3 Factors Of Health You Can Control
My 30-year high school reunion was this past weekend, and it has me all up in my feels.
Blakley and I couldn't make the 1,200-mile trip back to Florida, but seeing all the photos on Facebook still warmed my heart.
It's incredible to see how so many of my classmates have followed vastly different paths and ended up in such different places.
Some are politicians.
Others are entrepreneurs or full-time parents.
A few may possibly still be living with their parents.
How do we end up in such different places?
As best as I can tell, it comes down to three key factors.
And these same factors explain a lot about where your health is headed too.
Factor 1 - The people you surround yourself with
Jim Rohn famously said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with," and I'm inclined to believe it.
If your four closest friends don't care about their health, eventually there's a good chance you’ll be the fifth.
Even though it's not intended, peer pressure doesn't end at graduation.
Factor 2 - Your Daily Habits
Ahh yes... The dreaded "H" word.
Look, just like you, I have some bad habits.
We all have to stay vigilant to replace them with better habits that align with the future version of ourselves we want to become.
As much as we all wish it weren't true...
A growing waistline, climbing cholesterol, and fading self-confidence are usually lagging indicators of our small daily habits, not our hormones or our age.
Factor 3 - Your Willingness To Adapt To Setbacks
In 2009, at the age of 31, we made over $100,000 on a single real estate deal.
Then the housing market collapsed, and overnight we were out of business.
We had two choices:
Feel sorry for ourselves.
Or adapt.
We adapted.
Blakley and I had dreams, and more importantly in the moment, bills to pay.
I won't bore you with the details, but we scrapped our way through the next couple of years and started building the foundation of where we are today.
In your fitness journey, setbacks look like:
Eating well all week and then "messing up" on a summer weekend.
Consistently working out, and then getting off track when your back or shoulder starts hurting.
Feeling like you're so far away from where you want to be that there's no reason to even try.
The apostle Paul had it right regarding setbacks in Romans chapter 5:
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope."
You don't get fit by avoiding setbacks.
You get fit by adapting to them.
That's true in the gym.
It's also true in life.
All I want to leave you with today is the extreme confidence that comes along with knowing that you are in control of your destiny.
You control your environment.
You choose your habits.
You decide if you're willing to adapt or fold in the face of setbacks.
Your future isn't decided by luck.
It's built one choice at a time.
Make today's choice a good one.
Have a great day, and go Merritt Island Mustangs!
Jonathan
