After listening to, reading about, and watching the news I started to wonder when the news of today becomes “old news.” Lately it seems that if a lapse of a few days occurs, present day news becomes old news. You also have the problem of too much news to the point a person does not pay attention to the news. What brought this to my attention was reading about the benefits of fitness and exercise and healthful eating and then not seeing a large majority of people following the advice given by fitness experts. It seems in almost any magazine, newspaper, radio broadcast or presentation there will be a short push for some form of exercise. If all this information is out there and backed by numerous accounts of success, why are there not more people doing fitness programs?
Even the comic section often has a run on some fitness topic. My most remembered comic on fitness was “Cathy” and her efforts to start exercising. The caption showed Cathy getting out of bed in the morning to work out. All of a sudden her mind started to reason with her. “No! It’s too dark outside. It is too hot (cold) to go outside. You need your sleep. Work out later. Work out after lunch. Anytime but not now to workout. Now is a bad time. Just not now.” The next caption showed Cathy back in bed snuggling under the covers. Having not been a morning person I could relate to her desire to put off a run until later. My best reason to get out the door and go for a run early in the morning when it was still dark was that I had a partner who also didn’t like early morning runs, but we both thought we better show up and not let my friend down. There has to be a very strong reason to counteract all those mind games that start when you throw the covers off and you start to wake up.
Another example I notice when I go to a seminar or convention where some of the topics are about fitness benefits. There will be a large number of people attending the lecture. The point that was so evident about the composition of the audience was that the very large majority of people were fit themselves. The people who could really benefit from the advice given by the speaker were absent. People who were heavy smokers, obese, or sedentary life style were not in the audience. When you try to reason the discrepancy in the audience you arrive at two conclusions. Those that are fit like to listen to a person tell them that they are doing very good with their efforts. It is like a pat on the back for doing something that is good for you. The unfit person doesn’t like to show up and be told that they are doing things wrong and that they need to change their lifestyle. Not many people like to be told negative things about their behavior and if given the choice of listening to the talk or not listening to the talk, choose not to go the lecture.
