Monday, March 16, 2026
It’s hard sticking with something that feels temporary, even living. Dieting is another good one. Your goal weight, once reached, lets you “off the hook.” That’s why diets fail—you unhook from attentiveness. If you diet to get into that little dress for your reunion, don’t throw away your fat clothes. It’s a bit like saving money for the proverbial “rainy day.” Don’t throw away your umbrella. It’s also like doing weight training so that when you go on that cruise next summer, you won’t be so embarrassed. After the cruise, you can cancel the gym membership.
We all know life doesn’t work like this. Dieting is a way of life. Fitness is a way of life. You don’t diet once and you’re done. You don’t work out once and then you’re done. Nutrition and fitness are forever. Once you see what the body is capable of, daily nutrition and exercise are permanent, and you’ll catch the drift. The body drifts to atrophy and flab. Skills drift back to clumsy and awkward. The diet drifts back to junky.
How many of us think that the permanent fixtures in life are trophies? Trophies atrophy. Muscles atrophy. Everything drifts. Do you catch the drift? There is something about the temporary that distracts. Wealth is a way of life. Health is a way of life. Abundance is a way of life. The temporary nature is wrought with misnomers—units of measure that, once achieved, let us “off the hook.”
Be versed in the regimen of daily fitness—ways of life. Dieting is hard and temporary, but health is an ongoing practice. Wealth is practiced. Faith is cultivated. The spirit atrophies. Attending to it each day is a way of life. No one reaches cruising altitude. If you did, you’d be off the hook, and no one is free from attentiveness; but with practice, you can catch the drift.