The finishing section of my workout today was 5 x 50m uphill runs with 10kg in the wheelbarrow. It was quite unpleasant, and there was a grumpy, negative voice in my head that tried to tell me to give up before the workout was actually over. I huffed and puffed. My muscles were burning. But as suffered through the pain (or is it pleasure in pain?) of my workout I thought about the lady who lives next door to us who was sitting on her balcony watching me as I gasped through the last few sets.
She was one of the unfortunate ones who, at the age of 25, had a stroke whilst doing a gym workout! Unbelievable huh. Just weeks before she’d been told by her doctor to sharpen up her act and get herself healthy or she was going to be in big trouble health-wise.
Life can be incredulously cruel sometimes!
She is now 46 and despite her paralysis and inability to use her left side, she is the healthiest she’s ever been and is a walking (yep, she can now walk) encyclopaedia on everything healthy. She was one of the fortunate ones to get a second chance at life, and she’s certainly making the most of it.
So as I huffed and puffed and cursed myself for groaning and for not enjoying the burning in my legs, I turned my thoughts upside down.
How cool is it that I have a body where I can use all my limbs, go about daily activity with no second thought, and do anything I wish to do. How cool is it that I FULL and absolute control over my health today and tomorrow.
Don’t disrespect your body. Don’t take it for granted. You only get one body, one chance at good health, and one chance to determine your quality of health in the years to come.
Prevention is better than cure. We all know that. It gets drummed into our ears by all manner of health professionals. But how many of us actually act on it? How many of us are doing everything we can to prioritise our health? How often do the ‘It’s never too late to start’ and ‘Prevention is better than cure’ clichés fall on deaf ears?
It doesn’t matter what your history may say about you. Yesterday doesn’t matter today – it’s gone. But today matters tomorrow, and you can change your tomorrow by focussing on and having full control over what you do today.
The old ‘bucket list’ is brought up in conversation far more often than it ever used to be these days. We talk about the adventures that we’d embark on if we knew we only had a certain amount of time left in this world. We talk about the places we’d venture to see, and the cultures we’d like to immerse ourselves in.
Rather than waiting or forever hoping that you won’t hear those words that make you suddenly have to give your bucket list a whole lot of thought, how about embarking on a new kind of bucket list – one that fills your metaphorical bucket with health and wellness. Create a list of things that you can do today, tomorrow, this week or this month that’ll improve your current status of health. A bucket that is full to the brim with regular healthful activity is less likely to get bumped, knocked over, or given a shortened life-span. It’s a timely metaphor…think about it. Fill your bucket today and every day, and you’ll have more time and more wellness to enjoy ticking off your real bucket list.
Prevention is better than cure, always.