The first thing I was told when I learnt to ride a motorcycle was “What you look at is where you will go, if you are riding along and see a ditch don’t stare at it and think Oh No A Ditch! Because that is exactly where you will end up – head first in a ditch”, this turned out to be very true but in my case it was head first into a bush in front of a McDonalds…. Not my finest hour but pretty amusing for those in McDonalds.
Fitness and health is a lot like riding a motorbike. So many people spend a lot of time staring at what they currently can’t do rather than what they want to be able to do.
Anyone can sit on a couch and say they can’t run, anyone can convince themselves that they will never be fit enough to do a single pushup or swim 100 meters, and honestly while they sit there saying there is nothing they can do, nothing is exactly what they will do because they are looking at the ditch not looking at the road and the amazing journey that is right in front of them.
I was terrified when I first started riding the bike and I was feeling sick and embarrassed the first time I went into a gym because I had never done either before and I didn’t want to look “silly and too old and fat”. But now looking back I am still shocked at how far I have come on both fronts.
When I weighed 120kgs if you told me I would stand on a bodybuilding stage in a bikini at 50 years old weighing 54kgs I would have laughed at you. At 120kgs and 40 years old I had never been to a gym and smoked and ate all the wrong foods and hated life. I could never imagine being fit enough to lift 100kgs or jog and as for learning to ride a motorbike at nearly 50 – never!
But here I am and I did it by looking forward and not looking at why I could not, how I could not, or what I had not done before. If you spend your life looking at the ditches in your life you will never see the amazing countryside alongside those ditches. You will miss the joy of walking along the edge of the ditch and experiencing the amazing life you can have filled with health and fitness that is right in front of you if you just stop looking at the reasons why you can’t.
Stop looking at all the foods that you “will have to give up” and look at the amazing foods that you “Will Enjoy” and that will make you feel healthy, happy and young. Stop looking at your bad shoulders and realise that your legs are great for walking! So you knees are “bad” too? It is amazing what a difference even very gentle exercise on other body parts can make to your outlook and wellness. There really is always something you can do to improve your health and fitness but you won’t find what it is until you stop looking at what you can’t do.
Later this year I will run my first half marathon, and for someone who has always said they would only run if there was a large bear chasing them this is a huge challenge and one that is going to require me to really keep my eyes on the highway and out of the “not a runner” ditch, but you only get one shot at this life and we should all spend it not looking at ditches
Fitness and health is a lot like riding a motorbike. So many people spend a lot of time staring at what they currently can’t do rather than what they want to be able to do.
Anyone can sit on a couch and say they can’t run, anyone can convince themselves that they will never be fit enough to do a single pushup or swim 100 meters, and honestly while they sit there saying there is nothing they can do, nothing is exactly what they will do because they are looking at the ditch not looking at the road and the amazing journey that is right in front of them.
I was terrified when I first started riding the bike and I was feeling sick and embarrassed the first time I went into a gym because I had never done either before and I didn’t want to look “silly and too old and fat”. But now looking back I am still shocked at how far I have come on both fronts.
When I weighed 120kgs if you told me I would stand on a bodybuilding stage in a bikini at 50 years old weighing 54kgs I would have laughed at you. At 120kgs and 40 years old I had never been to a gym and smoked and ate all the wrong foods and hated life. I could never imagine being fit enough to lift 100kgs or jog and as for learning to ride a motorbike at nearly 50 – never!
But here I am and I did it by looking forward and not looking at why I could not, how I could not, or what I had not done before. If you spend your life looking at the ditches in your life you will never see the amazing countryside alongside those ditches. You will miss the joy of walking along the edge of the ditch and experiencing the amazing life you can have filled with health and fitness that is right in front of you if you just stop looking at the reasons why you can’t.
Stop looking at all the foods that you “will have to give up” and look at the amazing foods that you “Will Enjoy” and that will make you feel healthy, happy and young. Stop looking at your bad shoulders and realise that your legs are great for walking! So you knees are “bad” too? It is amazing what a difference even very gentle exercise on other body parts can make to your outlook and wellness. There really is always something you can do to improve your health and fitness but you won’t find what it is until you stop looking at what you can’t do.
Later this year I will run my first half marathon, and for someone who has always said they would only run if there was a large bear chasing them this is a huge challenge and one that is going to require me to really keep my eyes on the highway and out of the “not a runner” ditch, but you only get one shot at this life and we should all spend it not looking at ditches
Recent Comments