I’ve met too many people who had their health decline into their thirties and forties and feel like they’re unable to break out of the cycle.
These individuals are people who were star athletes in high school or college, yet if you met them you would have no idea they did athletics at all.
It’s a scary realization that the older you get, the more your priorities change, and one of them could be fitness.
I’m only 23, but I still put pressure on myself to stay fit.
As a twenty-three-year-old engineer in the U.S. Army, I know that my fitness isn’t necessarily correlated to how well of a job I do, however, it has everything to do with the longevity of my health.
By the end of 2022, I will no longer be a soldier. I’ll be a veteran who once served and now lives the majority of his life in the civilian world.
There won’t always be someone to tell you that you have to pass a fitness test, meet the standards, or show up to practice. We’re not all professional athletes who are held to such standards.
Without standards, we detour off onto our own routes. Some friends after high school finish marathons and compete in Iron Man challenges. Other friends get caught up in technology and fail to make time to hit the gym or even take a walk.
A lack of fitness could lead to some of the following consequences down the line:
- Heart disease.
- Type 2 Diabetes.
- Heightened chances of getting cancer.
- Increased chances of depression or anxiety.
- Higher chance of stroke.
- Lots and lots of regret.
Noticing your own health declines should scare you into making better decisions.
One of the hardest things I’ve had to go through was recovering my weight. I weighed 170 pounds in high school and nearly hit 200 pounds in just one summer without physical activity.
It was scary to see my chin turn into a double chin. I wasn’t proud of the body I looked at in the mirror. I wasn’t proud of the person I was becoming.
That all changed when I cut out excuses and recognized that I needed to be self-sufficient and accountable to my own fitness goals.
We don’t all have fitness guru’s in our corner who will ensure that we don’t allow our bodies to go downhill. It has to come from within. No one can force you to work out. No one can give you the motivation to put in the work.
Minimize your stress and maximize your life
I want everyone to live their lives to the fullest. Please don’t ignore fitness and regret it later. We only get one life, but we only get one body as well.
If you recognize that you have bad health habits in place, save yourself while you can and do your best to get on track. Overcoming this obstacle will be a determining factor in the direction you want your life to go.