Why We Diet, Exercise, Learn, and Try

 

I was thinking this morning about all that 'formal' exercise I have done all my life, and why I did all that exercise. That led me to think about the lifestyle changes I made in my twenties and thirties, as I realized as I went along each day, what I was doing was not that healthy. 

- - It is hard to break away from the pack. Everyone wants you to be like they are. People are resistant to change. Especially when they watch someone else change and they do not want to.

I thought about who I did all that exercise for. It was not for me in the moment, as I was doing the exercise without any real kind of work. I mean I strained and sweated, and occasionally had some sore muscles, but it was not the back breaking work that some people were doing just to survive another day.

I am free rolling now. Why have I been so curious all my life? Why did I take college courses? Why am I fascinated by body, health and lifestyle discoveries that show up in books, magazines and web pages? Why do I read really boring articles in some really boring magazines?

What is the purpose of all this? Why do I do it? No one I know wants to hear about it. There was nothing to be gained from climbing out of bed in my thirties and doing my little exercise routine and then going jogging. I did those things every other day, and I did not improve my exercise and running skills. But I never really thought about why I did those things.

Until this morning that is. It is a few minutes after seven and the sun is shining. I fell asleep sometime after two last night, and I woke up a little after five. I'll probably take a nap again today. Such is the life of old.

But I also did some other things. In these early hours, I have done some interesting reading, worked on some puzzles, and had something to eat. Later on I will do my little 2023 exercise routine, which is vastly different from my 1980, 1990, 2000, and my 2010 exercise routines.

I am a firm believer in the phrase, "Use it or lose it". It was not until this morning however that complete understanding of this little phrase made it into my conscious mind.

Everything diet, exercise and health related I have done in my life was not for me in the moment. Not even for me in the next week or the next month. All the goofy things I tried to improve myself with, all the diet information I read, tried and sometimes failed at, all the other things were not for me in the moment. 

I realize this morning, I did all those thing for me right now in 2023. More importantly they were for my future me. I grew up watching family members and other adults drink and smoke themselves into an early grave. I watched as people decide they are 'old' because they are 40, 50, 60, or seventy. I made decision after decision I was not going to be one of those people. 

I spent the early years of my life doing these things because I wanted a full, happy, and productive life. Today I know it was not for me then, but for a future me. I am not through yet, there is a lot more future me to come.

There is more future me out there waiting to be realized. And because I am old, I see the sad results others have made of not taking care of themselves for their future selves. We all have some limitations in our life, health and otherwise. Until we die, we have a future.

It is our obligation to minimize our limitations and maximize ourselves, because we must be ready to become our future selves. I notice in the moment, thinking about what version I want for my future self, is exhilarating. I am motivated to do those things I can do today for the benefit of my future self tomorrow. How about you?

Empathy, Integrity, Real Life

 

I couldn't sleep tonight, too much coffee while I was out and about today. I did one of those rare things, I went to a few poker forums to see what if anything has changed. They are about the same as they were when I was active on one of the poker forums.

One interesting header caught my attention, it was a thread about empathy and poker. The poster was going through the problem of playing poker with people who he inwardly felt sorry for because he understood or felt what they were feeling.

I resembled that remark early in my poker playing days. It was back when limit poker was king, and there was no no-limit poker to be found that an average person could afford to play.

I think I had recently made the transition to Holdem as I realized that I could make as much money winning one nice pot in Holdem as I could beating my head against the wall playing Seven Card Stud. Those were heady days.

There was a rather old couple who played the about the same time I played, and often we would be at the same table. Besides the fact they made poor decisions, they flashed their cards by holding them up in the air. They should not have been playing for money.

The preferred to sit near the middle of the table which meant at least four of the players at the table could see their cards every hand. I told them a few times what they were doing, but it had no lasting effect. I arrived at a point when I would fold my cards if I saw their hands in my sense of fair play.

Other players at the table did not share my skewed sense of ethics. While they would not lean back and look at the old couples cards, they were not above taking their money when they saw their respective hands waving in the air and knew they were ahead.

After some weeks of my high and mighty stand, the light bulb turned on. The old couple lost every time they played. They knew they were going to lose their money before they even sat down at the table. The other players at the table took their money and used it against me, betting and raising when they normally would check it down. It was not their money they were betting in the strictest sense of the word.

This was keeping my play in a defensive mode. I had my meager stacks of chips and most of the other players had their chips plus some of the old couples chips. I determined in the moment, that if the old couple wanted to play, they were playing knowing they were going to lose. Just because I did not want to take their money did not mean they were not going home broke.

In less than five minutes I changed the way I played against the old couple. I too was not craning my head to see their hands, but neither was I looking away. I had warned them several times previously, and they were aware of what they were doing.

Of course my win rate increased. On the bright side, the other players willingness to bully me also decreased for the simple reason their win rate had dropped and mine went up.

