes the following guidelines:

– If your food didn’t have a mother, fall from a tree, or grow from the ground DO NOT eat it.

– If you cannot pronounce the ingredients DO NOT eat it.

– Food spoils and needs refrigeration, if it will last years in your pantry DO NOT eat it.

– No boxes, no bags, no cans. No “eatable products”.

– Ask yourself, “Would what you are putting in your mouth be recognized as food 150 years ago?”

– Go fresh, go frozen. Try farmers markets.

– Just say no to GMO (genetically modified foods)

– Avoid Gluten, Avoid Non-Fermented Whole Soy, Avoid Pasteurized Dairy

DO EAT…….grass-fed/grass-finished beef and other meats. Organic free-range eggs and chicken (not vegetarian – chickens are not vegetarians). Raw dairy and raw fermented dairy. A lot of veggies. A lot of healthy fats. Some starchy roots and tubers. Some fruit. A few nuts and seeds.

Note: dairy and grains are not a necessity for human survival or good health. All the vitamin and minerals you may get from these food groups you can get from vegetables, meat, fruit, and fats.