Everybody has a story to tell. A story that explains how certain things in their life took place…whether by choice, or by chance. This particular story occurred by choice. When I take care of my patients, I see many times how our health choices, or lack there of, influence our overall health. I hear regrets from patients, and how they wish they could have changed things, had then known back then what they know now. But, unfortunately, we know this, and they know this, already. They knew it long ago. They just did not want to think about it back then, as life was going good, and how could their health possibly be a factor in things. How could their choices then make such a difference now. Well my story focuses on my family…my wife and my kids. Too many times I would hear from patients that they want to be around to see their kids graduate…to walk them down the aisle of their wedding…to be able to spend time with their grandkids. This is where we all have to take a step back, and refocus.
We have to literally STOP! What is it we want? What is it we want to accomplish? Once again, what is our goal/goals? One story in particular helped me come to realize what I wanted to accomplish.
My story is about this individual pictured above. When this picture was taken, this individual had just turned 52 years old. He was approximately 5’8″, and weighed over 300 lbs. Over the course of the next 11 months of his life, he suffered 2 heart attacks, and 3 strokes, the 3rd stroke which he ended up dying from. He passed away before he was 53 years old. He left behind 10 kids, and those 10 kids went on to create 35 grandkids. His first grandchild was born 1 month after he passed away. He never got to see any of his grandkids. He still had his own kids that had not even finished high school yet. He missed out on a lot of things in his family’s life. I was born 16 years after he passed away. This was my grandfather. I never got to know my grandfather. I never got to spend any time with him. I am told he was quite a comedian, and a practical joker. Maybe that is where I get some of my talents from. Over the years I have always felt cheated by the fact I never got to meet him…spend time with him…get to know him…to love him. And he never got to know me! I decided that if I had anything to say about it, or be in control of it, that I would never let this happen to me. So, on 9/26/07, I made a challenge to myself. I wanted to see how many days in a row that I could exercise. How many days could I go without missing any? I wanted to be as healthy as I could so this would not happen to me. I wanted to see my kids grow up, and see all of their accomplishments, and to be able to see their kids. I want to someday be a grandpa! I want to be able to know what that feels like. I want my grandkids to know me! I may have never met my grandfather, but I learned a lot from him. I learned that if I don’t want this to happen to me, I am going to have to take care of my health… and that you do have some control over your duration of your life. Now, there are always circumstances that come up that as humans we have no control over. But we need to learn to control those factors in our life that are controllable. In the end, we will all benefit from this. But there is no question. This takes discipline!
There are always things that come up. Things that need to be done during the course of the day. Some important, some not so important. The key is trying to figure out which ones are really the important ones. Then we need to make exercise and our health a priority. If anybody ever said that exercise was easy, then I don’t think that they did it for very long. It takes work. It takes dedication. It takes discipline. Over time, exercise will get EASIER to do, but I have never said it was easy! But, it can also be fun, and it can create fun. Make it enjoyable, and overall your life will be more enjoyable. That is what true success is! As the famous Dr. George Sheehan, who help start the running revolution, stated:
I can’t say it any better than this! My success is going to be that hopefully I will be around longer to see my family grow, and to spend time with them. That is true success. My kids cheered me on in races when they were little, just like to first picture shows. I got to return the favor. They were great experiences that I get to remember forever. Hopefully, I will get to see my grandkids, and cheer them on as well! My consecutive exercise streak has not ended yet since that day in 2007. I am still just as excited to be active now as I was then. I keep those same motivating factors in my mind at all times…Sarah, Megan, Molly, and Nick…my family!
Exercise to have fun! Exercise to be happy! Exercise for the Health of it! Our run club is excited to meet and go out and run…to interact and be social…to take care of ourselves. Remember, in life, for the majority of issues that come up, we do have choices.
Make good choices. Choose to be healthy. Choose to be around as long as we can, and are able to be in control. Choose wisely! My story of my grandfather comes to light even more now. I will turn 52 in October. I have a lot of things I want to do yet. I have a lot of time I want to spend with my family! Enjoy the ride along the way! My consecutive exercise streak goes on. When it will end I don’t know. But when it does, I will just another one! Exercise for the Health of it! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3229
