Forever optimistic

We all have an optimism-meter. How we view the happiness factor of our lives. Depending on your optimism-meter every day could be drudgery, boring same olds, an exciting new day, another chance to get it right, an opportunity to learn something new about ourselves, a day of service, or yippee here comes another big one.

My eighty-six year old father wakes up everyday with wide eyed enthusiasm for what that day will bring. My mother stays in bed as long as possible avoiding the same olds. Me? I believe that we're given a new chance every day to be better at whatever it is we choose to be and so I roll out of bed every morning very hopeful for what the day will bring.

It's with these feelings of optimism that I try to treat my body, my life and others with great respect. I'm certainly not even close to being perfect but every day I get another chance to try my best.

So it saddens me when I hear that some people don't care about their body or their health and I've been trying to figure out why for years. The stats are there. What you eat, how much you exercise, and how you cope with stress affects how you view your life, how you feel and how long you live. Yes, your genetics play a role but only about 30%. And yes, there isn't a guarantee that living a healthy lifestyle will let you beat the odds. But the fact is healthy people are generally happier than unhealthy people.

Why do we still eat junky foods, lie on the couch and eat or drink our way through life's stresses?

Is it because we think that the bad stuff is never going to happen to us? We aren't going to be the one who gets cancer, heart disease, liver disease, or type 2 diabetes? It will happen to someone else? We'll cope with it if it does happen to us? Do we need to be faced with a major health calamity before we embrace a healthy lifestyle?

I think one of the answers is that some people equate a healthy lifestyle with a boring life. Hey, how can you possibly have any fun when all you do is worry about your health? Let's just eat whatever we want, do whatever we want and wait and see what happens.

I know it's difficult to wade through all of the health info out there that we are constantly getting barraged by. You can't open a paper or watch the evening news without some kind of health update. Eat this, don't eat that. Do this, don't do that. We don't know what to believe or where to start. But common sense needs to prevail here. We know we shouldn't eat junk everyday, we know we need to get our bodies moving, and we know we should try coping with stress in a more positive way. One of my solutions is check out my monthly To Do List of lifestyle changes. Click on Say bye-bye to gimmicks and hello to health for the first instalment this year.

In our twenties and thirties we can party hardy and bounce back the next day. At forty our bodies take a little longer to recover and by the time we hit sixty most of us are starting to feel the results of years of neglect. We just don't bounce back like we used to.

I live a healthy lifestyle because it makes me feel great. Sure my stomach is saggy, I have wrinkles and my tush is introducing itself to the back of my knees, but I feel fabulous. Living my healthy lifestyle doesn't mean I don't eat cake, lie on the couch watching TV, stay up till the wee hours of the night, drink wine, or avoid a party. It just means I'm selective and if I did them all on the same night I'd be a bag of toys the next day. With age comes wisdom, sometimes.

I believe we need to change our mind set. We need to start listening to what our bodies are trying to tell us and then start respecting them. I know it's cliché but we're only given one of these bodies and we really need to love it.

Tomorrow morning when you wake up ask yourself what wonderful thing you're going to do for your body, think an optimistic thought, give yourself a stretch, get out of bed, have some oatmeal with fruit and start moving.