How would you take care of this super-duper gadget? Would you take it outside and leave it unprotected against the elements, allowing it to rust and corrode? Would you take it with you on a deep sea diving adventure knowing that the electronics were not water proof? Would you randomly throw it in a corner and say ‘who cares’ and in essence disrespect this wonder gadget until it was damaged beyond repair and not worth anything? No, we would take care this fabulous gadget that does everything and is a marvel in engineering and design. We would take care of this gadget like it was the most precious of gold.
This sounds like a really neat fictional gadget doesn’t it? Seriously, a gadget that can handle virtually any task! Sign me up because I want one!
Wait…..I already have one! We all have one!
Yes, you read that right. We all already have this gadget. What is it? It is our bodies. Our bodies are amazing things! It really is the ‘super gadget’. You aren’t convinced? Our bodies can create another human life…..amazing! Our bodies have the capability to think, heal and move. Our bodies are smarter than we give them credit for. They communicate to us by telling us when we are tired, hungry and sick. Our bodies can perform a multitude of tasks and can continue to learn new tasks. If we stop doing a task and ‘forget’ …when we start back at it our bodies remember the action/task/behavior through muscle memory. Our bodies are phenomenal! I could endlessly come up with things that our bodies are capable of doing.
Our bodies however are non-renewable. You get one body in your life. You cannot go out and buy a new one. So why in the world do we not take care of our bodies as if they were as precious as the super gadget that I wrote about a few paragraphs ago? We take better care of our cell phones, house, cars and clothes (just to name a few) than we do ourselves! A while back Jason was talking about his hermit crabs. He was eating Doritos and made the comment that he would not give his hermit crabs a piece of his Doritos because of all the bad chemicals and unnatural products. He recognized and laughed about the total disconnect between the fact that he wouldn’t give a hermit crab (that is a scavenger and eats even rotten foods) his Doritos because they were unhealthy but he was willing to shovel the chips into his own mouth. He was taking care of a possession better than he was taking care of himself.
There is a lucky thing in the midst of thinking about how we have disrespected our bodies and treated them like an unloved and unappreciated ‘gadget’. What could be lucky? Our bodies have an amazing capability to heal and repair from a multitude of damage inflicted upon it. I have seen people turn their lives around and go from being morbidly obese to running full marathons. I have witnessed people that were diabetic and having to give themselves shots of insulin and they were able to turn their health and lives around and become free of all insulin and diabetic medication. Personally I have seen the ravages of arthritis become more manageable in my life with the excess weight off of my joints. I can’t take it away, it is one of those new renewable things….but a healthy lifestyle has showed me that my body is capable of accommodating and learning how to work within the confines of this disease called arthritis. Our bodies can heal from a multitude of ‘disrespect’. Our bodies can adjust and learn to work with the ravages that years of neglect and disrespect (and accidental issues) have brought to us.
We can even adjust to different temperatures! 8 degrees yesterday morning......30° this morning! (Brrr yesterday was cold...but I snapped a pic!!)
It is time to start looking at our bodies as the most valuable possession that we will ever own. We need to treat our bodies like gold. It is time to treat our bodies with the respect that we give our phones, houses, cars and other possessions. Our bodies may have problems. We may have sickness. They may not be perfect. But they are what we have and I can guarantee you that they are all we are going to get! It’s not too late to turn the tide on the care!!!! Start treating your body with the respect that it deserves!!!
