That bench in the picture is the result of about 10 hours of work this weekend. You’re looking at literally a ton of bricks (we calculated the weight) that had to be loaded by hand into a truck, unloaded and then carried up two flights of stairs and to the back portion of our yard. There were also the wood beams, 6 bags of dirt for the planters and the 4 ferns. That’s a lot of weight to be carried by hand and it doesn’t even include all the actual construction and cleaning work we did for this. My back is sore, my hands are scratched up and I feel awesome!
I have to admit that there were a few times while I was carrying bricks up the stairs that I thought to myself “why the hell did I not hire someone to do this?” If you’re familiar with any Home Depot in California, you know there are large groups of men outside the parking area who’d be more than willing to do this kind of labor for $40. I could have paid for two of them or, if I was reluctant to hire illegal immigrants, I could have paid $200 for a contractor. I didn’t though, and I’m quite happy that I didn’t.
An Active Life Is A Choice
I want to live an active and healthy lifestyle. That means more than just going to the gym multiple times a week, it means choosing to do challenging physical activities rather than sitting on my ass. It means choosing to go hiking instead of to a movie. It means choosing to go play soccer instead of watching TV. It means choosing to clean the house myself instead of hiring a maid and yes, it means hauling a ton of bricks instead of paying someone to do so.
I think about this and I’m reminded of the people who spend 10 minutes looking for a closer parking spot at the gym so they won’t have to walk so far. Seriously? You’re at the gym to workout and you’re trying to walk less? This is the same but on a larger scale. It’s making the choice to do something physically strenuous myself because I want the workout, because it’s a good thing and because my body needs it. Plus I got to tell you, this bench feels a thousand times more valuable to me knowing that I didn’t pay anyone to do it. I didn’t avoid the labor, I attacked it head on!
And The Choices Are Everywhere
I look around my life and I’m loving how far my wife and I have gone with these healthy choices. We clean our house ourselves, we cook meals at home and we choose activities like hiking and walking over movies and TV. Years ago I would have told you this was impossible, that there simply weren’t enough hours in the day to get all this done, especially since we’re both professionals with full time jobs, but the truth is quite different. There’s plenty of time in the day for this, especially when we choose to make time. Rather than choosing to do nothing all weekend and waste our time playing on the computer and watching TV we chose to spend our weekend on this project. It was a kickass workout and we got an awesome bench out of it too.
There are folks who tell us we won’t be able to keep this up, that we’ll have to sacrifice something when we have kids. I think they’re crazy. This isn’t costing us time, this is saving us time. Instead of paying $50 for a dinner out and spending 90 minutes getting it (when you include drive time it starts to add up), we spend 30 minutes together making and eating something healthy. Instead of wasting time in the same house but not with each other, we have fun with one another and create great memories. I think we’re going to be exactly the same with kids. We’re going to maintain a healthy and fun lifestyle because we choose to do so and we’ll make the time because it’s important.
So yes, living a healthy lifestyle is a choice and it’s not just something you choose when you go to the gym. It’s something that pervades every choice you make, from what and where you eat to who carries a ton of bricks up stairs to your backyard.
