Don't wait until it's too late

Last week, I realized that I feel like an athlete again. A strong, healthy athlete. I'm nearly 44 years old, and I really haven't felt this way since I was in high school. Granted, I still have a looooong way to go on my journey back to health, but I'm on the right track, for sure.

It has been so long since I have felt healthy that I had forgotten how it feels. For 25+ years, I have gradually come to accept a lower level of fitness than I ever knew as a young man, when I regularly won medals in swim meets, ran 50+ miles per week, won tennis tournaments, and pitched no-hitters. Year after year, I have gotten fatter, slower, and less able/willing to do the things that younger/fitter people do. I have looked in the mirror, sighed about my increasing waistline, and just gone to the store to get larger clothes.

But no more. Today I can look at myself and see signs of an athlete again. My legs are leaner and stronger, my chest has definition (beyond "man boobs"), I can see lats and delts again, and -- as it turns out -- I have abs underneath all of that fat. I can climb the stairs without feeling as if my heart is going to pound its way right out of my chest. I can see visions of what I was like as a young man, which I certainly am not anymore.

My point? Simply that I had forgotten what this was like. I was on a path to never getting it back, and I was accepting that.

DON'T BE THAT PERSON. Wherever and whoever you are, decide right this moment that you will always be young and healthy. If you're young and healthy now, burn that self-image into your brain and never lose it. If you're not, dig down deep into your memory to when you were, capture that image, and commit yourself right now to getting back to where you once were -- and staying there.

Because here's the thing...no matter where you are, you're in a place where you can reach your fitness goals. It's not too late for that. BUT, the longer you wait, the harder it gets to (1) believe that you can do it, and (2) find that vision of you again. So, when I titled this blog Don't Wait Until It's Too Late, that's what I'm referring to. Your body isn't going to block your path to health, but your mind might. It was happening to me, for sure.

Do it now. Don't forget the younger, fitter you and just accept an older, lesser you. You can again and forever be young and strong.

But you have to start.

Now.