Is it fun being you?

I was watching Boston Legal last night. I love that show. James Spader and Bill Shatner together make me laugh and applaud. Typically Spader's and Shatner's characters (at the end of the show) sit on a balcony at their law firm and discuss the week's events. William Shatner's character Denny Crane is completely crazy in that "like a fox" kind of way. He's this right wing Republican who feels like his best years are behind him and he goes around telling people that he has mad cow disease. What's great about Denny Crane is that he doesn't care what other people think of him. He's very happy and content with being Denny Crane. He also loves to walk into a room saying his name to everyone. You've got to love the guy.

At the very end of the show last night he and James Spader are sitting on the balcony and Shatner tells Sader, "It's fun being me." He turns to Spader and asks, "Is it fun being you?" Well...that got me thinking about how incredibly important this is to me. I also starting thinking about what that actually requires. I asked myself if having fun is the most important thing in my life. Not just having fun but also, "Is it fun being me?" Upon reflection I felt that fun-ness is certainly in the top five. But at the same time I figured out that fun being me is priority number one. The difference between the two is substantial. I believe that most people are capable of having fun while at the same time not having fun with whom they are. This simple reality made me sit up and think about what that means. Having fun and having fun being who you are (at the same time) is critical for a happy, purposeful and successful life.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in this country that have fun all the time. Those same people are over weight & out of shape. The vast majority of obese people can have fun, but are they having fun being who they are? If you are not happy being who you are then you need to do something to change that. What are the odds that this whole thing is going to come around to the importance of exercise and a healthy diet as a way to get there? And you thought I was just going to talk about a TV show. Think about it...what if liking who you are got mixed with being able to do the things you love? That is called fun being you. You can't have fun being you if you're treating yourself badly. Lack of physical movement and eating sugar and fat makes it impossible to have fun being you. You're still capable of having fun, but that fun fades and you're left with just you...not liking who you are. This can be easily remedied by taking care of yourself through fitness & a healthy diet.

Before I discovered fitness as a solution to my situation I had fun all the time. The whole time I was having all this fun I was very unhappy with me. The fun I was having was a means to try to give my life value, but it wasn't working. The highs were short lived and the lows were deep and often. It wasn't fun being me! The day I started lifting weights and got off of Dr. Pepper and cheeseburgers I began to combine having fun with liking who I was. This changed everything. I was beginning to have the life I always wanted. No one gave it to me. I earned it. And it allowed me to combine having fun and liking who I was. All by simply deciding to shift my lifestyle to a healthy one. So, if you'd like to have fun being you then decide and commit to the healthy lifestyle that can make that happen.