Responsibility

What I’ve eaten today:

• A yummy breakfast bar
• Those yummy sugar snap pea snacks
• A great salad with Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, avocado, & turkey
• Pancakes with apple butter

When I was younger, I had a friend who was much older than me and was extremely blunt, about all things.  He often didn’t take care with my fragile, growing teenage heart BUT he did occasionally impart some good wisdom in spite of himself.  One day he looked at me and said something to the effect of, “Ashley, you are 16 years old.  I want you to realize that right now you understand the difference between right and wrong.  Please, as you grow up, try to remember that you are responsible for your own actions. Don’t blame your parents, or think that anyone else is going to should take the blame.  You cannot blame anyone else for the things that you do because you know what’s right.”  At the time, I thought this mini rant was a little bit heavy but I took it to heart nonetheless.  Since then, I have occasionally done well with this and occasionally fallen into the temptation that he was trying to warn me against.

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As I prepared for the beginning of this year, I began to think about all the body confidence campaigns that are out there to gain a grasp on what being “healthy” truly is.  We all see men and women who eat well, live well, exercise well and still they are what many would consider overweight.  There are those who are terrible to their bodies and look like models.  Then there are even more who do all the right things and still, ailments eat away at their wellness.  It made me begin to really explore my definition of what is “healthy.”  I wanted to have a goal worth striving for that wasn’t a way to judge myself against others.

Is “healthy” eating a certain way? Is it spending a certain amount of time exercising? Is it being able to run a mile? Is it looking a certain way?  Is it not having certain diseases ailing your body?  How do you quantify being “healthy?”

As I explored this idea for myself, I began to think about all the diseases that could attack me without any fault of my own, not to mention the ones that could easily over run me if I don’t act.  Would an unprovoked disease that mean that I would have not been living a healthy lifestyle?  Do my (seemingly) faulty genes let me off the hook of trying to be as well as possible?

I have always thought of myself as:

• too thick
• weak-jointed
• unable to run
• ill-fit for physical activity in general
• not great genes

…along with many other things at which my wife, mother, and friends will likely baulk, but there has been solid evidence that these things are at least facts, in the moment.  However, in my search for wellness is it okay for me to write myself into a corner because of these momentary facts.

In thinking through it all, I decided that I would take as much responsibility for my actions as I could.  Dairy makes my stomach upset, stop eating dairy.  Gluten causes true problems in my gut (as well as possibly many other symptoms), stop eating gluten.  I have back problems that affect my hips, knees, and neck, time to start doing some yoga to build solid core muscles that can support my back properly.  I have always wanted to be able to run at least a 5K, time to download a new Couch-to-5K app and put my sneakers back on.

I am responsible for my body.  No one else will be able to take the blame for what I do with it.  Sure, I can blame many problems on my genes if I’d like, there is evidence to support those facts.  But the truth is, if there are steps to be taken and I don’t even look for them, then I am the one who has caused the damage.

What steps are you taking lately to ensure that you make the best of your health?