Complacency Kills

This cartoon by Randy Glasbergen says it all! Why is it we convince ourselves that exercise is an option. Do we really have such a low of self-worth that we like being lazy and complacent over being dead?! Maybe the problem is we’ve gotten used to mediocrity and settled on having less than we want. Maybe not looking as good, not feeling as good or not being as healthy as we would like is OK. NO! IT’S NOT OK!

Maybe you just haven’t had your ‘wake-up call’ or maybe you aren’t quite uncomfortable enough and need to put on another 10lbs until you’re REALLY sick of yourself! I’VE been there!! I think, “exactly how crappy do I have to feel to get my butt in gear?! And when was not being happy with myself OK?” HOW RIDICULOUS AND STUPID OF ME!!

Obesity continues to climb the charts. Just this week our local headlines read “15 years ago Florida’s obesity rate was 49.1%. Now the state waddles in at a gut busting 62.6%”. Maybe the headline should have read “OBESITY KILLS: Only 37.4% of Floridians are safe from the epidemic”.

What is wrong with America? I think it’s pretty simple. We’ve taken this whole freedom and rights thing to an extreme. We’ve become greedy, self-indulging, rebelling and selfish beings who don’t want to practice self-control in any area of our lives. We want to have our cake and eat it too. Well, so do I – but in the end, I’m just left with is icing on my face and fat on my hips…and I don’t even remember what it tasted like! (meaning it’s not worth it!) 

We want to have money, but we want to spend money. We want to keep our house, but we don’t want to give up our lifestyle. We want to lose weight but we don’t want to give up our favorite foods. We want to stay married, but we still want to flirt with our co-workers. Bottom line is we have become more and more greedy in every area of our lives. We want it all – and guess what?! We can’t have it all.

Life is about choices. Many times you can’t choose ‘both’. You have to decide between one thing and another. If you want knowledge you have to study more and party less. If you want a 6-pack, you have to workout more and eat less. If you want to get a job, you have to beat the streets and get noticed more and wait for the phone to miraculously ring less. Great things take a great amount of work.

In this economy, people relate to money a lot. The same way we have to prioritize our finances, it’s time we prioritize our health. There is a certain path that I must take to reach a certain goal. Any other path will not get me there – it requires a very specific path, with specific instructions to follow. This is not to say I can take the long way there, but if I want to get there quick, I have to stay on track.

Nothing seems to fit my schedule, so I have to give up something else so it CAN fit my schedule. If I don’t make the time now, I’ll have to make it later – whether it’s going to the gym and working out even harder to erase my sins or going to doctor to fix everything I messed up – so I really don’t have as many options as I think.

I will always crave chips and salsa BUT I will also always prefer being lean and fit over feeling fat and unhealthy so I MUST practice discipline. Next time you are tempted to be lazy or eat crappy, instead of thinking how great it would be to relax or eat a certain food, think about how bad it will feel to skip our workout and not feel healthy. THAT’s the reality we don’t like to think about. Nuff Said!  🙂