If you ever go to a park and you see children running, I think the first thing you’re impressed with is the level of physical activity that’s present.
They’re up the monkey bars and up and down the slide, and they’re just running, continuously running. And that’s true with boys and girls, extremely active.
So you ask yourself, when you walk down any street of a major city today, you’re passing a lot of people that most assuredly could not be running in the park like that anymore.
And this is especially true in North America, wherein one in three individuals is apparently obese. So I weigh 60 kilos, and if I were to weigh 90 kilos, for instance, I would be obese.
And I can’t even imagine what this must be like for mobility, for your joints, and for your heart, your liver, your kidneys, everything else. So the question becomes to everyone, why don’t we maintain good health over time?
Why not? Well, I guess, it’s because life is not viewed by many of us as a physical journey. So when we’re young, it’s easy to eat a lot and maintain your shape and your good health.
You don’t at all have to go to a gym. And if you do, you go hiking and what have you, that’s kind of lovely, but it doesn’t really matter because your body stays the same. And perhaps you partake in alcohol, you like beer, perhaps you smoke.
Smoking was a very big thing when I was growing up. We had an adage, in fact, you can’t trust a man who doesn’t drink, and you can’t have a real conversation with someone who doesn’t smoke. So both of these vices were omnipresent.
And they were just normal things that everyone undertook. In fact, I remember that we were actually allowed to smoke at school. Say what?
It was true.
We were allowed to smoke because what was happening in grades 11 and 12 is that young people, young men in particular, were quitting school, and they were going to work in the forest industry or fishing, and the money truly was absolutely fantastic.
If you got on a good boat, or you got a good logging job, you made good money. In fact, at school, at university, a young man sitting in front of me disappeared for three weeks, and he came back, and I asked him, where were you?
And he said, I was fishing. And I thought, well, kind of ridiculous to go on a fishing trip. I said, fishing?
How was it? Being a little sarcastic, a little bit smug, and he looked at me and said, it was great. I bought a house.
And I didn’t understand what he was talking about. He had made $50,000 US dollars in three weeks as just a crewman on a herring boat. The boat made a million dollars and he got 5%.
So it was possible at this time to quit school at 16 or 17 and buy a house in a year and a half. And of course, car, girlfriend, wife, it just went on, the American dream in a way.
And so to keep you in school, they were encouraging that if you want to smoke, you can go outside and have a conversation. But of course, everyone knows that smoking kills today.
But at the time it was quite in a bizarre way, quite popular, both for men and for women.
So, by viewing life as a bit of a journey, then when you get to be about 25 or 30, you start to realize, I cannot continue these vices and maintain my body until I’m an old individual. And for me, I was, I think, 35.
I used to take one of my sons down to a beach that was very close to our home, and we would run with the dog.
And then the game was to run back, and I would always win, of course, and he’s five or six years old, and near the end of my smoking undertaking, my smoking journey, I could barely keep up with him, and he almost won, and I thought, this is insane.
I’ll be dead. So I quit, but I quit 10 times. It was very difficult to quit, but I finally did.
And then I began to focus increasingly more and more on the body as I went through my 30s, 40s, etc. And I think that’s the only choice. We have to believe that the body is only loaned to us figuratively from God, and we’ve got to take care of it.
So we need a regular program of exercise. Now, a lot of people, of course, do not like going to a gym. I go to a gym, but I go there to listen to audio books because a gym is in a very boring experience.
The music is terrible. After you get used to the many beautiful people, people who are much more beautiful than you are, much stronger, all of that, you kind of have a choice.
Listen to the music or watch something inane on your phone or listen to audio books. And of course, I’ve chosen the latter. I’ve listened to a lot of good books at the gym.
In fact, it’s a very large part of why I go. It’s my kind of two hours a day to escape into literature, if you will. And so if you view life as this journey, then you’re going to get onto it.
And once again, you don’t need a gym, but you can go and walk. And walking is a great way to maintain your health, especially if you do some treks every now and then, right? And you walk a little quicker, it’s good for your muscles, etc.
Many people say they like to run, but of course, if you have really good joints, good knees, running is great. But some people believe that running is hard on a person as you get a little bit older. So you have to decide.
But the point is, you got to keep up your physical health because the body is your temple. And when it becomes sick or when it goes away, you’re going away, basically to whatever consciousness is beyond the grave.
So, set up some regular program and stick with it. And actually, in a way, it’s not that hard once you get into a routine. Once you maintain a routine, you can go on.
Now, when I was 30 years old, I thought I would be sickly and dead at 50, but I wasn’t. And I thought the same at 60 and so on and so forth. And recently, David and I walked the Camino.
It was 2 million steps, 900 kilometers, and I’m 69 years old. And if I can do this, anyone can do this. How did we do it?
Just one foot in placing one foot in front of the other and walking on day upon day, upon day upon day. And that ultimately is your physical goal in life. Just continue to maintain your physical health and be active.
Don’t get sedentary, because once the weight gets on to you, it’s very difficult as you age to get rid of it. And I think that is true because the body will change. There is no question.
And I’m fortunate my body is healthy, but the muscle mass I had when I was 30 is not here. I would be lying to myself. And you could get it back, but only to a certain extent.
So, maintain your health. And you know what they say. You know what they say.
Critical thinking is important, especially when you’re going to maintain your good health. And critical thinking is great. Truly great.
You take care. God bless. Bye-bye.