by Dan | Dec 4, 2016 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Life is all about choices–both good and bad. You can choose to be happy, sad, grumpy, depressed, or whatever you choose. Or you can be excited like our run club group is when we go out on a run on Sunday mornings. The choice is yours!
By no means does this mean that our choices are easy. Far from it. We make a decision, and then have to work at it so as to make something of it. It is not just going to fall in our lap because we want to chose something. Same thing when it comes to our health. We have to work at the diet and the exercise. Just because we may want to be more healthy, the choice is ours as to how we are going to achieve it.
It is a two way street! You choose how you are going to work at something to achieve what you want. If it is worthwhile, then be prepared to work at it. As I have said before, anything worth having is worth working for…the benefits come later.
Here is our group as we were getting ready to start the Twin Cities Marathon this past October. We spent the last 4+ months training together, encouraging each other, pushing each other. We were working together to accomplish a goal of completing the marathon. We may have all had different goals as to how we wanted to finish, but we were all working on finishing. It is great motivation working as a group. We each put in the miles individually, but we were doing it together. Words don’t describe that bond that is achieved when you are working as a group on a similar goal. You take a chance, make a choice, and change comes about.
The 3 C’s of life. What better way to sum it up! Things in life in general are about this. You take a chance because you made a choice, with the hope of making a POSITIVE change. Are those changes always positive? Probably not. But, that does not mean you don’t learn from them. We learn from everything we do, both the positive and negative. If something good happens, we keep doing similar things. If something bad happens, or some outcome we did not like, then we learn from it, and change!
You rely on not only your friends, but those closest to you…namely, your spouse. Sarah and I motivate each other, push each other, depend on each other! This too is a two way street. You take chances, and work on the things you choose together, which brings about continuous change. It also brings about consistency, dependability, a bond that can’t be broken…love!
Your attitude goes a long way in regards to how changes in life will affect you, and the resulting choices you make. Keep your goals in mind, and the purpose for which you chose them as goals. It was a choice made by you for some reason…a reason important to you. So keep reminding yourself of them. This too will help motivate you, and keep the attitude you have more positive than negative.
Important to remember! There will be bad choices at times. Learn from them, and figure out how to make another change, a change you make based on a choice you make, because you were willing to take a chance! Take a chance on you! Make a choice and do what is right for you! Your future depends on it! Next week I will expand on this further when I talk about priorities…how the choices we make are dependent on our priorities.
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3355
by Dan | Nov 27, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Holidays, Motivation, Wellness/Health
At this time of year, it is easy to start thinking about what you are thankful for. Here Nick, Sarah, and I are getting ready for the annual Turkey Day 5k held on Thanksgiving. The weather was great, and it is a great way to start off the day exercising…and a great way to make room for all the food we plan on eating that day. It is an annual run and walk, and attendance was the largest yet!
After everybody gets done running/walking, you get treated to a piece of pumpkin pie before everybody takes off to go spend time with family.
Thank you Watertown DASH for holding this event again, originally started by the Hiedeman family. If you have never tried participating before, get out there next year!
We had many of the Watertown Run Club members made it out for the annual run as well. Sarah, Nick, and Jill Makepeace, and Steve Arbogast.
And of course, the McElroy’s…we were just missing Gracie, who was sick that morning. But Jenn, Kate, and Owen made it out.
Paula, Paul, and Jackie ran as well.
It was all worth while. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, watching football, and eating! It was good to get out and move before hand. This way we could earn our food feast for the day. Thanksgiving turkey is one of my favorite meals!
So, now it is time to sit back and be thankful for what we have. Keep in mind your health, your family, and your friends. Spend time with them, appreciate them. We won’t have them forever. Being thankful shows how you become better, and more appreciative as well. We don’t know when things are going to change for us. The next slide sums it up for me!
Thank you! Here is to hoping everybody has great holidays coming, that you keep working on increasing your exercise habits, and working on your healthy eating as well. All of this is important for you to becoming a better you. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3348
by Dan | Nov 20, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all get 24 hours in a day. We all get 7 days in a week, 365 days a year. So why does it always seem like there is never enough time to get things done? Why is everybody always in a rush to get something done, when the majority of those things really are not that important anyway? The secret in life is to prioritize those things that are important in our life, and then making sure we have enough time to get these done. The center of all of this should be around those people most important to us. After all, who is going to miss us when we are not here? As a physician, I am helping people all of the time in their final days of life, helping them to make that final journey. I hear all of the time how they did not have enough time to do things they wanted, especially when it came to spending time with family and friends. I have never heard anybody yet tell me, “You know Doc, if I could just spent more time working!”. Think about it…what is important to you? This Summer I had all of my kids home for a short time, and we went to a twins game, and spent a few days in the Twin Cities. Family time. We even went to a play in Chanhassen.
