Wrong with Me

By Guest Blogger David Lin
I’m not exactly what you would call healthy. I know that I’ve been guest writing for a health and fitness blog, but after years of trying, I can now barely jog a full mile. I juggle a cabinet full of medications twice every day. I still need to lose some 20 lbs of fat. I can’t tell you how many excuses I’ve made for myself or how many times I ignored what I needed to do to save my health despite knowing full well how.
 
It would be completely reasonable for you to feel like I’ve been wasting your time. The truth is that I haven’t been writing these posts for all of you - these are all written for the sake of just one of you. There’s a lot that is wrong with me...

• I’ve tried a lot of different diets: the DASH diet, the Mediterranean diet, calorie restriction, Nutrisystem, Atkins, and the ketogenic diet.

 

• I’ve tried all sorts of fitness programs and systems: yoga, couch to 5k, kickboxing, P90X, swim training, Krav Maga, Tough Mudder, and long distance cycling.

 

• I’ve tried a bunch of dietary supplements: vitamin D3, magnesium, calcium, psyllium husk fiber, vitamin C, fish oil, green tea extract, zinc, vitamin B, lutein, and probiotics in several forms.

 
And all for more than a few days or weeks. It’s not that nothing ‘worked.’ They all did something. It’s not even that all of it wasn’t enough. Everything I do to reclaim my health has to be balanced against the other side of the equation, to counter all of the things that caused my health to decline in the first place.
 
To effectively reclaim my health, I had to know a lot more about the problem.

For me, the most obvious area to look at is my own character. I can be pretty lazy in general. I frequently seek the easy way out, the convenient option, the path of least resistance. I sometimes ignore the deep issues that are hard to look at. I also indulge my easily satisfied desires without too much thought for discipline.
 
I love cookie dough ice cream, the full fat and real sugar kind. You know what I’m talking about.

And for all the running and exercise I do, I pretty much hate all of it. There are a lot of other things wrong with me that would take too long to get into, but what’s important about my character is that these are the things I can always do something about.
 
I’m not going to tell you that you can change your nature, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, or climb up off your knees and become a new person. If you can - great! That’s probably the best thing you can do. But the rest of us will probably have to look at ourselves in a different way: how do I build a solution around my flaws?
 
Convenience seekers will struggle with meal plans that require a lot of planning, forethought, and execution. Comfort seekers will struggle with fitness plans that will leave you with aches and pains. Those that avoid thinking about things that make you sad or uncomfortable will struggle to directly confront the challenges to your health.
 
But the problem is not just you. Your medical and psychological situations are equally important.
 
I don’t get into specific recommendations about diet, supplements, or fitness regimen because you really should discuss this with your medical experts. All medical insurance, including Medicare/Medicaid covers preventative healthcare for this very reason. You have access to highly trained doctors, physicians assistants, and nurses, whether they are good or bad, understanding or not, robotic or warm, to help answer your questions and to discuss issues of your personal health.

In my case, I have medical issues that constantly tax my health, willpower, discipline, and mental well-being. Maintaining and improving my health is a constant and unrelenting struggle that has stunned not only my doctors but the doctors they bring in to consult on my case. I have clawed my way from having no prognosis to having a future to plan and scrape for. The closer I get to feeling normal on The Climb (what’s this?), the more exhausted I am for the effort. I’m tired, but for my character and my situation, I found a way or made one.
 
You have a number of obstacles to improving or even maintaining your health. Understanding what these are and how these work will also help you design solutions that fit your character, situation, and unique pattern of issues. That’s not something I can do for you, but something you have to do for yourself. What my journey has taught me is that it starts with discovering and accepting what’s wrong with you. I’m never alone because I walk with all that is wrong with me.
 
David
More of this deep and personal connection? https://mudkingdom.com