Use It and Keep It

I heard an absolutely stunning statement a few weeks ago.

I was exploring the National Zoo, and a boy said to his dad:

“I wish I was handicapped. Then I wouldn’t have to walk everywhere.”

Wow.

If this were simply a statement a boy made while walking around a fairly large zoo on a fairly hot day, it wouldn’t have given me pause.

But the statement connected some serious dots for me. I was exploring the District of Columbia, where there’s so much to see and do.

First, I saw hundreds of seniors at stunningly grand monuments and museums, unable to fully enjoy them. They were there, but they couldn’t move around well enough to come even close to seeing everything that could be seen or doing everything that could be done. Their relatives didn’t want to leave them behind. They didn’t want to slow their relatives down. It was sad. The seniors wanted to be fully engaged in the experiences. They wanted to be fully engaged with their relatives. But they just couldn’t. There was a will, but there wasn’t a way. Their bodies weren’t having it.

“You go on without me,” broke my heart each time I heard it.

Second, I saw thousands of able-bodied adults taking the elevator or the escalator when taking the stairs was an option. I saw thousands of able-bodied adults taking the subway for 16^th-of-a-mile trips. I saw thousands of able-bodied people pushing the button that opens the door for you instead of pulling or pushing it open themselves.

There’s a terrible idea going around that moving your body is a waste of time. That it’s beneath you. That you have better things to do.

“Ugh, the escalator is broken again” was a common refrain during my visit, ironically often said by people wearing professional athletes’ jerseys.

The facts of the case are straightforward:

Use it or lose it.

Stated positively, as I prefer:

Use it and keep it.

One of the best ways to motivate yourself to keep using it is to appreciate it while you have it. Don’t wait until it’s gone to remember what a gift it was to run through the wet grass. To dance in the rain. To skip rocks in the river.

Losing coordination, mobility, strength, and stamina. Being overweight. Being tired all the time. These aren’t the natural consequences of getting older. These are the natural consequences of moving less.

But you don’t need to make yourself move.

You simply need to remind yourself how good it feels to move your body.

Use it and keep it.

Because it feels good to feel good.

About Jason Gootman
Jason Gootman is a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach as well as a certified nutritionist and certified exercise physiologist. Jason helps people reverse and prevent type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other ailments with evidence-based approaches to nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, holistic wellness, and, most importantly, lasting behavior improvement and positive habit formation. As part of this work, Jason often helps people lose weight and keep it off, in part by helping them overcome the common challenges of yo-yo dieting and emotional eating. Jason helps people go from knowing what to do and having good intentions to consistently taking great care of themselves in ways that help them add years to their lives and life to their years.