Work the fuck out.

How many Mondays have come and gone leaving you saying the same thing one week later, “I’ll start next Monday”?
 
Why do you justify your neglect to your temple?
 
If you look in the mirror and your body screams of omission, of no vacancy, I know how you feel. I also know, if you do feel like this, you are a decision away from change.
 
Over the last 24 years I’ve had various health problems both aesthetically and internally. After two knee surgeries, two dislocated elbows, broken hands, fingers, toes, four back surgeries and all the bumps and bruises in-between, I feel it. When I wake in the morning my body pops and cracks. I’m slow to rise, stiff, and often one to groan. On top of the daily physical pain, one year ago I was on the fast track to diabetes. Upon returning from my time on The Wheel, where I lost 27lbs in 19 days in Patagonia, I truly let myself go. I didn’t give a fuck about my health both in my fitness and my diet. I ate like shit to drown emotions of insecurity, anger, pain, and unresolved feelings. I would rebel against friends and family that would suggest treating my body with better care.
 
As the saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”

I was in such a hole physically I just decided I was going to stay there. As if it was okay that my back hurt, that daily nausea was chill, and breathing hard after running up the stairs was something I could live with. Maybe you’re much like myself and are in denial. Just like me, you’re afraid to admit you’re fucking up.
 
Let me tell you one thing. It’s okay to fuck up. It’s okay to dig yourself into a hole of suppressed emotions prisoning your soul. Yes, all these things are okay. Although okay, it’s NOT OKAY TO STAY HERE. It’s not okay to live here.
 
Why?
 
Because, I know what it’s like to enclose yourself in a jail cell of depression. I know how bad it hurts. I feel for you. I feel for you but I’m not sorry for you. No. No, because you are in 100% control of your health and happiness.
 
You hold the key to open all the doors you seek to enter.
 
So, why work the fuck out?
 
I’m not going to explain the obvious that any variation of physical activity is exponentially important for good health. You already know exercising is important. You’re already aware that physical activity promotes heart health, boosts cognition, and drastically improves energy, mood and overall well-being. You know objectively what to do to make yourself live in your highest form.
 
So, why don’t you do them?
 
Once again, I’ve been there. I grew up actively involved in sports and athletics. Wrestling paved my way through a lesson ridden childhood and teen years. My mother was a former college athlete and exceptional amateur bodybuilder who made a name for herself in the late 80s and early 90s. My Dad, as most of you know, has played a major role in the realm of health and wellness for over twenty-five years. More than most, I had the best teachers and role models to teach me what it takes to be healthy.
 
Just like you, I knew objectively exactly what it took to feel better. So, how come it’s so hard to make the leap?
 
…………..
 
As I traveled from doctor to doctor last winter in pursuit of answers to my problems only to be disappointed with the main-stream medicine approach, I was living in complete denial as why I wasn’t feeling good. I was lying to myself for the real reasons I looked and felt bad. The answer was rather blatantly obvious; I just couldn’t admit it to myself. I was eating like shit. I didn’t exercise. I stayed awake until 3 or 5 in the morning and slept until 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
 
I was completely neglecting my temple, yet, I wanted to blame everything else for my pain and circumstance. I wanted to be a victim. But one day I looked myself in the mirror and said, “FUCK BEING A VICTUM any longer!”
 
If you’re tired of being sick and tired, it’s time to wake up and work the fuck out! Get your ass up in the morning. Strap up the old Nikes and just do it. Like it’s just that easy. I wish I could say you will have a “come to Jesus” moment where you will suddenly be healed, free, and happy. Your come to Jesus moment can come today, right now, make the decision to dig deep to find the intestinal fortitude to get into your body and move. Move, man. Just, fucking, move. You don’t have to be an expert at the gym. You don’t have to know jack shit. Be resourceful, find help, learn, grow, fail, get up and keep grinding. It’s a choice. It’s a decision.
 
I wish I could tell you that I love every time I go workout. I don’t. Sometimes my body hurts. Sometimes I am lazy. Sometimes I try to make excuses and validate not going. I used to dabble with my health until I had a fasting glucose of 160, out of shape, sick, depressed, chronic pain, and in a hole. The doctors weren’t going to be my savior. I had to take control and you do too.
 
Maybe that’s the secret to working out and finding the motivation to exercise. Maybe it’s rock bottom. Maybe it’s a, “I’ve had enough” moment of your own when you realize you aren’t living to your full potential.
 
Realize you are the driver to your life and are 100% responsible for your actions.
 
There’s no secret to waking up. There’s no secret to working out. You have to go all-in on committing to your emotional, physical, spiritual, and financial vitality.
 
Like, fuck starting Monday. IT IS MONDAY. Fuck starting after the holidays... Thanksgiving just happened. No more “if/then” weak statements that leave you in the same place you stand now.
 
You started reading this probably thinking you were going to receive my thoughts on the benefits of working out, there’s Google for that.
 
What you can’t Google is the amount of guts it takes to take charge of your life... Get Fueled.