Never A Good Time to Stop

 Never a Good Time to Stop

I don’t want to bore you with my medical history, but I need to use a part of it to illustrate a point.

I had complete toe amputation on my left foot three years ago. Between that surgery (actually four surgeries) and my open-heart surgery 6 years ago my body has taken a beating. Just in the last few months have I rounded a corner and have started to feel better than ever, even before heart surgery.

I’m going to LA Fitness, working on my own and with a personal trainer, and have been doing very well.

I’ve missed working out for the last two week. TWO WEEKS. And I can tell a difference. Climbing steps had been getting a bit more difficult. The simple act of getting out of a chair had become more of a challenge and a few other muscular observations of note. All because I took two weeks off.

Oh, I could rationalize and say I’ve been busy, which I have, or we’ve been out of town, or I’ve been too tired to go for my personal training session, which I missed two weeks in a row.

And I have paid a small price for all of that.

Happily, I returned to the gym today. I was able to pick up where I left off and believe it or not, I can already tell that my body is responding. Rising from a chair has suddenly become easier, and other movings and motions of my body have become easier again.

Can you believe all this? If I want to live a longer life than others with similar medical experiences, then I must keep up with my weekly gym visits, my treadmill walks, my weight machines and all else.

I can never ask, “Can I stop now?” No, not now. Not ever!

Is that a depressing prognosis?

Not on your life. Do you know the euphoric feeling I sense after working out each time? Some of you do. It is like a special kind of drug that is good for you – it’s all good for you.

I felt that way this morning. I’ve felt it before.
And I will continue to feel it every time I pay the price and go to the gym.

Even when I’m ninety-two, which is a long way off, I’ll be doing something in the way of physical activity, for I like the differences I feel in my body.

I wonder where else in life I can apply this idea? And I wonder about this for you, my loyal and faithful readers. When you reach 75 might be considered by some a good place to stop. Probably not. Perhaps curb your activity some but never stop.

I’m already curbing some activities. The weights are a bit lighter than twenty years ago. Some of my personal trainer activities must be modified specifically for me, and Monica, my trainer, is perfectly okay with that.

Changes happen. Adjustments must be made. Stopping because I’m too old or too weak? Not today.

Take a break occasionally if you must.

That’s called sharpening the saw, thanks to Stephen Covey

But keep doing something, some level of activity as you can.

     Your body will thank you. 

          Your heart will thank you. 

               Your family will thank you. 

                    Your mind will thank you.

And you just might find time to write about your own experience sometime and let us all hear of your health successes at your ripe and good age, whatever age that may be.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

You Can Bounce and Not Break

 You Can Bounce and Not Break

It’s such a simple thought, isn’t it? It almost doesn’t need to be written on, and yet we need to remember this great concept.

Rejection teaches us 

that we can bounce 

and not break!

I love that idea.
I know this to be true. And you do too.

Everybody gets rejected.
Everybody loses out at some point. 

Everybody gets defeated sometimes.

Ever been divorced?
Ever been in bankruptcy? 

Ever had open-heart surgery?

Ever had an amputation?
Ever lost in love?
Ever had a foreclosure or a repossession?

Here’s the thing.

All the bad stuff I mentioned above, and there is a lot more that could be added to this list, all of that stuff is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it could, perhaps, be the beginning for a different take on life or on any of those circumstances listed.

WE CAN BOUNCE AND NOT BREAK!!!

We should take out an ad in every newspaper in the world, yes – the world, and proclaim this from every mountaintop.

This I’ve said in many blogs, and yet it needs saying again and again.

Failure Is Not Final!

~We walk away from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.) ~We overcome failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.)
~We bounce back from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.) 

~We learn from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.)

Failure is not the end. Oh no. It is a teacher. It is a hard lesson in life that we take to heart.

Yes, we must grieve our failures. We must take time to process, and reflect, and wonder and ponder and do all that other stuff a smart person does after a failure.

And then we move on. WE MOVE ON!

Is your mindset that of an overcomer? Do you want to bounce, or do you want to break into thousands of tiny pieces?

I say – Let’s Bounce.

Rebuild.
Reinvent yourself, your dream, your one thing that is always on your mind.

Do you remember what Muhammad Ali once said? 

You don’t lose if you get knocked down.

You lose if you stay down.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration