Behind the Scenes

Every life on the planet, all 7 billion, is a movie of 80 years on average. The part that you and I see of others is the show. We all have a show that we perform in front of others. However, the production of the movie is mostly in the shadows. The people watching the movie rarely get to see what is behind the scenes of another persons life. The production of a movie entails all the planning, writing, purchasing, staging, casting, filming, acting, editing etc. In real life, the production is cooking, cleaning, reading, learning, planning, communicating, working, exercising, purchasing and planning nutritious meals, etc. Do you envision how your life will be? What the next year's movie will look like? In order for the movie to turn out well, you must adhere to the script you write. You need to do everything you can behind the scenes to make it all come together in one fluid story. When you see someone who exudes energy and vitality, it is usually because they put in all the time and effort before they make their public appearance. They have the same problems as every one else to some degree, so what makes them different? They choose to follow the outline by preparing their mental state daily to achieve the task of creating the movie by setting up all the parameters, and following through. There is no magic here. When you read someone's profile, you are seeing the poster that is selling the movie. If the person has created their own great movie behind the scenes, then what you see is what you get. There are many who put out a trailer or poster that looks flashy and spectacular, but when you watch the movie, it turns out to be a dud. Why? Most likely it is because there was little time or work put into creating the movie behind the scenes. This is the boring part that no one wants to perform, but it is crucial to the success of the movie. In my life, the behind the scenes to every article I write, video I create, health and wellness advice I offer, is based on my time and experience behind the scenes. I research health topics daily. I interview people from all corners of the globe to gather a better understanding of the best cultural habits, I run every sunrise, eat organic meals, do yoga, read books by the experts, teach anatomy and physiology, and treat patients for injuries and pain. My clinical experience, college classroom experience and daily routines behind the scenes allow me to tie everything together into a written or visual show on social media, or face to face conversation. There is no magic. It takes work, thought, rewrites, stumbles, bumbles and do overs. Every day I am a little bit closer to where I want to be, and what I want to have - a well produced script and movie. I often interweave and intertwine my daily life, and past experiences all the way back to childhood to demonstrate why I think, or write, a certain way and how I have come to the conclusions of what a truly healthy life is. My mode of operation is to balance writing, learning, teaching, travel and exercise into a yearly, if not daily, movie. I run, bike, kayak, and swim at the beach. I have a permanently temporary beach office where I have consistently spent time performing all the tasks aforementioned to come up with the material I need to translate it into a story to share. When I say I am a beach coach, a global instructor or a health content writer, it is because that is exactly what I do every day. It sounds fascinating to have an office on the beach, and it truly is. However, I am often so caught up in the production of everything I do, that I have to remind myself that while the end product, the movie, is the important end goal, the real magic is in the life I have created. The ability to work and create this daily movie in the magnificent environment that is the Gulf of Mexico. It sure looks good. It sure sounds good. It is great, but you must know that behind the scenes, I am often struggling with what exactly I want to write, the exact word or phrasing to use, the intense exercise in high heat and humidity, the stretching and strengthening when I am tired, the long periods of time reading and researching various health related topics, or eating salads and raw veggies when I want to eat everything else. The struggle is real. You see the beach bum image, the guy relaxing at the beach, and the whole surf lifestyle. That image is true, but it is only a small percentage of me. It is the end movie. The rest of me is behind the scenes creating, writing and learning, and that is where I want to be. Having the beach and sea as a stage background is pretty awesome though, isn't it?