As humans, we are succeptible to just about anything. The medical and insurance industries make billions, trillions of dollars from expecting us to fail as a species. Each one of us is only temporarily abled. We can fall victim to any number of mishaps, either physcially or mentally; innate or put upon us from outside forces. Something could be lurking in any one of us just waiting for the optimal time to attack. Danger is around every corner, and where there's no corner, it's there too.
Our bodily enemies could be invisible to our eyes, such as the case of viruses. Or, our enemy could be something very concrete, like an oncoming vehicle. At any point, with the elements are just right, the wrong thing could happen.
I've had my fair share of mishaps. I experienced clinical death resulting from a car accident when I was ten. Nearly killed my whole family. Eight years ago, I sliced the top of my hand wide open, doing the incredibly menial dish washing chore. I've hit my head several times and stubbed my toe. I've had my finger smashed in a door, and cut a thumb with a hand saw. Once, I fell with one leg on each side of a metal beam, used to support my bed. It felt like it split me in two. I've had the wind knocked out of me when the misguided inner-tube I was riding ran ashore. Tonight, I bit my lip over a meal of fried rice.
None of these things were expected, but they all happened. Sure, I sound accident prone, but who isn't? We all are, really. And even if we are super careful, drive with our seatbelts on, lift with our legs, and never look up when it's raining, mishaps will happen. We will harm ourselves.
Sometimes, the mishap is much less noticeable. We humans like to indulge. Hey, we only get one life, why not live it to its fullest? I have an affinity for cold coffee. Too much caffeine is bad, and it's bad on the wallet, too. We like things that are sweet, or salty, or too good for our tastebuds to be true. We're told if we don't watch what we eat, we'll pay dearly for it. High cholesterol, diabetes, coronary heart disease, obesity. But, don't eat too much of the "good stuff" (veggies, whole grains, and the like) or your teeth will fall out, you'll lose your hair and you'll become anemic. Damned if we do, damned if we don't.
Recently, I started lowering my daily caloric intake and exercising on that blasted exercise bike. Oh, how I loathe exercise. But I did it a few years ago, and lost many, many pounds. I was looking good. But that was two years ago. I put all that weight back on, and then some. I have a love-hate relationship with ice cream and chocolate. Oh, the sweet-wonderful-take-me-away taste of Heath bar pieces intermingled with smooth-and-utterly-delicious espresso ice cream and almonds. But oh, you bitch!
Truth is, I'm like most everyone. I want what I want, when I want it, but I don't want to pay the price of eating such delectable treats. I don't want to exercise, but I want to eat it, and eat it all. And, oh yeah, I want a model body. I want to be able to walk around with my shirt off without parents' shielding their children's eyes as I mow the lawn. I'd like to visit the beach without fear of leaving tanlines below my man boobs. And I want to eat ice cream with all the goodies mixed throughout it. But I can't have that.
I've been doing really good the past few days. Ice cream and I have decided to take a little break from each other. I curb my loneliness by getting on that dreaded bike and cycling while listening to classic rock or some dance track. I burn 1000 calories each trip, and I feel so much better.
Last night, I was thumbing through photos (yes, in a day before digital photography) to seek out pictures of Halloween costumes I've made in the past. I want to create a collage of my previous works to display, even if purely for braggin' rights. In the process, I jogged down Memory Lane. Many of the pictures dated back ten years. And wow. What a difference life makes. That, and the comfort of being in a relationship with the right person. You just kind of let yourself go. "Oh, we're in love, so let's eat!"
I want to try to reach the physique I had in my twenties. Well, I didn't really have a "physique", per se, but my waistline was a bit smaller. I'm happy to report that ice cream and I have decided to divorce. It's an amicable split. He's gotten quite a few years of my life, I have the rest to make my own.
Yes, we can get attacked at anytime. Either real, or imagined. I know I'm giving my all in an attempt to make my life better, but even the strong can fall. It only takes the right moment and the right conditions to make things not the way we anticipated. I read this quote on a bumper sticker once, and I've carried it with me: "Life is what happens when you plan for something else." It's true.
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