The average American male lives 78.1 years. I like to think of myself as above average, so I’m going to add 6.9 years to give me a total life of 85 years. I am then going to subtract 5 years for all of the stupid shit I have done thus far. I am 96 days past my 46th birthday. That leaves me with roughly 34 years or 365 days x 34 = 12,410 - 96 = 12,314 days left on this planet.
Now the question is, how am I going to spend those 12,314? How are you? What if you knew the exact number of days you had left? What if the number was 7000? Does that change your answer? What if was 90, 60, 30?!?! Am I (are you) willing to give up any of those days to being average? To being filled with anxiety? To being a victim? Unhappy? Broke? Unfulfilled? Fill in the blank. Or do you want to fucking kill it! Be the best version of you. For you and everyone around you. What will they say about you when your number hits 0?
I recently heard this on an Instagram post:
“In 100 years, none of us will be remembered.
We will be buried with our relatives and friends.
Strangers will live in our homes, which we fought so hard to build.
And they will own everything we have today.
All our properties will be unknown.
Our descendants will hardly know who we were, nor will they remember us.
How many of us know our grandfather’s father?
After we’re gone, we will be remembered for a few years, then only be portraits on someone’s library.
And a few years later, our history, our photos, our deeds, go into the dust bin of oblivion.
We won’t even be memories.
If only we thought differently.
Certainly, our approach, our thoughts would change.
We would be other people; we would have time for what really mattered.
We’d live and enjoy the walks never taken, the ungiven hugs, the kisses to our children and loved ones. The pranks we never had time for, those would be the moments to remember, they would fill our life with joy.
There is still time for us.”
Some of you have checked out, because no one wants to think about this stuff. Even worse, it reminds us that to create change, we need to change. Change our actions instead of numbing ourselves with the usual food, alcohol, prescriptions, social media, gossip, or your own creative cocktail of several of those combined. Have no fear though, no matter what path you choose, your days will keep counting down just like everyone else’s.
For some of you, this has gotten your wheels turning. Me too! I’m going make my 12,314count, in some way, everyday! I also might think about this a little differently than most. I don’t always focus on the end goal(s), which I have, but I like to focus more on the daily habits that allow me to get to the end.
Limit Alcohol – If I drink too much the day/night before, I sleep like shit, I feel like shit, and then I can’t give the next day the best version of me.
Sleep – My goal is 6-7 hours, see above about alcohol. I also need to be asleep by a certain time to get up at a certain time. I get up at 4:30-5am everyday, so I need to be asleep by 9-9:30pm. I don’t always love doing this, but Ido love feeling good the next day.
Fitness – I workout Monday- Friday, no exceptions, no excuses. Sleep like shit, I workout, run out of time, I workout, don’t feel like it, I workout. I take the “fuck your feelings” attitude when it comes to this. I use working out as metal therapy as much as physical, but don’t get me wrong, my goal is to be fuck’in jacked and tan. If I all of our days are going to tick down, I might as well look good while they do.
Nutrition – Simple, I eat Meat and Fish, Nuts and Seeds, Vegetables,Fruit, Starch, and NO Sugar. Am I perfect, no, but I try to be as close as I can. Doing so allows me to never have to count Calories or give a shit aboutMacros. I’m never hungry and I feel lean and never get that bloated feeling.This is small bit of discipline is a great trade off to me and I now prefer to eat this way over the alternative.
These few areas of focus allow me to do the things each day that make my days count.
How many days do you think you have left?!?!
In Strength,
Eric Karls, M.Ed.
CrossFitConductor
Chief
Awesomeness Engineer
CrossFit Level 3 Certified Trainer
3801 Nicholasville Centre Dr, Lexington, KY 40503, United States of America