One of the joys of society opening again is talking face-to-face with real live people and the chance to be challenged by questions about why I write about Health and Fitness. I admit to being a little out of practice with some of the verbal judo of answering “why” questions, but I have missed this corner in which only an honest answer will suffice.
Walk the Talk
It is fun being authentic.
I am a person who has been educated into a world that is not always a comfortable fit with an over-commercialized sit-on-the-couch, eat fast food, and give lip service to medical science sort of world. Health and Fitness writing allows me to put not just sound advice but myself and professional reputation out there in the world.
My intention is to communicate understanding, not appeal to hot topics or inflame emotional sensibilities. Gosh knows we have more than enough sensationalist writers out there on the Internet these days. Some folks crave attention, while others are appealing to this carnival sideshow presentation that is presented as mainstream science. When all is said and done, it seems to be about people feeling insecure about themselves and gaining attention through these various venues. (How many “likes” or followers do you have on your account?)
I am the odd person out. I know a lot of actions one can take to live a Healthy life. There are many actions to take, actions to avoid, and supportive attitudes to adopt. No magic, miracles, or unique mysteries to practice.
Boring as it may sound, what I write about, I practice.
Should I Write About Health & Fitness?
An unequivocal “yes!”
As noted, there is a tremendous amount of snake oil being sold as healthcare to the world. From “miracle” supplements to politician-mandated medical interventions (Do they know that they are practicing medicine without a license? Do they care?)
Writing about exercise and healthy lifestyle activities sometimes feels like voting in the democratic process. I know that my one vote will not change the election, but it is important that I do it anyway.
Writing about how diet and exercise can and will change your outlook on life may be heard by a few.
Will this writing improve a lot of lives?
Unlikely – but like voting, the importance is in taking the actions, not the results of the actions.
It is About Thought & Thinking
Health and Fitness are not events that play out outside of our personal existence. They are integrated aspects of who we are.
When I first started to bicycle, I was using the activity to quell some of the withdrawal jitters of quitting a pack-a-day cigarette habit. A bike was just a toy left over from a childhood of exploring our strange new world.
As time went on, cycling started giving me experiences that were outside of those boyhood events. These experiences morphed into racing. Racing begat an understanding of the proper care and feeding of the human engine that powered those two wheels.
Somewhere along that journey, I became a cyclist. The physical activity brought about change in thought.
My hope is that readers thoughts may also be sparked to change. Read about a reasonable approach to a health or exercise challenge. Take the idea out and put it into practice. Entertain the idea that the change is possible.
Ask Questions
Whether out of personal curiosity or deep concern, it is important to find answers to our questions. Sometimes we find parts of the answers in different places. Sometimes we find we have asked the wrong question.
There is no wrong way to obtain our answers.
Equally important is to legitimately question the answers we receive. Thinking and acting critically brings validity to our answers. When we hear those media absolutes about there is only one way possible, time to stop and ask.
As much as I love to talk training with gym folk, they traffic in a whole lot of misinformation. Just because an idea for bodybuilding or weightlifting sounds reasonable, doesn’t make it true.
Trust but verify. Always.
Even medical research can suffer from credibility issues. A study can find that a symptom is commonly found when a certain disease is also present. Our poorly educated media is famous for jumping to the conclusion that one causes the other. Another possibility is that the two are unrelated. We will not know until we test for those connections. Until then, the proper scientific answer is “We do not know.”
Integrity is Everything
I write about Health and Fitness to help people. The same reason I have for entering the healthcare field all those years ago. As a citizen of the world, I have an obligation to help others.
To write is to share in ideas. As ideas can be powerful tools, I take my responsibilities to share ideas helpfully very seriously. I do not ask that readers agree with me, only listen to my ideas.
We are all truly in this life together.
“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”― John Steinbeck
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