In today’s post to the Jack’s Winning Words blog, Jack used this quote –
“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” (Jim Rohn)
One of our local Chamber of Commerce members is Nancy McDaniels, who is a personal trainer. Nancy uses a tag line that is similar – “Remember that your body is the only place that you have to live.”
While today’s post title may sound like I’m talking about active self-destructive behavior in which you abuse your body, it is just as much about just letting your body (or mind) go to pot as anything. Doing nothing is a popular option when contemplating following the proper diet and doing the exercise that you should be doing routinely. However, doing nothing is not a benign option; it is a destructive choice that too many people allow to rule their lives. Doing nothing is as abusive as doing obviously harmful things.
The body needs regular exercise to maintain muscle tone and to retain balance and flexibility. Up until he was on his deathbed, my grandfather had a daily morning routine in which he ran through a series of stretching and movement exercises to maintain his body. He lived to be 98. My father did not follow that example and only lived into his mid-70’s. Unfortunately, lately I have been more like my father than my grandfather. I need to get back to a regular routine of exercising.
Sometimes we all need someone else to prod us into doing the things that we should be doing. In the case of your physical health that somebody is often a personal trainer. Just joining a gym or health club isn’t really enough, just like buying an exercise bike for your home isn’t usually successful either. Both are easy to blow off when you have no one to hold you accountable. That’s one of the roles of the personal trainer.
In addition to abusing your body by not exercising regularly, one can abuse themselves mentally by getting down on themselves all the time or allowing themselves to be mentally overwhelmed into a state of depression. Often the root cause of alcoholism this feeling of being overwhelmed and seeing alcohol as the way to feel better. That is not the answer!
I’ve also posted here a few times about the importance of loving yourself – See https://normsmilfordblog.com/2019/02/18/start-your-day-with-love-and-the-rest-will-take-care-of-itself/ or
https://normsmilfordblog.com/2019/04/25/look-within-first/
The point of these posts, and others that I’ve done on that topic, is that you must deal with your own self-image and get comfortable with who you are, in order to keep yourself mentally healthy. Only then will you really be able to deal with the things that life throws at you that initially may seem to be overwhelming.
The feeling of being overwhelmed can quickly spiral into depression if you can’t deal with it. Depression can be as debilitating as an injury or physical illness. Dealing with depression requires that you have some ability to identify it and I posted about that.
See – https://normsmilfordblog.com/2016/11/24/what-does-depression-feel-like/
Depression is seldom something that you should try to deal with alone; so, knowing when and how to ask for help is important. Maybe you will be on the other side, providing that help.
See – https://normsmilfordblog.com/2016/12/12/get-help-give-help/
The take-away from all of this is that one needs to be proactive in managing both their physical and mental health. In both cases, there is positive impact to be had from engaging an outside party as your coach or councilor. Both your physical well being and your mental state can severely impact your body and that really is the only place that you have to live.
Don’t continue to abuse yourself; get the help that you need to keep your mind and body in great shape, whether that is a personal trainer or perhaps a mental health counselor.
NormsMilfordBlog 
Are your words going to be followed by action?