Values and Morals

A big part of wellness is knowing ourselves.  That sounds simple but it's not.  Each of us belong to many groups.  I'm an American, I'm a Southerner and live in the country, I'm a retired military man, I'm a father, a worker, a husband and an adult athlete.  All these are groups that can influence not only my thinking but my perception of everything.  I'm going to use myself as an example in this writing but you can apply it to anyone, including yourself, in seeing that what we personally value is what makes us who we are.

I value my health, one of my morals is that that my health is my responsibility.  Since I believe that, I decided that learning the subjects of nutrition, exercise and wellness were just as important to living, by my values as were; reading, writing and arithmetic.  Some of the things I've done go against that, I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day until I turned 50 years old.  In my defense, when I started smoking, the day I turned 16, smoking wasn't considered such a health risk.  When I watched TV, there were lots of cigarette commercials, with the heroes of the day, endorsing the wonders of smoking and relaxation.  How terrible when some of those heroes, like John Wayne, died of lung cancer.  By the time it was common knowledge that smoking was a dangerous health risk, I was well and truly addicted.  I justified my actions, by telling myself, that if I did everything else right that it would counter the danger.  Whether that will end up being a correct assumption is still to be seen.

I believe in personal accountability.  Punctuality, honesty, being faithful, doing a good job of whatever I do, are all my responsibility to myself and to others.  It's up to each of us first to keep on course, but others can be very valuable assets to keep us motivated and to help us recover from set backs.  Training with a group helps, because if we value being faithful to our word then we will show up to train, even if we are really not feeling it that day.  We all know those people that are always late, do you respect that?  Be the kind of person you would like for others to be, if you don't like something you see in others then make sure you are not guilty, of the same thing.

I know a secret, the less you are worried about the better you sleep and the better you sleep the better you can do everything.  Most of our worries are the concerns that we are responsible for creating.  Unsolved problems are major stresses as well.  If your problem is from a lie that is coming back to haunt you then shame on you and you need to learn form it.  If your issues are out of control then it's time to seek help, not just a friend willing to let you vent but from someone who can help with a solution.  Unless we have an illness that is killing us and there is no cure for it, then there is help to cope with any concerns that arise.  Sometimes it's as easy as saying we are sorry for what we did, or forgiving someone what they did to us.  Calling somewhere you owe a bill is often an easy way to resolve a debt, most places are willing to work with us, ignoring a debt will not make it go away.

Being an adult athlete and achieving mental and physical wellness is not an easy path, but it is, I believe, a path worth taking.  It often puts us in a position of having to confront ourselves.  If you want to be better you have to live better, act better and think better.  We have control of only 2 things in life, our own thoughts and actions. Make the most of that control and you can amaze yourself with what you can accomplish.

Thanks for reading.

Dave