The Richest Man in The Graveyard

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

You know what? Life is way too short.

I was reading a post this morning on one of the personal trainer message boards that I frequent. Ken (the poster) was talking about how one of his best friends just died from prostate cancer. He was 42.

I’m 41.

There’s reality kicking you in the teeth.

We walk around every day thinking we still have our whole life ahead of us, which we do, but what we don’t admit is that our whole life could be one more day, one more week, one more minute. Who knows?

All I know is I want to maximize my time above ground, and exercise will help me do that, so I’m going to make sure I continue to make time to get in 4 – 5 workouts per week as long as I can.

Don’t get me wrong. Fitness may be what I do, but just like all of you reading this, I could easily come up with excuses to not work out. But you know what, I’ve got 3 really good reasons not to make excuses: Wendy, Julia, and Lauren. (In case you don’t know, that’s my wife and two daughters.)

Wendy and I have been together for more than 20 years now, and married for almost 17. Julia is 4 1/2 and loves roller coasters. Lauren isn’t even 1 1/2 yet and has already figured out how to tease her sister.

I’m pretty sure they’d like me to stick around and not drop from a heart attack at 52, so whenever I think I don’t have time to exercise, I just look at their pictures. Any of you who’ve been in my office know I have plenty of pictures to look at.

Maybe you can convince yourself that you don’t care about your health, but did you ever think about the people around you who happen to love you and depend on you? Think they might care about your health?

Think about that next time you’re too busy to take care of yourself or eat right or exercise. Too busy doing what? Working?

Guess what? There’s no prize for being the richest stiff in the graveyard.

If you need some help separating what is really important in life from what really just keeps you busy, check out this book.

You might also like:

1. It’s Time for Your New Year’s Resolution
2. Want to Lose Weight? Relax.
3. I Was a Big, Fat, Unhealthy Mess
4. Why Do You Work Out?