Whatsoever Happens...!

Dr. Jai was an elderly gentleman who had been around in down town Bengaluru for quite some time advising people about how to take care of their heart..

I was in front of him after going through the battery of tests at his clinic and waiting anxiously for his verdict. My heart was thumping but suddenly it sank when Dr. Jai declared that there was a small block in one of the blood vessels connected to the heart. Now it was totally upto him to take care of my heart!!! :)

Dr. Jai asked me whether I did any form of exercise, which I confessed, to have been not doing any….

Hello all those amongst you who know that it’s important to keep fit…Good Evening!

I took Dr. Jai’s remark about exercise as a challenge and that day I decided that I would make fitness exercises a part of my daily routine.

Today I would like to offer you a peek into in the past couple of years or so that I have been running in order to keep fit.

My usual running tracks are the stretches of tar road, mud road and general wilderness near our apartment with some lush greenery around in patches. Small learnings have made this journey enjoyable and here they are...

The first learning happened One morning, when I realized that I was Huffing and puffing more than usual. Thoughts came into my mind, I had a heavy dinner last night :), I am ageing should I be running after all, I really don’t feel like it.

Perchance at that moment I happened to turn around, I then saw what was actually happening, I had been running on an incline. It had nothing to do with me or my endeavor, but that’s how that stretch of track was and I had covered quite some distance on the incline.

Just this very act of looking back infused confidence in me and egged me to keep going till the slope ended as from then on it would be easier. :)

Friends, You would be having some goals in your life, the dream house, the dream degree or the dream profession, when you are losing steam in the pursuit of your goals of life you have 2 options, to continue or to throw in the towel. It helps to record and look back at the small successes that you have achieved and then continue moving towards your goals just don’t give up!

I now move to my next moment of truth it goes like this…

 On one of the mornings as I was exploring a new path I saw ahead of me a brick wall, I decided that 

I would go closer to the wall to the extent that I could but then I would probably have to turn back.

I kept going closer to the wall but as I was almost right in the front of the wall, I discovered that there was a clearing to its right and a narrow road emerged out of nowhere that seemed to lead somewhere.

I followed that trail for a few meters, lo and behold, it connected to one of the roads using which I could head back and complete my run for the day. :)

Friends, in life we sometimes face obstacles, difficult people, difficult situations or health issues while going after your aspirations it would help to realize that it may be a wall but it’s not the great wall of China which means that there would be a way around it, so never give up and keep going towards your goals. :)

I now move on to my third learning.

I usually alternate the outdoor running with running on the treadmill. With a controlled running environment including Distance, Speed and Time I am able to stretch myself in terms of the distance covered say from 1 to 1.2 Km, 2 to 2.1 Km, 3 to 3.2 Km and then can extend this to the outdoors.

Friends when you Keep practicing your skills, it helps make you sharper on the job. Can you imagine a great cricketer who doesn’t practice at the nets or a great communicator who doesn’t hone his skills in a forum like this? Keep practicing and never give up! :)

To summarize, In the pursuit of your goals you may need to reflect on your big and small successes, go around obstacles and sharpen your skills.

As I conclude I would like to share that when I started running I was able to run for 2 minutes at a stretch. In recent times I have run 4 Km continuously at an easy pace.

….i think it would have served my purpose if you remember three words that sum up my learnings in my effort to keep fit…... listen to your heart keep going towards your dreams and ….Never Give Up!!!