We were early to the Body Worlds show and spent time walking around the St. Louis Science Center. It is an impressive place with all sorts of gadgets and interactive displays. The kind of place you can go to as a family and everyone will have a good time. Yes, even the teens.
One of the sections had various medical stuff to try including a blood pressure testing machine. The last time I was checked my blood pressure was normal, but that was three or four years ago. I tried it this time and my pressure ended up at 143/84. To evaluate the accuracy, my roommate tested his pressure and received the reading he normally gets.
A reading of 143/84 isn't terribly bad, but it's not overly good, either. In a way, I had a feeling my blood pressure was creeping up. I've been far too sedentary the last few months, and feeling a great deal of stress. My weight is not good, I use too much salt on my food, and drink too much coffee in the morning. I also read the weblogs of people who irritate me.
Like my blood pressure, there isn't anything terribly bad about my lifestyle, but it's not overly good, either. I read Dave Rogers post about running seven miles in 79 minutes, and know that if I tried it, I'd run it in less because I'd be dead before I was done.
I and my roommate have had to make some lifestyle changes in the last few months, and it's time to face additional changes. Rather than think of what I have to give up, though, I like to think I'm gaining. I can splurge on those halibut steaks or red snapper, where before I may have drifted over to the fish sticks. Luckily, our stores carry a good supply of foods that are both organic and healthy, if pricey. I can now justify the expenditure with, "cheaper than medicine".
It encourages me to read about people like Dave, or Elaine, or Ethan and others, who have looked at their lives and said, "Time for a change", and made it stick. The change didn't happen for them overnight, but it did happen. I can carry that through with me during those times when change seems to come too slow.
The bigger challenge for me in turning my lifestyle around isn't going to be walking more and eating better, it's going to be reducing stress in my life. What am I saying: stress is my life. Which is ridiculous if you think about it, because if I wanted to be stressed, I should have stayed in Silicon Valley. I could have lived a life in the flow, conferenced, connected, and teetering on that next bubble, always hungry for more until burning out. Instead I moved to St. Louis, which lost its bubble just after the 1904 World's Fair.
The pictures don't have to be good, the writing doesn't have to be perfect, programming bugs don't kill. Usually. I can still read the weblogs of people who irritate me, but learn to take them much less seriously.
