The Climb

By Guest Blogger David Lin

Let’s not mince words and let’s get right down to brass tacks. If tough talk discourages you - bail immediately for a feel good article about travel in the Tuscan sun. Good health is not a destination. Good health is the way that you travel to your very end. Because it is not a destination, if you think of it as a place, good health will constantly elude you. There is no peak, no summit and no end. There is only a beginning: I call it the climb.
 
“If I just hit my target weight of 138 lbs. I’ll be skinny.”
 
“If I can run an 8 minute mile, I’ll be in shape.”
 
If you could just see yourself a year down the road after you reached a simple goal. A couple weeks of overindulgence, a month of too much time spent on the couch, a summer without more than a handful of visits to the gym.
 
“Why aren’t I more healthy?”
 
After a few halting attempts at achieving good health, you might begin to suspect that there is something defective about your body. Health always looks easier for other people. You see trimmer people eating bigger meals than you. You know a guy that can run a mile straight off the couch without breaking a sweat that never seems to exercise. The cruel thing is that there is some truth to this.
 
The stress of having poor health makes your health worse. That’s what people are talking about when they say: “It’s all downhill from here." Big bellies make it harder to tie your athletic shoes. Diabetes slows healing and recovery times.
 
"David, you're making this sound too hard."
 
The nature of the beast is something you have to know and get comfortable with. This is a bull you have to grab by the horns and confront. If you don't grab the first handhold and pull yourself up, you will slide into oblivion. The first step is not easy. The climb does not get easier, either, but you will get stronger - physically, mentally, socially, emotionally.
 
Start out by stretching your goals to look more like a journey and less like a destination. Instead of "reach 178 lbs," try "average 185 lbs for three weeks." Swap "run a 10 minute mile" with "run seven 10 minute miles." It's not all just fitness and weight either: the climb is about friends, family, work-life balance, expanding your mind, and dealing with the things that are wrong with your body, your home, and your community.
 
You exist to do more than lose weight and exercise. So don't ignore your health. Take care of yourself and all that you touch and I'll see you out there on the mountain.
 
David
 
More of this brutal truth? https://mudkingdom.com