When I first set out on this journey, I saw myself as the posture guy. Heck, I even made a little pun out that for my website name. But as I pursued it further, I began to see the interrelationships between posture correction and exercise in general. I began to explore the idea of integrating spine healthy workouts and posture, and began seeing myself more as the (posture healthy) exercise guy.
Then, over the course of the last few months, I’ve looked even farther across the horizon. I began telling y’all to make regular, vigorous exercise the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle, and began to explore the relationships amongst diet, exercise, sleep, stress, posture, etc. And found myself becoming more of the healthy lifestyle guy.
The thing is, so far all I’ve really concerned myself with is the physical. Get your body strong and healthy, eat right, sleep better, reduce the stress in your life. You’ll live longer, you’ll live healthier and you’ll live happier.
And it is here that I had another epiphany. A ways back I wrote about how a regular hot yoga practice saved my marriage, and helped me to become the daddy my little boys deserve. Exercise was the entry point to improved posture, then to improved health and well-being, better sleep, lower stress, all of which contributed to improved relationships, especially with those most precious to me.
It’s not about any one thing, it’s about an overarching desire to live better. But what is better? What does “living better” mean?
I was reminded today of the scene in City Slickers wherein Billy Crystal’s character was getting a life’s lesson from an old cowboy who told him the secret to life is one thing. But what is that thing, Crystal wondered? You have to figure it out for yourself.
What is your motivation for living well, for living better?
At bottom, mine came down to relationships. Primarily for my kids, and then my wife, and on down the line from there.
So here, we come to a new place. Sure, I’m still the posture guy, and I will continue posting Mondays and Thursdays on that. Yes, I’m still the exercise and workout guy, and will continue posting on that. But now…what?
The process of sweating out the stress, cleaning up my diet, learning to live better and develop better relationships was transformative. Does that make me the transformation guy? I don’t know, I’m really still the same guy I was 6 months ago before I started writing more often. All I really did was tell stories documenting my journey, and in the process clear it up in my own head.
And it’s important for me to stress that this was my journey, not yours. One of the things that drives me most crazy about busybodies is that they think they know how to live your life better than you do. I’m certainly not that guy.
Am I the healthy lifestyle guy? Am I the living better guy?
I think that’s a little better being the transformation guy. My lifestyle improvements did for me what I needed, when I needed it. For now, how about I continue to advocate living better, living healthier and living longer so you have the time, energy and clarity of mind to figure it out for yourself. No busybody, I.
So for now I say to you, for your health and wellbeing, get your ass to the gym.
