Breakdowns, Ferraris and the truth about men's health.
Living on the west coast of Ireland you get to appreciate why it’s referred to it as the “WILD” Atlantic way, you sometimes don't get the opportunity to go outside much and this weekend was no exception, we had some seriously bad weather.
It was pretty cold with dark blue-grey skies, the rain fell in horizontal sheets and the wind was strong enough to cut right through you. I’m sure you get the picture it was miserable. So, as you can imagine I really, really didn’t feel like leaving the house but when you live with a wife and teenage daughter you find yourself fall victim of an uncanny ability Irish woman seem to process of guilting you into doing their bidding…So I found myself doing a quick run to the shop of some essentials.
I started out making the obligatory 50m Usain Bolt dash to the car,
jumped in and off I went in the direction of the local shop, hit the button for the heated seats and I was happy man, all cosy while the rain attacked the car windshield and the wind was actually forcing the car of course slightly causing me to focus that bit more.
I reached a certain point in my journey when I noticed this lady standing on the side of the road with her cars hazard lights flashing and smoke billowing out from under the hood. She looked pretty stressed standing on the grass verge soaked to the bone as her car looked like it was taking its last breath.
I’ll be honest for a split second I said to myself
“Ahh that’s a bit of a sh1t situation to be in …poor girl” fully intending to continue on my travels
BUT then almost immediately said to myself
“If it was Lisa (my wife) would I want someone to show a bit of compassion and stop and see if they could be of some assistance…”
Long story short I stopped!!!
I asked her if she was OK and she explained that she had left the house without her phone and had no way to contact her husband so I offered my phone to make a call and she instantly looked relieved after speaking to him.
“He’s on his way!! he’ll only be 2min we don’t live that far away” Now for those of you who don't know, in Ireland “2min” could be 50miles away.
In the same breath, she asked, “what do you think the problem is?”
Now, I’m no car mechanic but I do know that smoke coming from under the hood of a car isn’t a great sign, I asked her to try and turn the ignition over and it made some severe crunching sounds. I immediately told her to stop. It’s sounded like the head gasket had been ripping itself apart.
The engine had given up the ghost…
I popped the hood and grabbed a bit of paper, cleaned off the dipstick and dipped the engine for oil, it was dry as a bone.
“Mmmm, I see your problem your car has no oil, I think your engine is screwed”
Her response wasn’t what I was expecting…
“OMG…He’s going to go crazy…”
“He’s been telling me to get it checked and sorted the last few weeks since the light began to flash” “I’ll never hear the end of it now”
The man arrived and in fairness to the chap, he was pretty calm and cool about it. He thanked me for stopping as he took over and released me of my good samaritan duties which allowed me to get on my way
BUT
I couldn’t help thinking about the conversation that was about to take place between them both as soon as I had left the scene.
And I bet you’re asking where is this story going and what has this to do with me, well…
If you think about it, taking a small ACTION at a low cost could have prevented having to make a much larger, more costly investment with a lot more stress and conflict … down the road (excuse the pun haha)
So, my next question would be…
Is your health barely a consideration in your day to day life?
I’d hazard a guess that for some people it gets even less attention than their car, some of us won’t lift a finger until something on the dashboard flashes red or it simply stops running.
For some of us, the relationship between our mind and body health disappeared years ago lost in the milage.
MAYBE just MAYBE we’ll pay attention when it starts to show signs of breaking down…BUT probably not.
Just like a warning light flashing on the dashboard of a car our body gives us signs that not everything is running optimally but we ignore the warnings we dismiss them, middle-aged men are especially notorious for this type of behaviour choosing the ignorance is bliss approach to their health.
crazy right? most middle-aged men will treat their car with more attention and care than their own body and health. Sometimes going headlong foot to the floor into feeding the problems rather than fixing them.
So what can we do? first, we need to acknowledge there is an issue then We need to identify the culprit…
unfortunately, we can’t take most middle-aged men's approach to problem-solving…. sell it on and let it be someones else's problem, scrap it and buy the next new model or dump all the old parts and just install new ones.
