I heard this line on the Joe Rogan Podcast recently, and it’s brilliant in its simplicity. When you stay in a hotel or drive a rental car, odds are you are probably not too concerned about keeping things pristine. You can throw the towels all over the floor, leave trash in the cup holders, and you probably aren’t too concerned about the door getting nicked in the parking lot because you bought the rental insurance.
Now contrast that with how you treat that brand new BMW SUV you just bought. I guarantee, at least early on, that you aren’t parking remotely close to another vehicle, weekly car washes will be a given, and nobody is riding around with you wearing muddy sneakers.
What’s the point of this drawn out analogy? From my experience, most people treat their bodies like total crap. They fuel themselves with cheeseburgers and snack food, live in a constant state of sleep deprivation, don’t exercise or move nearly enough, and generally act as if the body they are inhabiting can be traded in at some point for the 2015 model once they’ve abused it enough.
Here’s the thing: you’re only issued one set of functioning joints, muscles, organs, soft tissue, etc. Our bodies are designed to be incredibly resilient and put up with a lot of nonsense on our behalf, but its incumbent on you to make those gifts last as long as possible. We have yet to reach a point medically where we can replace our original hardware with after market parts that function anywhere near as well or as dynamically.
I’m not suggesting you treat your body like a temple or a Ferrari; rather, I’m in the camp of surfing legend Laird Hamilton, who equates his body to an old Chevy pick up truck. It’s meant to take a beating and keep on running, even if you sometimes throw some questionable fuel in the tank. Think about this concept next time you are tempted to eat a couple of Krispy Kremes.
Now contrast that with how you treat that brand new BMW SUV you just bought. I guarantee, at least early on, that you aren’t parking remotely close to another vehicle, weekly car washes will be a given, and nobody is riding around with you wearing muddy sneakers.
What’s the point of this drawn out analogy? From my experience, most people treat their bodies like total crap. They fuel themselves with cheeseburgers and snack food, live in a constant state of sleep deprivation, don’t exercise or move nearly enough, and generally act as if the body they are inhabiting can be traded in at some point for the 2015 model once they’ve abused it enough.
Here’s the thing: you’re only issued one set of functioning joints, muscles, organs, soft tissue, etc. Our bodies are designed to be incredibly resilient and put up with a lot of nonsense on our behalf, but its incumbent on you to make those gifts last as long as possible. We have yet to reach a point medically where we can replace our original hardware with after market parts that function anywhere near as well or as dynamically.
I’m not suggesting you treat your body like a temple or a Ferrari; rather, I’m in the camp of surfing legend Laird Hamilton, who equates his body to an old Chevy pick up truck. It’s meant to take a beating and keep on running, even if you sometimes throw some questionable fuel in the tank. Think about this concept next time you are tempted to eat a couple of Krispy Kremes.
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