For literally years during the time I was involved in the patient-oriented study and practice of medicine (twenty-five years and change), one of the most challenging tasks I faced was encouraging (if not mandating) that patients under my care commit to a healthier lifestyle.
For so many of those patients, getting to the metaphorical (and literal) first step in their personal journey to better health was deemed dauntingly complex and a huge hurdle to overcome, even though it was as simple as barefoot wading the shallows of Montana’s Gallatin River (my daughter Jess’ image above).
Details of my own story will be coming shortly as we launch Older Bolder Fitness’ more expansive website, though to share the Cliff Notes version, after finishing medical school I completed a residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Utah, later spending a bit of time on faculty there before heading off into private practice.
My teams cared for patients who had suffered medical catastrophes of all sorts – including spinal cord injuries, ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accidents (strokes), traumatic brain injuries, various orthopaedic injuries and cases requiring a comprehensive rehabilitative effort after joint replacements or unusually complex fractures, and all sorts and manners of neurologic and neurodegenerative diseases.
One glaringly common thread of all the non-traumatic pathologies we dealt with was that most were caused by or significantly worsened by what was called then (and still is today) lifestyle diseases – ranging from being “just a tiny bit” overweight to suffering the ravages of full-blown metabolic syndrome, morbid obesity, profound deconditioning (being really, really out of shape) , and including the devastating, whole body disaster that is wrought by the chronic process of excessive inflammation.
Getting to the First Step in a Healthier You
The team approach we used back in the day taught me a host of invaluable lessons, one of which was the critical necessity of taking a moment to take stock to fully understand where you (or the patient in our analogy above) stand, defining a reasonable set of incremental goals to attain, and then outlining a plan to get from Point A (you are here today) to Point B (where you want to be someday).
We stressed, even with severely challenged patients, that even though “recovery” seemed a long way off, if not impossibly far from where they sat that particular day, the road to recovery most often starts with the simplest of tasks.
Obviously one of the biggest obstacles my teams faced in guiding patients down this recovery pathway was getting them on board – they had to truly decide on some level that the investment of effort was worth at least a try; most, encouraged by a bit of early success, went on to significant gains and restoration.
The point: No matter what your objective – be it weight loss, overall better health, improved fitness and function, looking better naked, longevity, athletic performance pursuits, or whatever else – at some point you must decide to engage and start reshaping your world.
For many of us, that journey is best made with a team of sorts, whether that’s family, friends, a trainer or coach, even an online community, but you have to decide to engage and take the first step.
It’s time.