As the kids continue to grow up, these are the times that they are going to remember…the times we spent together as a family. That is always how exercise has helped make us a closer, stronger family. We all exercise! It is a great way to spend family time together. But you need to slow down, (except when we are running a race!), and learn to enjoy things more.
Sometimes if we are in too big of a rush, we are going to have important things pass right by us, and we are not going to have a clue until it is too late. Take the time to slow down! Enjoy life as it comes. Enjoy that full day for everything it brings. We all have 24 hours, we are all busy, but not too busy that we can’t make room to take care of ourselves. We have to take time to exercise, and to spend time with those important to us. Sometimes that can even be at the same time!
It is amazing what you all can appreciate more if you take the time to look…take the time to appreciate…even just taking the time to take the time! We need to figure out for ourselves where that can work for us. Where can you take a break to slow down, just sit and observe, and enjoy…and just think. Think about how you can do things better, and more efficient. It may just surprise you by doing this, how much more productive you can be during the day, and still have that time to spend with family. These are some of my favorite places to sit and think.
A rocking chair overlooking the lake. Just you and nature.
Lots of park benches along the bike trail here in Watertown. You can sit and relax and watch the world go by.
Watching a sunset out on Lake Kampeska. Amazing the things that go through your head, and the things you can come up with solutions for, by just sitting and taking the time to think. I will sometimes be out for a run along the lake, and just stop and watch for awhile…and think. Or if I am out running/walking along the trail by the lake, how peaceful it is, and how your mind can just take you away for all of the stress in your life…and you are out exercising as well!
Remember this! Make it part of your routine. Slow is fast! Taking the time to think about things will make you more productive, and happy. It can be one of the secrets to making you a better you!
Keep moving everybody…and slow is good!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3341
by Dan | Nov 13, 2016 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
The ancient greeks defined happiness as: “Happiness is the joy that you feel when we’re striving after our potential”. In regards to happiness, Eleanor Roosevelt stated: “Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could do both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.” Good words to go by! Being active is crucial in staying happy. If you are happy you don’t sit at home and do nothing. Happy people are out doing things they are passionate about, and doing things that are meaningful to them. Their activity is empowered by purpose. Success is happiness, and as I stated on the previous post, the message on the back on my shirt I wear in the marathons states: Success: A journey, not a destination. The journey is life…life with all it ups and downs, good times and bad times…but it is your journey. Your journey to make without having to have someone else’s approval.
Success is happiness!
Happy people also have their times when they feel sad, or upset, or their dreams don’t always comes true. It is what they do under those circumstances that define who they are, and what they are made of. They are working continuously on how to become better…not better than somebody else, but better than they were previously. Happiness also means having fun. We need to do things that make us happy. This could be something different for all of you. When we exercise, and watch what we eat, we overall physically feel better, and everything that comes each day, both good and bad, we are able to handle better. Don’t be afraid to express your happiness. If might just rub off on somebody else, and actually make them smile, or even perhaps…make their day! Our run group is a great example of showing happiness. We all love to run. When we can’t run, things in life do go as smooth. We are crabby, more easily frustrated, quicker to anger…we are not happy! So when we can run, we are eager to show this off as well.
Some day we may physically not be able to run…today is not that day. We will come up with something else, I am sure, to replace this. Some other type of activity/exercise. Sitting around is not all it is cracked up to be. Life is much more fun and adventurous when you are on the move! The times we spend after a run are also very good. There are a time to relax, and enjoy life…enjoy and celebrate our ability to run!
Life is about choices…having choices, and making choices. You can choose happiness, or not. The decision is up to you. But, choosing happiness will definitely make you better. It will make you a better you!
For me, staying active, and especially running, is my passion. I feel better! I function better! I do better! It is helping me to become a better version of me! It is a runderful life!
