Your mental state affects your physical health.

If you are losing sleep or constantly worried, the stress lowers your ability to protect your body as the immune system is taxed.

According to the CDC, roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69 percent) and one out of three are obese (36 percent).

You need to fight obesity now more than ever before.

And no matter what you’re going through, there’s someone going through worse.

Be grateful for your life and look at the positives.

A few more thoughts.

What would happen if more people focused on deep sleep, regular exercise, mindful nutrition, and immune-system-boosting support like zinc and vitamin D?

When will public health officials take an all-hands-on-deck approach to increasing healthspan and preventing disease?

Imagine a world where everyone lifted weights as religiously as they watch the news.

The health benefits of exercise are well documented.

And outside of physical health, the benefits of training are paramount to your mental health.

What's Your Purpose?

With all of the negative talk on television, newspapers, and the internet, I've been thinking about life.

People are counting on you to lead by example.

I'd say your purpose is to be fulfilled, to be happy, and to play the infinite game.

The eternal game of getting better, living your life’s purpose, and leaving the world a better place than you found it.

Now, to bring all of that down to reality.

We often act like we’re playing a finite game, when in reality, this is an infinite game, a never-ending game.

Here’s what I mean.

An NFL game is a finite game. Consider the Philadelphia Eagles, a professional American football team based in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Eagles compete in the National Football League as a member club of the league's National Football Conference East division. The team plays its home games at Lincoln Financial Field in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. 

For each game, the Eagles have a strategy in place and expect a high level of performance. At the end of each game a winner is determined based on the scoreboard. And at the end of the season, the best two teams compete in the annual league championship game, called the Super Bowl.

But life is not like that, yet many people make decisions like it is.

Consider the game of fitness, health, and wellness.

In order to be at your best, to live your healthiest life, to be around for your friends and family as long as possible, I think everyone would agree that working on your healthspan is important.

In truth, prevention is something that will always, in some capacity, need to be a part of your life.

It’s an infinite game. It never ends.

However, folks often make decisions or tell stories based on it being a finite game.

• “Let me lose 24 pounds of fat and then I’ll be happy.”
• “I’m going to do this 30-day diet cleanse and then I’ll be good.”

Those are all decisions, strategies, and beliefs for a finite game. Fitness is not a finite game.

I would argue there are very few things that are a finite game.

Let’s look at parenting.

How you do it, what it looks like, changes as the years go on, but you are constantly looking at becoming a better parent until the day you die.

What about personal development?

We are constantly looking at ways we can become better people, more kind to ourselves, better partners, better friends, or better co-workers.

It’s an infinite game. What's the point?

Well, hopefully three things come from it:

• You develop a life purpose that is more meaningful than any short-term goal ever could be.
• You are forever intrinsically encouraged to get better, in all aspects of life.
• You don’t make decisions that “win” the short-term, the finite game, but then might sacrifice the long-term chances of the infinite game.

Short term decisions, short cuts, quick fixes, in any area of life, are often associated with the mindset of, “If I just get here…”

But that’s not the mindset of the infinite game. The infinite game is a game that never ends, it’s more about having a true purpose, a deep cause for yourself, and getting better in all aspects of life...

...every single day.

Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it.

Never tell yourself you missed your chance.

Never tell yourself that you aren’t good enough.

You can do it. Whatever it is.

Be the prepared person, and you may actually end up getting leaner, stronger, and happier during challenging times.

Training is cathartic. And you definitely need the stress relief right now.

Attitude is a choice.

Happiness is a choice.

Optimism is a choice.

Kindness is a choice.

Giving is a choice.

Respect is a choice.

Whatever choice you make makes you.

Choose wisely.

To your success,

Coach Joe

Joseph Arangio helps 40+ men and women get leaner, stronger, and happier. He's delivered over 100,000 transformation programs to satisfied clients around the globe. If you want to lose weight from home, with the best online age-management personal trainer, or you want to visit the best longevity personal trainer in the Lehigh Valley, you can take a free 14-day trial.