This all began with pain. I was fed up with hurting all the damn time. I couldn’t run and play with my kids, couldn’t carry anything heavy, and work was extremely hard to get through. I couldn’t even crawl into bed without losing my breath. I was tired of it, especially as a man, I feel like my strength and stamina is a big part of me, so I was constantly battling with my confidence and self-esteem. I just felt like crap all the time.
So I did what every person does when they don’t see a doctor, I Googled. According to google I have stage 3 and 4 cancer of the liver, lungs, and esophagus , along with various other diseases. There was still some other valuable information I read, which lead me into podcast shows. I was able to listen to a lot of doctors and scientist and the most recent studies on various topics in health. I tried a variety of things that I learned, some worked really well, some okay, and some not at all. Not everything that works for me, will work for you, and things that work for you might not work for me.
One thing for anybody struggling to start working on their health is to start WALKING. The more you move your body, the more it starts to heal. Walk until you can’t walk anymore if you are as bad as I was. Sciatic nerve damage would cause my legs to basically just give out from a jolt of pain going from the bottom of my back down to my foot. It makes it very hard to be on your feet at all. But I learned that in order to actually heal, I had to strengthen the muscles surrounding that nerve.
Muscle relaxers and pain killers helped a little, but they never healed or cured anything. MOVEMENT! I REPEAT! MOVEMENT is a must for your health. So if you are like I was and you did all your moving at work, then get home and not do any physical activity, then this is a MUST for you. WALK! If you can jog, then jog, and if you can run then run. Your body is made to move, and if you don’t use it, then you will lose it. Start with just 5 to 10 minutes and work your way up to 30 minutes
Everyday, set out at least 5 minutes to start off walking. If you have problems walking like I did, just push yourself as much as you can. The more often you take walks, the more your body will fight to make your body capable. Our incredible bodies have minds of their own, and will adapt to almost anything you throw at it. So if you continuously keep making your body walk, your body will realize “hey, this person is moving us more, we need to keep up with them”, and start to work for you.
You will start to notice just after a few minutes of walking, your body will start to loosen up more, swinging more freely. Oxygen is being pumped throughout your whole body, supplying energy to all your muscles, allowing them to start healing and building. Walking will also help strengthen your joints and bones, which in turn will relieve a lot of pain as well. It may not be instant pain relief, but you will make progress the more you do it. When I started off, I would get frustrated because it was supposed to be helping, but I would be hurting so bad every time I went walking. But I kept believing, this is suppose to work. I was able to walk a little longer each day, still end up hurting, but it took a little longer for the pain to start each time.
Over time, the pain finally started to ease up. I was able to start jogging a bit (this brought pain to my knees), and was walking 2 to 3 miles every morning. Not only did my physical pain start to go away, but my emotional pain did too. I started to feel better mentally. It got to a point where anytime I was mad or upset about something, I would just go on a walk. I would calm down, clear my head, and able to think of solutions to my problems with a lot more clarity. Sometimes, I would listen to music or podcast on my walk, and sometimes I would just walk in silence with only my thoughts to entertain me. However, you want to do it, just start walking.
Be real with yourself, if you want to be healthy and fit, but you don’t have the motivation or will power to go bust your ass in the gym, then take that baby step and commit to at the least walking every day. Baby steps in the right direction are better than no steps at all. Be patient with yourself and understand it’s not an overnight deal. If you miss a day, don’t let yourself say “oh well, I guess I’m not doing that anymore”. Keep going. Commit to just 15 minutes, or even 5 minutes if you have to. No matter what, make walking a mandatory activity like brushing your teeth, or showering, or dinner and you will see progress in your health and fitness.
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