It's 9AM
There are no easy answers, she said.
I bit my tongue.
Nodded.
Not to agree, but to show I was listening.
Because I didn’t agree.
I think most things are pretty easy.
Or simple.
I think most things are simple, which is easy enough.
The hard part is the excuses we make to ourselves and others as to why the simple solutions won’t work.
In our case.
In our situation.
Take losing weight, for example.
Losing weight is easy.
Stop eating so much.
But we complicate it for ourselves by making excuses.
The best answer for feeling better all around is losing weight and exercising more.
But…
It takes discipline.
Building muscle hurts.
Eating clean is hard.
I mean, try removing sugar from your diet.
Sugar is everywhere.
And the amount we eat in the US is staggering.
Up to 150 lbs per year.
It’s in almost everything.
Sugar is gasoline to cancer cells, it’s bad for the heart, the liver, the joints and bones.
A lot of the things that are “wrong” with people’s health can be reduced by taking sugar out of the diet.
Except…
It’s not easy.
It takes discipline.
And effort.
I told the house we were only going to eat beef, salt and water for a 90 day diet this summer and it turned into an all out war.
Too much effort to not buy the list of items we almost always buy.
Too hard to say no to the Peach Milkshake from Chik-Fil-A.
At least on my part.
Because I worked a 12 hour day, and it’s 100 degree’s outside and I did this and did that and I “earned” it.
Or an ice cold Coca Cola after hours of yard work.
Or an ice cold beer just because the day ends in Y.
I don’t know if anyone is better at making excuses than me.
Because discipline is a practice.
And it’s not always easy.
They released another study that shows exercise is great for people over the age of 50.
More muscle means less age related symptoms caused by a sedentary lifestyle.
But building muscle is harder after age 30.
It requires more effort, and dealing with more pain, and finding the time to do it.
So we trade off and use “reasons” we can’t do something, and deal with the consequences.
Which we call “inevitable.”
Just the price of getting older.
When I look at it, I see it in a lot of areas of life.
Everything is a trade off, and usually for convenience.
Especially me.
The easy answer is discipline and routine.
Want to finish that novel?
Focus and write.
Want to train for the 100 mile race?
Run a little bit every day.
More muscle to stay stronger?
Lift heavy.
Feel better overall?
Eat clean. (beef, salt, water only)
Want a cool video shot or photo?
Drive there and take it.
So simple.
But never easy.
Because tacos and pizza taste amazing, and coffee with a tablespoon of butter gets old.
There’s a lot of housework to do instead of the gym, and my feet hurt from work, so it’s harder to run as much.
And writing?
Well, I knocked out five hundred words, but it wasn’t in the one story I want to get done with, it was in something new and shiny and fun, so at least I got a word count.
Excuses.
I hear it from all corners, and all people.
Daily.
And I know what it is because I do it too.
We become experts at reasons.
Excuses as to “why” we can or can’t do what needs to be done.
Excuses are easy.
The reasons behind the excuses aren’t.
When I was training to run 100 Milers, my body hurt.
The lactic acid built up in my muscles faster than it could be filtered out.
My mind hurt.
After so many miles, 18 for me, mental barriers drop and a lot of “truths” are revealed.
The excuses and reasons and tiny little lies we tell ourselves melt away and what we are left with sometimes bothers us.
Some long run days were thirty miles, which means I earned beers and pizza and anything I wanted, really, because my body was robbed of calories through the effort.
But I would refill with water, so much water, and tuna mixed in with a salad, because it was fast, or a burrito depending on where I ran that weekend.
Running every day built up a mental callous toward making excuses about why I couldn’t.
The same thing happens when I lift every day, or actually do eat right or write what I’m supposed to be working on.
Doing it every day, no matter what, builds into something.
Not always easy.
But simple.
What do you do every day without fail?
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Read 9 am and pray