Man, I tell you the years can be cruel...and the camera is an impartial judge.
The photo you see is a shot of me at Christmas 2002 with my two beautiful daughters. I was 33 at the time. Wow, can you believe those cheeks?
Based on my height (5'9"), I was already clinically obese. I don't remember right off hand, but I will hazard a guess I was packing around between 225 - 230 pounds, although I would actually get up to 240 before too much longer.
Healthy? Well, lets just say that I didn't have any diagnosed medical conditions. But come on, who am I trying to kid? No I wasn't. Not by any means. I was, quite literally, "fat, dumb and happy".
So what takes a relatively young person by the perverbial "scruff" and shakes some sense into them? It was as simple as it was shocking.
The company where I was working at the time also employed a great gentleman who happened to be a retired Medical Doctor. For someone like him, working with and meeting new people all the time was a necessity so outside sales filled the bill very well. He was a wonderful guy to spend time with and always, upon always had something to share with you regarding all aspects of life. He was quick with a joke and kept a smile on everyone's face. A true joy to be around.
One day, however, he walked in my office with a very serious look on his face. Without a smile...without so much as a grin, he pointed at my gut and told me point blank, "Tom...that is going to kill you!" I tried to laugh it off and make light of the situation. But he wasn't buying what I was selling. No jokes, no smiles, no pats on the back. He was dead serious.
That particular "session" lasted about 30 minutes. And others, just a serious, would follow over the course of the next few days/weeks forcing me to really put things into perspective. This wasn't some made up stuff off the internet. These were cold, hard facts. Obesity goes hand in hand with heart disease, cancers of several types, impotence, diabetes...the list goes on and on. Not to mention the general the lack of energy...feeling tired all the time.
When a medical doctor sits down in front of you and tells you that you've set yourself up for a very short trip...you pay attention. My "choices" were leading me to destruction. Notice how I phrased that...."My Choices". Nobody held a gun to my head and made me eat the way I did, or stay on the couch when I could be moving around. No one to blame but me.
And what about my family? Who was going to play with these kids? Who was going to be there for them, strong, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Living this way is selfish.
At 33 years old life was just really beginning; a young family at home depending on me and I was very quickly "killing" myself.
Man what a wakeup call.
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
- Leonardo da Vinci
Until next time...Work Hard.
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