Take It Or Leave It

I can't even pretend I understand people who don't work out, and make excuses for it.  I get up every day, and I look in the mirror.  Whether I think it looks good or bad, I have incentive to keep working out.  I mean, maybe I'm just a hard worker by nature, but if I see something I don't like, I do whatever I have to do to change it for the better.  And if I like something, I figure out exactly what I can do to keep it that way.  Call it micro-managing, if you like.  But I call it a healthy lifestyle.


I honestly can't stand it when people say they just don't have time to work out, or something like that.  Seriously.  I work out anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, six days a week.  Most people spend at Least that amount of time doing waste of time stuff on the computer or on their iPhones.  It's a small price to pay for how good I feel about my body, and myself, as a result.


Maybe inadvertently I make people feel guilty for Not working out, when they know they could, when I talk about it.  I don't know.  I've never been on the other side of that equation.  And I'm not talking about people who have disabilities and/or health conditions that prohibit them from working out.  I'm talking about people who are perfectly capable, don't, and make excuses for it.  Maybe I'm a 'no excuses' kind of person, and maybe that's partially my upbringing, but I personally don't believe there are any excuses for not living a healthy life.  There are a million ways to work out these days - gym or no gym, yoga, pilates, running, weight training, heck there's even stuff like Zumba for people who absolutely can't stand doing something more conventional (and that's not a bashing against Zumba or the people who enjoy it).


I really don't understand the whole 'New Years Resolutions' phenomenon.  For me, it seems insanely Stupid to wait an entire year just so I can feel I have a clean start at something!  If I want a fresh start, I go to sleep at night, and get up in the morning.  Simple as that.  There is something so ingenious about that part of our design. But I digress.  My point is, why do people feel they need a special holiday - or a new year - to begin anew?  There's one thing in life you can't procrastinate: health.  Because eventually, it Will catch up to you.  Oh, that steak you had?  Don't worry about that.  After having eaten about 4,000 more cows, though, I gotta tell you - I can't believe you're Surprised you had a heart attack.  I wonder why meat eaters don't just walk around with an ER staff in tow for that reason; but I'll save my meat-eating attacks for another day.


And another thing I hate: when people come to other people's defense.  Seriously.  I'm going to state for the record that I don't understand certain people.  That is Not an open invitation for you to continue to Explain that kind of person/thinking/etc. to me, then proceed to make me feel like a dis-compassionate, cold-hearted asshole.  When I say I don't understand something, it's not because I want it explained to me, or that I actually Want to understand this type of person.  I am simply stating that it is out of the range of my Imagination that there would be people like this on the planet, Surviving somehow.  And believe me, I have quite an imagination.  So it's rather an insult, and no, I don't want you to 'soften the blow' or try and make others (including yourself, perhaps) feel less guilty for choosing a lesser lifestyle.  Take what I say for what it is: a slap across the face.  Because let me tell you something: me pointing out your unhealthy lifestyle now is a lot less painful than the repercussions you'll face down the road.


But, then again, if guilt isn't enough to motivate someone, why would me saying anything change them?  So, suffice it to say, I don't care if anyone takes this advice.  And I also don't care what they think of me.  Trust me, I'm a compassionate person.  If you know me well, then you know this to be true and I don't have to convince you.  But in the end, we are all as compassionate as how much we understand; and I just don't understand people choosing a consistently bad lifestyle.