Let Coronavirus Improve Your Health

While everyone else is talking about the horrific effects of the Coronavirus, I thought I would continue with my counter critical line of thinking. Instead of piling more angst on an already maddening situation, perhaps we can talk about how to let the Coronavirus improve your health.

NAKED DON’T LIE

On February 2^nd, I made myself a promise that for sixty-six days, I would exercise intensely for no less than sixty-six minutes per day. You see, on February 1^st, I stood on the scale nude and looked at myself in the mirror and just didn’t like what I saw. The guy looking back at me was not the man I used to be or want to be. The guy I spotted was anything but 178 pounds of twisted steel with sex appeal.

Instead, the man staring curiously at me, although looking somewhat familiar, had a half-inch or inch – hell, I’m not going to lie to you – more like two inefficient inches around his waist. The extra twenty-two pounds on the guy in the mirror made his appearance seem foreign to me.

I fainted surprise and tried to pretend that I didn’t know this man in the mirror, but I knew the guy in the mirror all too well. I disliked him intensely; I didn’t want to know him at all.

Of course, the guy standing on the scale nude looking intently at me in the mirror was me. He was me, and I was he. Right then, I had to accept the truth about myself; there was no way to avoid who or what was staring me dead in the eye. I was glaring at anything but my healthy best.

I was no longer a “lean and mean fighting machine.” I was on my way to becoming Heavy D, ‘the overweight lover in the house,’ my house. So, I decided it was time to get real with myself. The time had come for me to honor one of life’s little-known truths – naked, don’t lie.

BUT PEOPLE LIE ALL THE TIME

I’m not going to lie to you; I won’t do what others do all the time. Seeing the scale read twenty-two pounds more than 178 pounds and being able to grab a set of love handles effortlessly was uncomfortable. Yet clenching the love handles was the painless part. Acknowledging that I was not who I want to be, could be and my family needs me to be was the more difficult thing to admit.

I started to lie to myself to make up all sorts of reasons why I was no longer 178 pounds of twisted steel with sex appeal. “I’m older now,” I reasoned. I rationalized, “I’m in better shape than most of my peers.” “As soon as the weather improves, I’ll get a chance to exercise outside so that I might quickly return to fighting shape,” I asserted.

On the face, two valid explanations for why I was not at my best and one seemingly acceptable plan of action to be at my best soon. Yet, in truth, all three were nothing other than pathetic justifications.

I was doing what people do all too often; I was rationalizing away the importance of my health and fitness. I was putting off for tomorrow, a tomorrow that, due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, feels less promised than ever, what I needed to be doing today. I was simply lying to myself; I was dishonest with myself and cheating my family, yet again, of having the privilege of knowing the best version of me.

FAMILY MATRIARCH AND PATRIARCH

Do you know what makes not being in your best health so much worse than sucking in your gut when you are in public, wearing dark colors to hide your weight gain, and donning ugly non-form fitting apparel day after day? It’s the lies we tell ourselves. Even worse, it’s the way we deprive our family and loved ones of the best versions of us.

You know you should be better, you know you could be better, you know that to live the life you always imagined you must be better, yet most often we do nothing to improve. Day by day, unintentionally, we proclaim, which in reality means intentionally, we show our family most importantly our children what we believe to be correct about the phrase “quality of life” and the word “longevity.” Our actions – poor diet and lack of exercise – reveal that the positive aspects of the phrase and the word have nothing to do with us.

Instead, the outward manifestation of the spare tire around our waist, our continuous shortness of breath, the cocktail of regular prescriptions we consume, and the fear and loathing we have for a clean diet and daily exercise signify that long after the Coronavirus Pandemic passes the probability of a reduced life expectancy remains. Many of us are not our healthy best, and while we could use the energy of Coronavirus Pandemic to propel us to be the best version of ourselves possible, we seem content setting ourselves up to be among the millions of Americans who now suffer from preventable health conditions exacerbated by Coronavirus.

WE ALL CAN, NEED, AND MUST DO BETTER

I know the truth is hard to swallow, which is why I’m sharing my truth with you first. Hopefully, learning my truth will make it easier for you to discover and accept your reality. After all, I believe someone Christians and Believers around the world will recognize this Sunday once said, “the truth will set you free.”

On February 1^st, when I stood on the scale in the mirror, the truth is that I knew naked, don’t lie. Moreover, I suspected I would not like what the naked standing on the scale me was about to tell me about me, myself, and I – namely that it was time for me to get my Sugar Honey Iced Tea together.

But the truth is also that I had no idea, on February 1^st, the world as we knew it would soon be turned upside down by a Global Pandemic. Still, despite now living during a time associated with universal feelings of despair and uncertainty, I’ve found a new truth, a sense of exceptional clarity, and a relentless belief in a glorious future. This time Sheltered In Place has reaffirmed the importance of controlling what you can control, which for me means taking command over my diet and exercise.

Now that I am no longer able to go to the gym that requires me to pay monthly membership fees, I do calisthenics in my home for free. Unable to walk and jog on the treadmill in the musty health club, I walk and jog through my neighborhood, smelling the blossoming flowers associated with the hope and promise of a fresh and exhilarating tomorrow. Absent the professional demands to attend meetings where high caloric, heart-attack-inducing, and diabetes provoking meals are dietary staples; I have the privilege of preparing healthy meals only, consuming foods exclusively that do more than increase my life expectancy but improve the health of the planet.

LET CORONAVIRUS IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH

The medical professionals and governmental authorities may not know everything there is to know about the Coronavirus or be in complete agreement about its cause and effect yet. But one thing they all generally agree on is that doing whatever you can to stay your healthy best is critical for the health and wellbeing of you and all those around you.

Oh, before I forget and in case you were wondering. I’m now only 10 pounds from being back to my fighting weight, my lean and mean self – that elusive and desired 178 pounds of twisted steel with sex appeal.

‘Social Isolation’ be damned. There is one more truth I’d like to share. I’m not going to make any more excuses or give another pitiful justification for not being as healthy as possible.

Today I am relentlessly determined that when the madness of this virus subsides, I’ll be the best version of me possible, the healthy and fit me that my family needs and rightly deserves. I’ve decided, as I hope you too will choose to let the Coronavirus improve your health.

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What kinds of things are you doing with your family to remain healthy? How many steps daily are you and your family walking? How many pounds has your family lost during Shelter in Place?