Different Than Average

 Last night at almost 9 pm, Keith and I laced up our sneakers and headed out the door for a run. We live in the south and summer heat and humidity can be absolutely dreadful, so waiting until the sun goes down is just plain common sense, unless you enjoy dehydration or heat stroke. I admit I could get up early and run before the heat of the day closes in, but the truth is I’m just not a morning person. I’ve decided not to struggle against my nature, so I’m okay with that. Besides, running in the evening is just more peaceful. It’s quieter, except for singing frogs and locusts, and the moon adds nice ambience to our small town atmosphere.

Something hit me while I was concentrating on not tripping over the uneven spots in the side walk - and it wasn’t a bug either. It was the realization that there probably weren’t many people out at that time of night doing exercise of any sort. Heck, on a typical day, the average American doesn’t exercise at all. In fact only 16% of people in the United States participate in any type of sports or exercise activities. 16 PERCENT! That means if you’re out there working up a sweat at the gym, enjoying a morning run (or an evening run like me), participating in a yoga class, or power walking around the neighborhood, you are part of the elite. Doesn’t that feel good?

A wise friend of mine once told me, “If you want to be better than average, you have to be different than average.”

The average American is about 20 pounds overweight and watches more than 4 hours of television a day. While he or she is propped up there on the couch watching Seinfeld reruns, the average American is consuming about 300 containers of soda, 5 pounds of potato chips, and 20 gallons of ice cream each year. Are you sitting down? This next one is shocking. The average American spends $47,000 on prescription drugs each year.

I don’t want to be average.

I choose to limit the time I spend as a vegetable in front of the television. Instead, I choose to join the 16% of people who exercise on any given day. I choose to eat nutritious whole foods, while limiting the amount of soda, chips, ice cream and other junk foods that enter my body.

And because I choose these things I find myself in better health, in better physical shape, and quite probably feeling better about myself and my future than the average American. I’m just saying…