Inspiration | Health
Being Active Your Way
The benefits of staying active
What is something all living beings have in common? We must remain active, or we will cease to exist. Common sense tells us an active person can live a better life than one who is inactive.
Let’s examine what it means to be active and how it can benefit you.
Being active
How do you define being active? Do you see it as a physical or mental activity? Or do you think of it as exerting yourself through exercise? Perhaps it is simply moving throughout the day?
Sharks are a perfect example of needing to move to stay alive. At least some types are. For example, great white, mako, and whale sharks must continuously move through the water because they rely on obligate ram ventilation to provide the oxygen needed to stay alive. They must move or die. While we intake oxygen differently, the same applies to us. We must move or die.
One thing most people agree on, as does science, is that activity and life go hand in hand. Any living thing that does not keep moving will soon perish. But activity can mean different things to each of us.
To better understand how our activity affects our lives, let’s look at how inactivity and being active affect us.
The effect of inactivity on life
While we do not need to keep moving to breathe as some sharks do, we do need to keep moving to remain alive. I found this out personally when I was in intensive care for 55 days after a series of widowmakers. Because I was bedridden, I lost so much muscle I was unable to walk for a time. My muscles atrophied so much I could barely lift my arms. That will happen when you lose nearly 65 pounds of muscle mass!
To live demands that we remain active. As some people age, they become less and less so. My mother recently passed away and experienced a long period of dwindling activity before she died. Activity is life; when you can no longer stay active, your life suffers and will eventually end.
“We are either progressing or retrograding all the while. There is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life.” James Freeman Clarke (1810–1888)
The thing that strikes me is even when we humans think we can stop and do nothing, we are never completely stationary. As with not using my muscles for an extended period, you go backward in every respect if you do nothing. This is especially true when a person quits using their mental facilities. Like a muscle, the brain atrophies. I know this from personal experience and seeing it happen to my mother.
The effect of activity on life
“What’s done is done. What’s gone is gone. One of life’s lessons is always moving on. It’s okay to look back to see how far you’ve come but keep moving forward.” Roy T. Bennett (1957-present)
Nothing in existence stands still. Time itself is ever moving into the future, and should you attempt to do nothing, you will get nothing from it. Time will pass, causing you to lose ground when you stall or stop. As a living organism, atrophy sets in.
In other words, if you are not moving ahead, you move backward since life continues its march into the future. Another way to say this is if you’re not growing, you’re dying. There are no in-between states.
“Either you’re growing or you’re decaying; there’s no middle ground. If you’re standing still, you’re decaying.” Alan Arkin (1934-present)
Think about a piece of fruit. It grows on the tree and begins decaying whether you take it from the branch or leave it. The fruit will live longer when attached but still decays over time. Are we humans not similar? We continue growing when we remain connected to the things that feed our body and mind. Yet, a time eventually comes when we disconnect from the sustenance of life and begin to decay.
Back to my experience in the hospital, when I was unable to move, I quickly lost an enormous amount of muscle. I also lost a great deal of my ability to think. It took nearly two years of hard work to recover in my body and mind (although the heart damage remained.)
When I went from complete inactivity to becoming active in body and mind, I started growing, regaining much of what I lost. I was fortunate that my years of running, swimming, and biking taught me how to strengthen my body. Everyone saw how hard I worked to recover and regularly commented on it, which encouraged me to keep moving forward. It was the most challenging and rewarding thing I have ever done!
What makes the difference in life?
“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” Abraham Maslow (1908–1970)
All life born into existence grows through activity, matures, and then begins its inevitable trek toward death. It is the natural order of things, although we have some control over it.
Too many die early because of misuse or abuse during the cycle of life. Many do things that shorten or stunt the growing and maturing part of the cycle. Things like inactivity, consuming the wrong food, taking drugs, and not feeding the mind can significantly reduce your time from birth to death.
In my many decades on this earth, it is evident some basic things can extend that growth period between life and death. A few of these things include:
- Maintaining a growth mindset and a positive attitude
- Staying curious and continually learning
- Maintaining fitness in body and mind
- Constantly growing in self-awareness and self-control
- Being careful of what you consume in both your body and your mind
- Maintaining healthy relationships while enjoying life with those you love
- Living a strong spiritual life filled with purpose and meaning
- Regularly expressing gratitude and appreciation for all things
The most important thing to remember is to remain active! Keep moving forward in life. The above list gives us some great things to stay mindful of.
Remember, the only alternative to activity in life is regression.
“Unless we progress, we regress.” Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)
Final thoughts
While many things affect the quality of our lives, nothing impacts us as much as remaining active. When you continue to move forward by being active, you can lengthen the part of your life that makes the most significant difference in your overall lifecycle. You will then develop a more satisfying and enduring life.
Please heed the following wisdom from one of our country’s founders:
“By improving yourself, the world is made better. Be not afraid of growing too slowly. Be afraid of standing still.
Forget your mistakes, but remember what they taught you.
So how do you become better tomorrow? By becoming better today.” Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION
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