Sincerity of Effort

The mantras of healthy aging resound: eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day, exercises at least 30 minutes most days, sleep 6-10 hours, release stress, connect with friends... and so on.  We've heard them, maybe we've even tried them.  Likely we've discounted them at some point, maybe we've even decided "that doesn't work for me."  And, truth is, maybe it didn't.  But... how sincere was your effort?  Did you really give that a fair shot?

In the world of Physical Therapy (where many of my realizations bloom after listening to hundreds of people's perspectives), sincerity of effort is the conscious motivation to perform to the best of one's ability.  oooh.  Hmmm.  Chew on that a little.

Take the example of exercise as an approach to healthy aging.  If you are one of the many who say "it didn't work for me, I didn't lose weight, I didn't feel more energized, I didn't sleep better..." consider how sincere your effort was.  Could there have been a little shred of motivation that prompted you to cut out early?  Was that little devil on your shoulder chirping about how this won't work for you and so you should just abandon your plan now?  What was your conscious motivation?  It's interesting to me.

Sometimes I want to shake people.  I want to bring you all into the world of the aging process.  Fast forward.  I want to show you (among other things) what your posture is doing to your bony structure and to your risk for pain later on.  But that's just a scare tactic.  That doesn't change your sincerity of effort for more than the short term.  What does?  The very concept is elusive.  My perspective?  Start to come to grips with what your true motivation for health is.  It may be buried under layers of excuses, heaps of partial attempts, tons of fear or something else.  Become sincere with yourself.  Then, back that up with a real effort to get closer to "the best of your ability".  I found it to be incredibly, personally, rewarding.