The Overnight Success or Failure?

We all know of the overnight success -- the one who worked his or her whole life to achieve that goal. And though we may acknowledge that work, we still tend to think of it as just one "break" that got that person the prize.

If you think about it, everyone is on that same path. At least in terms of aging and health.

You work your whole life on your health. No you say, I didn't work at anything and I am over weight and weak and have many aches and pains. By default you worked at bad health.

Your overnight success came one morning or evening when you looked in the mirror and saw the wrinkles and the fat. It came on the day you could no longer turn the lid on a jar. It came the day when you had to run after - child, pet, the postman - and you were panting and out of breath.

Each decade we see the little changes. Wounds that don't heal as quickly, skin that bruises more easily, joints that pop and are painful with weather changes.

Perhaps it is hair that is thinning and growing more grey or the bigger size clothes in the closet pushing the smaller sizes to the back until they are released to charity because we finally gave up on losing that 10 pounds and besides they are not in fashion any longer. (Side note here, my mother-in-law still has clothes from the 50's because they may come back into fashion. No they don't fit.)

The only time you can have a flower one day when they was no plant the day before, is if you go and buy it. Someone, some where had to take the time and effort to grow that plant and flower.

Your success came from the daily intake of sugar and excess food. Just a bite here and there adding up so very much. As you grow older the fat builds up as the muscle mass decreases. Joints begin to hurt and the exercise becomes even more infrequent and painful.

When my mother was in her late 60's she would still get out and play basketball with the kids. She worked in her garden every day. She ate mostly good food - vegetables she had grown herself. Why did she die a painful death from cancer? My guess would be the extreme mental stress she put herself under. Plus the pesticides she used in the garden, plus the grief of losing her only son.

Am I saying that diet and exercise are not worth the effort, of course not. Will a good diet and healthy exercise keep aging and death from your door, of course not. Death is the natural end for us all. Aging is as natural as the seasons. But isn't the goal to be a healthy and happy and active for as long as possible?

I am a woman and the wrinkles bother me. The old looking hands bother me. But it does not stop me from enjoying life and being active. My hands have seen 60 years of stress - dishwater, gardening, burns and cuts. Thank God and diet I do not suffer from the arthritis that plagued my mother and father.

I have found that as I get older, my resolve to exercise becomes more wish than action. Especially now, with my toes so painful that walking is a real chore, the weather so cold and the TV so mind numbing, I find that days and days go by with no real movement. I have gained 10 pounds in a month since this all started.

I have a greater appreciation for people that have severe arthritis and still manage to walk and clean house and work.

Is it ever too late to change the path of your own overnight success? As long as you have breath and a little bit of muscle you can change that path.

If walking is beyond you right now, then use hand weights (or a can of vegetables) while you are watching TV. Better yet, tune in to the TV programs that are freely available that guide you through sitting exercises.

Have you found it impossible to give up those soft drinks each day? Yes even the diet ones are bad for you, worse in some ways. Try EFT to release the mental need. Still smoking, again try EFT and put something else in your hands. Are your hands too painful to knit or woodwork, then change up the diet. Add supplements to your diet such as Tumeric.

You cannot turn back the hands of time. You will never be that foolish 20 again with the feeling that nothing could hurt you and you would never grow old. BUT, you can begin now today to change that helpless feeling that aging has taken over and you will weakly go to your grave.

If you cannot get out of your house and TV is your only diversion, then use that.

During the many commercials, get up, pick up those hand weights or cans and walk around your house or apartment. If you walk to the kitchen, go through the kitchen without picking up food.

Count your steps and write down the number. Add them up at the end of the day and try to walk a few more steps tomorrow. It may be slow progress but eventually you will be able to go outside and walk around the block a few times. You will have an over night success.

until next time - smile
Sharon
Answers For Your Health