Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Ever Have One of Those Days?

You ever have one of those days? I can see all of you throwing up your hands right now saying “Uhh, YEAH!!!". And for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about - I'm talking about those days where you're running around like a chicken with its head cut off and just when you think the day is winding down something pops up. The days when you're at the post office and decide to use the self-service machine to “save time” and the woman in the front of the line decides to use said machine to get all of her postage and stamp each one of her Christmas cards individually. Yeah, that kind of day. The kind of a day where all you want to do when you get home is kick off your shoes, put up your feet and just hang out. The kind of the day that the thought of doing something active at the end of it makes you want to cringe. Do you guys know what kind of a day I'm talking about now?

Yesterday was that kind of day.

All day I knew that at some point I was going to have to get my butt to the gym. It was tough to get done everything else that I needed to get done, including treatments, but gym time felt like it was looming over my head. I made a commitment to myself and to my family that I would make my health my number one priority. A big contributor to my increased lung function and energy has been consistently getting to the gym. It's not that I love being there, I actually love leaving the gym, but I know it's what I have to do if I want to be the best version of myself. Still, there are days like yesterday. The kind of a day that even a priority in your life seems just too hard to accomplish.

When I finally got home from running around the city, the first thing I did was love up on my family. It was probably a little bit of a stall tactic on my end thinking that the further off I put the gym maybe it would go away. I asked Mandi what our plans were for last night (take note guys) and she responded with, “you're going to the gym”. I love that woman. I felt guilty about being gone a good part of the day and even when I was home not really “being” there, but Mandi made me feel at peace with it by saying those five words. It's so nice to have a supportive wife that is willing to recognize how important it is that my health needs to be our family's priority. Admittedly, it makes my life about 1000 times easier. And it's not something that I think we can expect out of our spouses either, it should be, but sadly it often times isn't. I think communication was key and is key for us in terms of setting priorities for our family. Mandi made it very clear that she wouldn't be a nag when it came to my health, but she also made it very clear that she would kill me if I didn't take care of myself (Duly noted). That made setting my priority pretty easy. Oh yeah, I did in fact make it to the gym and I had a very good workout.

I guess my main point of this blog though is to encourage you guys to not only put your health as your number one priority, but to be willing to do anything to be the healthiest version of yourself. This doesn't have to just be for CFers either. To you parents, start right now with instilling in your child that there's nothing more important than their health. Without good health, we don't have much. And we must make taking care of ourselves the most important thing in our life.

Don't want to start with health? That's fine. Here's my challenge for you. Do something today that you've been putting off. It could be cleaning the bathroom, running errand, doing an extra treatment or finishing a school paper, whatever it is, promise yourself that you'll get it done today. Because here's the thing -  both you and I know that once you do it, you won't regret it.