Start

I run into some 2%ers.  Not many, but some.  I call 2%ers after Michael Easter who reported that they have done studies of the people, who, when faced with taking the stairs or the escalator, take the stairs.  Only 2% take the stairs.  Maybe it is a few percent more if you take into account the people who, physically, cannot manage stairs.

The 2% idea is symbolic. 

The point is we gravitate to comfort and easy.  We do not welcome the notion of pushing our selves into the field of “uncomfortable.” Look, we do not even like to get up from the couch to change tv stations.  We have remotes.  I spoke to someone who noted his car has automatic windshield wipers that go on with the windshield detects rain.  I guess turning on the windshield wiper takes too much effort.

Movement improves our health.  We may live longer…. But we will also live with more vitality.  We will be able to do more.

Folks can get a little more serious about this as they age.  After 50 we realize we are on the downside of the hill.  We might even begin to feel some of the toll of the years.

I know many people who got serious after major health scares.  Fear of death can do that to us.

It is hard to change lifestyle as we get older.  We can get “set” in our ways.  We need a bucketful of determination and willpower.  But… better late than never and even at age 80, movement will be a major benefit to us. 

My point is – start now.  I read a recent study that suggested coronary artery disease signs are already in the arteries of teens and 20s. We do not have a computer chip within us to let us know that.  The build up, I am guessing,  is from lack of activity and especially what we eat. The red flag goes up when those arteries are already clogged up and we need surgery (if we are fortunate) or we have a heart attack, (if we are not so fortunate.) Damage done.

If you are young – start. Be a 2%er.  Walk into some “uncomfortableness.”  You are certain to find your tolerance will go up quickly…. And you are certain to find that the “old” normal of sitting, is something you never want to go back to.

Be a new person – move.  Cherish the gift God has given.