P90X: "Excuses and Rationalizations" Day 83 of 90

There is nothing that makes you feel more guilty than when someone accuses you of having an ‘excuse.’  “What’s your excuse?”  Doesn’t that make you feel like you’re getting out of something you SHOULD be doing?  Rationalization sounds so much better.  It gives the perception that you have thought about this a little and weighed the costs and benefits.  Is there a real difference?  Not really.

I had a zillion reasons in my past for not doing something about my physical condition.  No problem at all.  Work was too stressful and I needed to rest when I got home.  I wasn’t really in that bad shape relative to others my age.  I can do it later.  The television writers have put in so much time on their craft that I would be robbing them of their work if I didn’t at least watch two hours of TV per night.  The kids required too much work to maintain while also trying to have a job (that actually is the only one that really has credence, but you can find ways to work around it). 

I was good at coming up with ‘rationalizations.’  Really good.  So good in fact that my skill resulted in a 285 pound human being that had a 270 cholesterol level and acid reflux so bad it made me think I was going into cardiac arrest after eating anything breaded with coffee.

That’s the problem with rationalization.  You think you’re balancing your life but you're really just moving necessary priorities for preferred priorities.  Life, however, has a way of being the true equalizer when it comes to balance.  You can’t rationalize away life.  It finds a way to achieve that balance in spite of you.  When you don’t take care of yourself, you don’t miraculously end up looking like Jack LaLanne…or for those historically challenged, Hugh Jackman.  You end up looking more ‘rounded.’

I finally made my physical state a priority when life handed me a note.  It said, “You are running out of time.”  That was literally and figuratively.  There were many indicators on my personal note but I will share one with you that was very sobering.

Have you ever applied for a life insurance policy?  That one is a real eye opener.  Life insurance companies  are very unforgiving.  They are literally looking at every facet of your life because their actuaries are gambling on how long you are going to live.  If you want a 15 year policy at age 45, they are trying to figure if you can make it past sixty.  They have a lot of money riding on it and will not change their assessment based on an excuse or rationalization.

They look at your blood.  Your cholesterol.  Your blood pressure.  Your weight.  They look at your family history and they check your medical records for any warning signs.  They want to know about your bad habits and your exercise routines.  They are excruciatingly complete.

It is pretty scary when they hand you the cost of your fifteen year policy and it's a very big number every month.  In fact, you may not even be able to afford it.  Why?  Because you are a massive gamble.  Their actuaries have taken all your data and calculated their private estimate of the expiration date for your birth certificate.  And it's not good.

You have no rationalization left after that.  If you try, you are fooling no one.

If you decide to rationalize your physical condition, it catches up to you.  It caught up to me.  I have spent four years making corrections.  I was one of the lucky ones…I didn’t do real damage to my body that couldn’t be reversed.  I know many who have not been so lucky.  It is actually possible to get so out  of shape and in a bad way that you cannot even fix it.

I almost did that.  I was so out of shape I couldn’t exercise anymore.  I had to go on a medically supervised liquid diet to correct the situation.  It was at that point that I decided “never again.”  I was going to fix it once and for all.

You don’t have to do that.  You can take advantage of my experience.  My story is all too familiar.  It does have one difference though.  I fixed it.  That is rare.  Put that one into the rationalization machine...it should tell you one thing...

Move some priorities around and take care of your physical condition.  If you don't, you may not be around long enough to see the other priorities through.

Best of luck.