At age 38, I started running.
Yess, that’s the strategy that I adopted to revolutionize my life. While my friends and family members took a dig at me and warned me ending up with lifetime irreversible injuries, I take a bow to them for giving me the challenge to prove myself right!
It doesn’t happen without some firm conviction. Taking such bold steps to step into a sport that you have never been in your late 40s could be suicidal. And I do see a lot around me grappling with leg injuries etc, I would not call it all luck! I saw something that others didnot – living in hell without being fit!
So, my intent from the very beginning was not to impress the world. It was to get fit and that’s it.
Before you can act decisively, a lot goes into our mind that creates the mental framework to move forward. A vision to take up a mighty mission!
Here are the tough calls I took on myself that lead to the revolution.
Took a tough call to leave my comfort zone
It is easy to leave our comfort zones once we realize that they are hell. I was in hell when I saw myself falling in health. It created a fear in me. I saw my dad dying. I saw life turning into lifeless!
It was hell. To live with the pain that one day I will also leave this world without having done anything worthy to be proud of myself. In my own eyes!
Why do I live like a lifeless creature doing nothing but feeding the stomach to be just able to breath! With no clear vision and purpose.
Embraced the pain
Anything good is painful. Write it down every where. If there is no pain, then it means that you are living in intoxication. And you are blind to get restless once that intoxication is over.
Life is hard. Life is not a movie where you know the end before you begin. You gotta understand that you can deny pain, you can’t avoid pain, you can only ignore it at your own expense.
Acceptance of pain lessens the pain and helps to find a channel to use pain to elevate our lives.
Those who are embracing pain are licking up a higher value in life. I did that. It made running easy with age!
And now I know, your fitness is more of your mental and spiritual status than the biological one.
Doing the sane things insanely
Running is easy. Running 2 kms is super easy. It may be ridiculous to hear it will change your life. But what if I said, run 2 kms every day for the rest of the year!
Now, that’s insane! It’s tough.
Eating fruits is easy. Keeping your dinner light is easy. Sleeping is easy. But doing all of them, day after day after day – is that easy?
You are interested in getting your tummy in shape in X days. You don’t have time. I told myself I am going to live the life I love! And chose the boring, monotonous lacking excitement and that made all the difference.
Do what is right even when no one is watching!
That’s called character. You can’t be what you are not. Sooner or later people will come to know.
So, make choices that you want to settle with for life. Not just to look sexy, not just to lose weight.
You may succeed at doing something to impress for sometime. But, you won’t be able to sustain it for lifetime. So, work on bringing change at a snails pace… Slow and steady! And you will love doing it even when no one is watching you.
Look inward for inspiration
I can never copy anyone. Simply because I am unique. And I must spend my time exploring and discovering my own USPs. That’s when you become invincible.
I always got the idea that people around me thought me boring because I was too much into digging knowledge. I devoured reading books and spending time learning.
I realized that it wasn’t the way people made me feel. It was not repulsive to be deeply curios about the world’s mysteries. The day I realized that reading and writing are my super strengths, I started blogging, researching books and internet. And that enhanced my knowledge 100X on health, fitness and happiness!
Conclusion Remarks
The revolution is bound to happen once you have made up your mind to not stay where you are feeling like hell and willing to do everything to bring in positive and lasting change.
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