I still have some empathy and sympathy when I play though. When I know someone is playing with money they really should not be playing with, I do not feel bad taking their money because I know they would be happily taking mine if they could. I feel bad for them when the shock they feel at going broke to standing up and walking away sets in. That is usually about seven seconds.

Gambling in some ways is the last great democracy. No one forces anyone to the table, makes them buy chips, or tells them they have to play. If they did not lose their money at say, the poker table they would lose it somewhere else. Perhaps poker is the healthiest option for them about where to spend their money.

Personal decisions do not always fly the banners of ethics and integrity. Most of our daily decisions are small and insignificant, others are life changing. Big decisions are often gritty and stained with dirt and discomfort. Our best decisions are hopefully carefully thought out. Many of our decisions though are not always on the moral high road. Much like life.

It is Free, Something is Wrong With It

Or, "It is free, what is the catch?" I am shopping at a local hardware store about two miles away to buy garden hose washers. While I am there I notice a young couple looking at a wheelbarrow, but not looking like they want to pay that much for it.

I walk up to them and say, “I have an old one and it is free if you want it. I bought it used three years ago. I used it for one small project, and its been sitting since then…. The wheel on it is a little to small, so you either have to bend over a bit or drag it….You can’t put too much in it at a time, but for a small job it works fine.”

“We only have a small job too.”

“Can we pay you for it?” 

“No, I bought it for $10.00 and more than got my use out of it, you can have it for free. Here is my address…..”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, and if it does not work for you, you can come back and buy this one. I’ll be home in about twenty minutes or less.”

Two hours later and no young couple. 

I take a half sheet of paper and write on it, “Donation or Free”.

I take the wheelbarrow to the curb and tape the sign on it.

Less than ten minutes later it is gone. I do not live on a busy street.

Disappearing People

 

Disappearing People and Disappearing Things happen more often than we like to think about, and more often than we probably notice. Our brain only processes things that are important to us. Where to place our foot for the next stair step, a dog approaching, and so on.

People suddenly disappearing has happened to me over the years, usually walking in the city or in neighborhoods. Once when I was in England on an old country road, it happened in the middle of a large mustard field.

I was driving on a class C road, which was sunken about eight feet into the earth as these small roads sometimes are in that part of the country. 

A middle aged woman in a dark dress, bonnet and shoes  was peddling along on her bicycle with grocery bags in her back basket about thirty yards in front of me. Class C roads are too narrow to safely pass on. I was in no hurry, so I followed along behind her. We were going up a slight hill. 

She crested the peak of the hill, went over and out of sight. I crested the hill - and she was gone! I'm driving in the middle of a mustard field with the banks of the field  six to eight feet above me on each side of the road, and she has disappears! I stop and look around and there was nowhere for her to have gone to. She, her groceries, and bicycle vaporized into thin air.

A few months back, I exited a building and was walking down a curving cement walkway on a small hillside to the parking lot across the street. There was a hard right turn about the halfway down the hill, like a mountain trail switchback. The switchback was about about forty feet away from the street.

An older man dressed like a farmer was walking about twelve feet was walking in front of me. He had grey hair, wore a feed store baseball cap, worn jean jacket, tired, baggy jeans, and old brown work boots. I followed him for about for about fifteen seconds with both of us walking at the same speed. I walking slower than normal to keep a distance between us of about fifteen feet or so (COVID).

He walked like he had or maybe still milked cows. You need to be around farmers who own a small farm with milk cows to understand how they walk. They almost walk like Post-Men of old who carried heavy mail bags of mail on one shoulder as they walked the sidewalk of their route. Sort of a bowlegged hobble-walk.

The old farmer turned at the downhill right turn of the sidewalk switchback, and continued walking out of my line of sight. I was still maybe ten steps behind him. The switchback was such, that we never made eye contact and I never saw his face, nor he my face.

I made the turn, and he was gone! The Old Farmer had disappeared into thin air! The closest hiding spot were moving cars over forty feet away on the road. Him hiding is a silly idea, but the only obvious  explanation. Yet, disappeared he was! As I walked on, he was gone and not hiding.

Another time walking across the sidewalk of a town square, two teenage girls were walking towards me and suddenly transformed into gaunt starving werewolves. They walked about four steps and then vanished in mid stride from the sidewalk! One Mom almost ripped her daughter's arm off pulling her back from the apparitions. Other people walking behind them also saw them and saw them disappear. We asked each other for conformation of what we saw, and we all saw the same thing, though no one was sure exactly what those 'things' were.

I rarely notice 'things' that may appear and then disappear. There may be things popping out from nowhere and other things disappearing, but my brain decides they are not important.

Sometimes driving on rural roads, it seems cars appear and vanish in a totally random manner. Imagine  have been driving along with a blue car following you for the last twenty minutes on a rural highway. Suddenly it is not there, even though there was no road for it to turn off on. These things and other events seem to happen and usually we are not even aware of them happening. 

I am sure almost everyone has had these experiences, though we never talk about them. I first experienced this happening as a kid. Back then I thought it was normal. As I grow older I realize if it is normal, it is secret normal.