Choose wisely! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3334
by Dan | Nov 6, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all have goals or ideas in our minds that attempt to make us feel like we are a success. But what really does it mean to have success? Is it achievement of a goal? Money? Our health? What? Success if defined as the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted. That could mean something different for all of us. But deep down, what is success to you? For me, I would feel like a success if I were a good Dad/Husband. I am always trying to be successful with my health, and staying active. I am always trying to be a better doctor. But deep down, I would feel like a failure if I would not be considered a good Dad/Husband. We all get busy. We all feel like we get pulled in multiple directions. This is where you have to start making a plan, and figuring out the direction you are taking.
This is where it is important to sit down and think, and come up with a plan. Organize it. Write it down…it will be more concrete for you. Keep looking back at your plan, and it is OK to make modifications, just don’t veer way off of your original plan. Somewhere in that plan will be the reason you want to be successful. Somewhere in there is how you will become a better you. That deep down desire! Never lose site of that.
How much more true could this be? Focus all your power on your burning desire of what you want to accomplish…what it will take for you to be a success…a better you!
For me it will always focus back to my family. My kids are all off to college, so now it is just Sarah and I…and of course Zeus. Zeus is like having another kid at home! But for all of us, over time we keep evolving, growing, maturing…changing! True success will be discovering who you really are!
Family will always be a focal point. It you don’t have a true focal point, you will find yourself struggling, floundering, and not really feeling like you have a purpose. Exercise helps me stay focused on this aspect of it. Now when we all get together, it really is something special. I see this only growing stronger as time goes on. That same evolving, maturing, growing process for the kids as well.
I would like to think that that focal point for my family is with Sarah and I…that we are the rock…the stabilizing forces for this family. Exercising together keeps us healthier, and also allows both of us to lead by example, for not only our patients, but our kids! Now that is true success!
Believe what you are doing will make a difference, not only for you, but for others. That is being a success…becoming a better version of you, which will help others become a better version of themselves. Enjoy life to its fullest while we are here. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Don’t waste what time you do have. Stay healthy, keep moving, and enjoy life, with all of its ups and down. Enjoy the ride of this roller coaster life. You will learn from it, and become better for it…you will be successful! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3327
by Dan | Oct 30, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all have challenges that come up during our days, during our lives. We all need that extra support from family and/or friends. Your spouse can be your best advocate, cheerleader, support system, crying shoulder…all around everything. Utilize this source if available to you. If not, then other family members, or friends. People who you can count on for support for you. Just remember it goes both ways!
These are all people who can help provide advice, tips, give support, help, offer assistance, and give guidance. These are all things that you can also provide to someone else…a way that will complete the circle of helping you become a better you.
One of the greatest things I’ve learned from running is the importance of having amazing friends…and spouse! It is no different for anybody. There are times when you need to be “picked up” in regards to your mood/attitude, and times when those people around also need the same thing.
Here is just a sampling of some of the people involved in the Watertown Run Club. Many of these same people were the ones I was training with for the Twin Cities Marathon that was on Sunday Oct. 9. The motto of the run club is “we leave no one behind!” It was a great source of support for each of us. I found myself enjoying the Sunday runs more than any other run. We all had the same goal of completing and competing in the marathon, but the training runs were a time for all of us to discover who we are, and who the people we were running with were. My shirt on the back of the marathon shirt has the quotation: Success…A Journey, not a Destination! One of the things that I discovered is that we may have started out as a group of people who got together because we all like to run, but something more was developing…
…we were going to finish our training as a group of friends! Friends who developed out of running! There were struggles each of us had during those 4+ months of training for the marathon. We all had times when we needed help. A quote by past president Ronald Reagan sums is up well: “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone!” Direct hit! This applies to us…this applies to all of us!
We all need support at times, but to me, nothing is more rewarding, more amazing, than to be able to support someone else when they need it. When you do this, it comes back to you as rewards that you were not really expecting. A feeling that goes to the core of who you are, and who you want to be…to become a better you!
Sarah has been my biggest support person. I can’t tell you how good it made me feel when she was waiting at the finish line for me! (and cheering me on when I saw her at mile 17!) Because of Sarah, because of her support, assistance, guidance, advice, help, tips…love…I become better. All of us can become better, but it will take work. Work just like we have to do when we are watching our diet, trying to do more exercise, trying to take care of ourselves. Never turn your back on those people important to you. You become better, and they in turn, also become better. Amazing how this works out! Try it! Continue to work at becoming a better you! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3320