We need to work with the parts we have lads like those guys who meticulously restore old classics in their shed.
- First things first let’s get an oil change…clean up the blood flow by increasing our water intake and eating less processed foods. If you had the luxury of driving a Ferrari you wouldn’t fill it with knock off fuel and the cheapest oil you could find.
Your body is the best Ferrari you’ll ever own, you need to treat it accordingly.
2. Take it slowly… even if the best sports car was laid up for years you couldn't just roll it out of its resting place, jump start it and put your foot flat to the floor and expect it not to breakdown… so the same goes for your body if you work long hours, have poor sleep quality, a high-stress sedentary job, poor diet and haven't left the tv or lying on the couch in the last 5 to 10 years, well you can't expect to jump straight into where you left off in your 20ies!!! sorry to break it to you pal but you ain't that guy anymore let him go…and you’ll need to start much slower or you’ll just end up getting injured, demotivated and fall back into bad habits.
3. Think strong powerful diesel rather than a zippy high-speed petrol you’ll hit the same high speed but it might just take you a few seconds more to get there.
For men especially in their 40ies and 50ies the best combination in my expert opinion is a focus on strength building weight training which protects lean muscle mass and promotes an increase in natural testosterone (which is very important as we age) and a mixture of steady-state cardio combined with the occasional HIIT training session. Take note focusing only on high-intensity training is a mistake it’s sold as the quick fix don't fall for it.
4. Find a road you enjoy driving…it doesn’t do you any good doing something you need a high level of motivation for every time you start (like sitting in rush hour traffic and moving nowhere). You’ll end up hating it and eventually stop.
Finding what works for you is so important. If you enjoy the process you are less likely to require motivation to get up and go. Involving friends can be a great way to maintain consistency and a good excuse to catch up with the lads outside of places that don’t serve your goal (like the pub). The same can be said of your nutrition find what works and what you enjoy eating but still has the right benefits because you won't stick to a very restrictive diet long term and we are in it for the long road right? making every mile count…
5. Take the road less travelled… make your journey into health an adventure, explore the boundaries of your fitness, say “yes” more than “maybe which usually means no”, don't be afraid to try new things and before I go any deeper into this subject let me just say this first…” no one cares, no one is watching you, no one is judging you, they’re all too busy judging themselves and feeling as uncomfortable and insecure as you to take any notice of what you are doing”
now that we have that clear and out of the way go be adventures. There is an amazing sense of freedom in not being afraid to fail and not living with self-inflected unnecessary boundaries, in other words, let go of your excuses they don't serve you.
6. You don't need special fuel, tyres or onboard computers!!! Basically, try not to fall victim of targeted advertising, you have everything you need to get started, you don't need the most expensive running shoes you don't need expensive supplements (merely cleaning up your diet with have a massive impact) you don't need the highly expensive watches and trackers to tell you a lot of information you’ll never need unless you plan on becoming a professional athlete or competitive amateur.
That's not to say these things are not useful, they are given the right context but they are all superfluous to what you need to get started so don’t use not having them as an excuse to avoid starting. Take action, don’t wait, take that first step and start moving forward with intention.
Lastly, making the grand gestures like changing everything all at once “I’ll start Monday, a new diet, new training regime, I’ll stop drinking and smoking…” are doomed to failure.
It’s too much accumulative too soon and will become overwhelming to the point you’ll crack and give up or you’ll hate every minute of it and focus on a completion date which will again see you revert to old habits once you’ve achieved the short term goal…don’t be that guy, start with tackling one thing at a time, making it easier to adhere to long term.
Remember small changes have the greatest impact given enough time and consistency and hopefully, building good habits like these will see you motoring trouble-free with the minimum of mandatory servicing for years to come. So let's get back on the road with some clear direction and a roadmap to success.
see what I did there …haha
As always try and be kind to each other and peace
Keith “the mechanic” Richardson
