We have all lied and disappointed ourselves through the disabling practice of making excuses. It is time to take ownership and bury that idea. It is simply unacceptable to keep wasting days, weeks and months of my valuable life by accepting lame excuses for my lack of results. I have a dream to be more. I wish to be a better version of myself. Right here and right now I am demanding better results from myself. The reality is, I live in a free society where it is really easy to get food, find shelter, and stay warm. As a cavemen, my existence has never been LESS stressful. None of my friends are dying from famine, wild animal attacks, frost bite or heat exhaustion. Others around the world may incur such fate but no such thing her in the U.S. So, in such a snuggly, carefree culture where everything comes so easily I am going to have to artificially invent some stuff in order to create my own misery and shorten my life. With basic comforts and essential needs so easily met, how is it possible for me and my neighbors to generate a laundry list of excuses as to WHY I am choosing unhealthy lifestyle?
As I explore this basic question I keep tripping over the same conclusion . . . I must be creating my own stress and excuses. We generally don't like to accept this conclusion because it means taking responsibility for our actions but hear me out as my goal here is not to lead you to feelings of guilt but rather show you that you are in infinite control.
First fundamental need . . . food. As a caveman my body is used to eating plants and animals and in fact these foods are what make me energetic and healthy. BUT . . . these are NOT the foods I typically desire or select. I live in a culture where organic healthy choices abound and in fact I can even get on my phone or computer and have them delivered right to my door. How easy is that? Yet instead I make a conscious decision to eat processed sugar, carbs and unnatural food-like substrates manufactured in a steel building. Why? Because my list of personal excuses is so robust that I can rationalize that this makes sense. I HAVE to eat that fast food and processed crap because I don't have time for real food, my kids demand it, I’m stressed, I deserve a treat, I simply like it, it’s on my way home, its more convenient, it’s delicious, everyone else is doing it, its gluten free, I have no will power, my patents ate this way, my friends eat this way and I want to fit in, I can't digest vegetables, I hate vegetables, I don't know how to cook vegetables, I hate the taste of water, water makes me pee too much, it feels good, it makes me happy, it’s too hard to cook, it’s too painful to make change, it’s too painful to not eat sugar, life isn’t worth living without bread, I’m big boned, I’m too old or too fat to change, if I lose fat I will be more wrinkled, societies obsession with being skinny is unhealthy, the government says I should eat lots of grains, and lastly I simply don’t want to change.
All of these excuses are valid. If you believe them and feel that they represent the truth then you are right, they are true . . . for YOU. Whether they are true for other people is of no relevance as you can only live your life and no one else can. That is and will always be 100% true. I live my professional life hoping to guide those seeking change to a better way and a much richer life. For those that want it, being healthy is a blast, a giant rush of fun and a “high” better than any donut or French fry could ever hope to provide. So, for that 1% that is willing to swim against the current and willing to challenge themselves to see what is possible then this post is for you. Here is my message, “it is never too late”. There is NEVER a point in your life where you need to declare, “I’m too far gone, too fat, too old, too anything”. If you are drawing breath and have desire to explore what’s possible then you and I will dance together with smiles on our face. Just as my friend told me “you can’t change everyone” and I agreed with him, to which I respond, “yes, but I will never stop trying and I will never give up on anyone who simply wants to explore”.
You don't know what next week holds for you. It might be a heart attack but what if you changed your path today? What if you decided to stop the excuses card and spent half of that energy restoring instead of destroying? Would it be enough to avoid that heart attack? You will never know unless you take the steps. Next week holds instore for you the results of decisions made today. You can choose to have results, or choose to have excuses, but not both.
