Fitness: A Non-Negotiable Pursuit

I have always believed in keeping life simple and extracting joy out of little things around us. While we learn and evolve with our experiences, it is important to not only generate a feedback mechanism for oneself but also to execute it to generate a positive rhythm with life and everything around us. An important aspect of this is to maintain a sound mind and a healthy body - a realization that struck me at a later stage of my professional life. Revisiting some of your comments on my 100th blog I wanted to focus on the importance of fitness. This took me back to the time when I'd taken a conscious step to incorporate fitness into my daily routine, along with a bunch of positive life changes.

I know that as we age, the responsibilities keep piling up, making our days more hectic, stressful, or simply busy. There are also tons of temptations that can lead to an unhealthy way of life and succumbing to them is just the easier way out. It takes willpower and determination to consciously make choices that best suit our bodies. Our bodies are in fact engineered beautifully to give us signals about what it wants and, we must pay attention to those alone. Another easy thing we need to pay attention to and learn from is the people around us and their experiences. This way, we can make our seemingly complicated lives not only simpler but also happier.

Our body needs as much of our attention as our work, relationships, and other important commitments. Investing some part of each day in keeping ourselves fit is not a difficult task and the results can be life-changing. These self-investments don't even need to be complex or intimidating. For example, to me, fitness is not the medium to an end goal, but something that in itself makes me feel good. Instead of appearing fit, I like to focus more on core fitness (How I feel every moment?). For me, fitness is also about resting my body and allowing it to rejuvenate, instead of focusing on inches and clocking kms. It's all about listening to my body and treating it accordingly.

My quest for an appropriate lifestyle has been filled with many ups and downs and even after having covered quite a lot of distance, it's far from over. The best time was definitely in my youth. Coming from the pre-internet days, our daily routine automatically formed healthier habits. The absence of fast-food chains and comparatively simpler lives, kept me physically fit. So did my enthusiasm for sports, which was an integral part of everyday life.

It was few years into my professional journey that my health took a back seat. This is something I've seen happening with a lot of people. In the highly competitive environment, chasing success and racing to make a name for ourselves tends to alter our priorities to the point where we don't realize the harm we’re putting our bodies through.

This is followed by more responsibilities of settling down, expanding a family, and growing professionally.

Add to this the fast-paced lifestyle we have today, and it starts to feel like there's no chance to pause. Soon long-haul journeys and jet lags become routine that undoubtedly takes a toll on us as time passes.

The most important thing amidst all this is to take action before it becomes more than we can manage and goes out of hand. I'm glad and also thankful that I was able to get my health back on track while it was still easy to do so.

As it turns out, the only thing required was the very first step and everything else followed suit. All it took was a three-step regime which I follow religiously:

1. Eating right (I surely don’t starve and always make sure to have my share of the sweets).

2. Keeping my metabolism in-check through a variety of different things including regular exercise.

3. Maintaining the energy levels (Energy levels are directly proportional to keeping things simple).

I don't believe it is necessary to eat less or go on a diet as long as our intake is healthy. The tried and tested "three meals a day" is my go-to that keeps me energetic and fulfilled. I like to complement this with an hour of exercise every day and yoga on the weekends to practice mindfulness. And of course, all this can't be complete without kick-starting my day with a dose of vitamin C in the form of Amla juice and Aloe Vera. After getting used to my new routine, there has been no going back!

I'm sharing this with you all as a reminder of how easy it is to pay a little more attention to our bodies and take care of ourselves. And taking these few steps today can go a long way in keeping our energy levels and emotions in control to better manage the various challenges thrown at us and lead a joyful life.