Everyone hates paying taxes. As a CPA who worked at a public CPA firm for 12 years and specialized in tax, trust me, I get it! I still remember when my best friend got her first paycheck in high school. She was so excited… until she noticed it was much smaller than the amount she was supposed to get paid. She asked me, “What is OASDI?” We looked at each other dumbfounded. Since Google didn’t exist yet, we “Googled” the old-fashioned way: we asked her older brother. We listened to his explanation, patiently waiting for him to say the company made a mistake. And when everything finally clicked… “Wait, this ISN’T some kind of mistake?” Me, the forever optimist at the time, told her “Don’t worry. He has no idea what he’s talking about.” I still smile to this day thinking of simpler times.
We all pay taxes… Social Security, Medicare, Sales Tax, Income Tax, Property Tax… the list goes on.
We also pay another type of tax: PHYSICAL TAXES. In other words, not being fit enough to enjoy life. When our bodies aren’t healthy, we don’t get to do the stuff we like. When we’re overweight, we don’t always say “YES!” when our kids ask to go to the pool. When we’re unfit, we don’t take our buddy’s invitation for a weekend camping trip. We don’t get to pitch in and help pile wood or sit in a tree stand all day. We can’t start jogging because our knees hurt; can’t lift weights because our back hurts; can’t cut out carbs because we need the energy. If we took an inventory, we’d find we don’t feel well more days than we actually do feel well.
On our honeymoon, Fernando and I booked a 10-mile hike to see the “Stairway to Heaven” in Oahu, Hawaii. It wasn’t a nice, paved, safe trail. To get to the top, you had to climb directly vertical (with the help of a rope that may or may not be secure at the top), maneuver over large boulders, and if you were afraid of heights (like me), you had to crawl on hands and knees along the “trail” for extended periods of time because any misstep would mean almost certain death… and the wind at the top was so strong it was bending the trees! One of the men on our trip was puking from the physical exertion. And us? We were having the time of our lives! We said over and over to each other how grateful we were for our health and fitness to just have the ability to experience something like that without training for it! We were able to enjoy that once-in-a-lifetime experience free of “physical” taxes and fully enjoy it!
The worst tax of them all, however, is the MENTAL TAX we pay when we don’t take care of ourselves and we’re not proud of the person staring back at us in the mirror.
When we’re self-conscious about our fitness or health, we don’t want to start exercising. We don’t want to look dumb. We don’t want to fail. Our confidence has eroded.
We don’t want to start a new diet because our families will say “Good for you,” because they know we need it. Or they’ll say “You don’t need that …” and lie so they don’t make us feel bad. Or they’ll roll their eyes because they know we’ve failed before.
We’ve been out of the gym for a long time (or maybe we’ve never been to the gym), and we don’t want to do that first workout. Because we’re going to be last. It’s going to suck. We might get embarrassed. The physical exertion will be REALLY uncomfortable.
The government makes us pay financial tax. But the other two—physical and mental—are self-imposed.
No one cares if you’re slow.
No one cares if you finish last.
No one cares if you blow your diet and have to start all over again.
You’d stop caring about what others thought about you if you realized how rarely they actually do.
Everyone thinks about themselves, mostly. That’s the tax they’re paying. And most of us overpay.
We’re taxed enough. Stop worrying about what you look like and start making the person in mirror proud again! Don’t know where to begin? Just reach out to us! We’ll set up a meeting to talk about where you’re at and where you’d like to be. And from there, we’ll come up with a plan together!
Don’t say that you’ll do it tomorrow! If you do that, you’ll be running from opportunities your entire life! Just think of all the opportunities in your life you’ll be giving up by not fighting for your health! Now is the only moment you are promised! Let us help you get back your fitness so you can experience life to its fullest!
(Inspiration provided by Chris Cooper at Catalystgym.com.)