Why should you exercise? Why should you eat well? Why should you live a healthy lifestyle? Why does it even matter? Have you ever caught yourself asking these questions? I know I have. I remember having one of my childhood best friends asking me, “Are you going to work out forever?” My answer was… “Yes, of course I am… this is the lifestyle I choose.” Seriously… what’s the alternative? Get old, fat and out of shape? Now… I may not be able to stop myself from getting old… but I can definitely slow the process down and live a longer active life. It all starts with your mindset and making a decision on how you are going to live your life.
DECIDE- WHY
I believe the most important thing we should do is ask ourselves WHY health, exercise and eating well is important to us. We must decide why we are choosing this type of lifestyle. When I coach clients… one of the steps in our process is to choose and decide what Area of Life is most important to them. We have a list of fourteen different Areas of Life and we ask which areas are the four most important. This seems difficult for most professionals… because the majority of our clients choose their career, money, work or maybe family as one of the most important Area of Life. Very rarely do we have clients choose health and vitality as their top Area of Life.
Now, everybody is different and in a unique stage of life. Some of us are married… and some are not. You may have children… and you may not have children. Maybe your children are young… and maybe they are out of the house and in college. You may be starting a career or business… or you may be planning on retiring. I will then ask you these two questions:
What is important to you and why?
Who do you ultimately want to become within your lifetime?
I remember doing this exercise and asking myself what Areas of Life are most important to me… I call them my CORE FOUR. I remember when I first did this… I wasn’t married yet, didn’t have children and just started my business. I remember having my top four Areas of Life being: Work/Career, Money, Family and Physical Appearance. I even think I had Relationships next in line. I took a look at those Areas of Life in that list of importance and I asked myself…
Who do I ultimately want to be within my lifetime?
What’s important to me and why?
How does this Area of Life serve me in this list of importance?
After I really thought about this and visualized my future… I came to the realization that I need to make a DECISION that will impact my life forever. Deciding that Health and Vitality would be my most important Area of Life was a huge shift in my mindset. Asking myself… WHY should this Area of Life be most important? Well… I can have the best business in the world, make a ton of money, help thousands of students… have the best wife, children and family. If I have an illness, disease or God forbid… cancer…. It doesn’t mean squat! I can’t serve my students… provide value to my clients… be there for my children or have the level of passion for my wife. So… Health and Vitality became my #1 Area of Life.
So what is your most important Area of Life? Why is it important to you? Decide that Health and Vitality is important to you and understand why it is important for you and your family’s future. If you still are having a challenge making a decision that Health should be more important than your money, career or work… read this letter from Steve Jobs:
Steve Jobs’ Last Words
I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success.
However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of god of death drawing closer…
Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth…
Should be something that is more important:
Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days
Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.
God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth.
The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me. What I can bring is only the memories precipitated by love.
That’s the true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on.
Love can travel a thousand miles. Life has no limit. Go where you want to go. Reach the height you want to reach. It is all in your heart and in your hands.
What is the most expensive bed in the world? Sick bed…
You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you.
Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life.
When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading – Book of Healthy Life.
Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.
Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends.
Treat yourself well. Cherish others
Wow! This letter is one of the reasons why I call this blog… Health is Wealth. Think about where you are right now… are you truly putting focus and attention to your health? If you don’t start eating better… exercising… and changing your lifestyle… what potentially could happen in the future? Sometimes we make decisions when its way to late or something crazy happens to us and then we are forced to make a decision to improve our health. Just recently my father in law was feeling tired, sluggish, getting head aches and having shortness of breath. He was smart enough to go see his doctor… and after several tests… they found out that 85% of the arteries in his neck were clogged. He had to get immediate surgery the next day. Thank God… everything worked out… but now he is eating a vegetarian diet… lost weight… and changed his whole lifestyle. Why? Because he almost died of a heart attack or stroke from having clogged arteries. That dramatic experience forced him to think of WHY his health, eating habits and exercise is important to him and he made a DECISION to put health first. So… before something crazy happens to you… think of why and make a DECISION to put health as a priority in your life! Get a jump start on living a healthy life. Download our FREE Healthy You Toolbox.
Live Life to the Fullest!
Master Paul Melella