Have you ever said something like this to your kids?
Did someone ever say it to you when you were a kid?
It’s pretty good advice.
Whenever you get something of value, you learn how it works then use it according to those parameters.
If not, you might break it.
It always frustrates me, for many reasons, when I see people not taking care of their cars, for example.
They whip them around corners like they’re Mario Andretti, they tail people driving at high speeds, they obviously don’t care about themselves, others, or their cars.
Sometimes the way someone drives likely tells you more about them than you need to know.
The point is, the likelihood of seeing either that person or their car in a state of “ill health” is pretty high, because they don’t care to use them the way they are designed.
You might expect to see both the person and the car pretty haggard and dragging around in the not-too-distant future.
Why?
Because they didn’t follow instructions.
There are ways to drive and maintain a car that can keep it going and going and going, looking shiny and new. Those ways are known. They are not secret. The only question is whether or not we adhere to them. You can take a look at somebody’s car and know pretty quickly whether or not they do.
The same thing goes for your body, only the stakes are way higher.
We have an operator’s manual already. There are no major secrets or unknowns. We know what makes our bodies work well and conversely what makes them drag around, looking haggard, like that car that didn’t get the care it deserved.
The good news (and also the frustrating news) is that it’s not all that complicated or difficult.
It’s just a matter of following instructions and care.
Care for your physical health, which includes care for your mental health as things like stress and anxiety can directly impact your physical wellbeing.
That includes taking power back over your health. Not doing things just because somebody who is not responsible for your body told you to, but realizing that you are responsible for your body. It is a gift you have been given, and you are ultimately responsible for its function. So you spend the time looking into how it really works and what you really need to do so it operates as it should.
It is both your calling and your responsibility.
It is your calling and responsibility to give it the proper fuel and to make it strong, both in body and in mind.
You are not here for nothing, so don’t treat your body like you are.
Start taking care of yourself today, making yourself the most capable of being positively useful that you can, and watch rewards start to flow in.
You’ll know them when you see them.