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CHAPTER EIGHT

STAYING THE COURSE

Ultimately, I reached my goals and experienced a truly sustainable lifestyle change. For baseball
players, every time they step up to the plate their objective is to hit the ball. Not every swing is going
to be a home run. Some will only be base hits or even strikes. However, each hit will get the player
closer to home. And every strikeout isn't the end of the game either, not to mention there are nine
innings in a game. Nevertheless, every player keeps swinging and keeps playing. Much like baseball,
every time we wake up it's our turn at bat. Our turn to make healthy choices. Some days we may strike
out in the sense that we make unwise choices that day.

When that happens, the game is not over. No hitter goes to the plate with their last strike out
on their mind, instead, they are locked into the new moment at bat. Some days you’re going to get
base hits where you’re consistently making good choices, getting you closer to home base so-to-speak
and closer to your ultimate goal. Some days, or multiple days, you’ll hit a home run where your entire
day is perfect, where you don’t experience any struggles to make healthy choices. Some days it will
just feel like second nature. Your exercise routines are on point and performed at their scheduled
times and you have a peace of mind with minimum to no stress. Just remember, hitting a home run
does not mean the game is over either. Every day is a new day at bat, and that means you have to keep
swinging.

I’ve learned a lot about myself during this era of Covid-19 and I have been reminded of the
things that are truly important, one of which is taking a holistic approach to fitness. I learned that
fitness is three dimensional. In order to truly be fit I was going to have to focus not just solely on my
physical prowess, but also my mind, and my emotional disposition. I also came to the realization that
regardless of how chaotic the world and things around me have gotten, I will always be in control.

The key is identifying those things I had control of and maximizing my ability to control them.
As mentioned early in the book, optimism is much like an art in which sometimes creativity and
thinking outside the box are necessary to identify that silver lining. Therefore, you must take control
of your life starting today! Make good, healthy choices regardless how menial they seem. Get out of
the mind set of re-setting” and, “start dates”, etc. There is no better time than right here, right now
to make a better choice than the one you made seconds or even days ago.

The perfect time to make good choices and to carry them out does not exist. Every time we
wake up it’s our turn at bat. So, make each swing count. The biggest room in the world is the room
for improvement, the only room we will never outgrow. True success is found in the journey of being
the best version ourselves.

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