The stock market is doing well now. While most market participants are down from their values at the beginning of the year, most are still doing extremely well. It sure isn’t 2009!
Is there anything you should be doing that you have forgotten about? I believe, for most, there is. Have you invested in your health? If you save and invest for retirement, but ignore your physical condition, you might not have a very good retirement. Worse is that you might not make it TO retirement.
Many of us are hoping to have a long and enjoyable retirement. If you survive a long retirement, but are not healthy, it will not be a time to be savored. This is why it is important to always take care of your physical self. Invest in yourself by taking care of yourself.
There are some things about your physical condition that you have no control over. We all are subject to our heredity. That’s a given. But, that leaves a lot of latitude to take care of ourselves.
We all have aspects of ourselves that we know we aren’t the best at. For me, it is eating. I wrestled in a Division 1 school in college and never had to watch what I ate. Now, I do have to watch. Even though I run, lift and do yoga regularly, I have been putting a lot of focus on improving my eating habits lately. I am definitely feeling better as a result.
For 40 years I played Judo. I haven’t played (Yes, it is referred to as playing like any other sport) for several years and would like to get back to it. I haven’t yet found a Judo club in Jacksonville. I tried Ju-Jitsu, but it is different. They don’t focus much on the throwing aspects and do mostly ground work. Nonetheless, there is nothing like mono e mono to get you in great shape.
When I was a kid, I never had to stretch before playing or working out. Now days, I find that I feel much better by stretching and I avoid injury. This is another facet I have added to my workout recently. Each day I stretch for a few minutes and I have been adding more each day. At first, it hurt, but now it feels good to do it. I actually look forward to it. It has a way of calming my mind as well.
So I challenge you to start investing in your physical condition. Just start slowly and you’ll be surprised at the result! Whatever you do, don’t do too much at once. You will either hurt yourself or you’ll burn out.
I have been a member of some type of gym for most of my life. At certain times of the year, like January, the gym gets crowded with “New Year’s resolution” people. By mid-February, most are gone. Don’t let this be you. Just start slowly and add time and exercises slowly with each workout. You’ll be investing in the most important asset you have – yourself!
Every long journey starts with one small step. One step after another and soon you’ll be on the way to being a much healthier and better you.
Carpe Diem!
