Being Lazy is a Good Thing?

Yeah, I said it. In the big scheme of things, having the option to be lazy and still survive is a good thing. Think back to the dawn of man. Imagine if a cave man didn't feel like leaving the cave to find food. Imagine if a feudal farmer didn't bother to tend to his crops. Throughout history, mankind has not had the option to sit back and take a lazy day without risking peril. Today, most of our lives don't take much physical effort. Our food doesn't need to be hunted. Our cave doesn't need to be defended from bears. We spend most of our days sitting, either at work, at home or in transit. Foods that used to be rare delicacies (sugar, salt, fat) that provided vital calories to our diet are now overly abundant. Our laid back lifestyles coupled with our proclivity for sugar, salt and fat has led to a wide spread tendency to avoid physical activity and pack on a few pounds.

What I'm trying to say is that we, as a species, have won. We live comfortable lives without much uncertainty. That is a good thing.We don't have to fight bears for our food, also a good thing. The only things that worry me are the symptoms of our modern life. Now we have to make an effort to seek out healthy foods instead of just seeking out foods. We have to make time to exercise instead of burning calories and staying in shape in our daily battle with those bears that try to steal our food.

The Freakonomics guys said that 300 years ago, it took the average person 12 hours of work to earn enough to buy a candle to light their home. Today, it takes the average person about 2 minutes to earn enough to light their entire homes. We have reached a point where it takes relatively little effort to meet our basic needs. This means we have no excuse for being unhealthy.

Every morning, when you wake up, think about all the things you will not have to do; you won't have to search for food, you won't have to fight off bears (hopefully), you won't have to struggle to survive. These are all good things. But don't take these opportunities to only sit back and eat bon bons. Take advantage and be the best you can be every day.

And watch out for bears.

Jack

PS - Yesterday's version of Gameday Games was a good one. We watched the early game, San Fran Vs. ATL. Here are the results:
Touchdowns/Turnovers - 10 total, 20 temper tantrums each, 200 total tantrums. A temper tantrum is done sitting on the ground with your feet lifted off the ground. One tantrum is completed when you touch the ground on either side. You can hold a kettle bell or use no weight. We used a 35lb and a
50 lb kettle bell.
Field Goals/Sacks - 3 total, 1 minute wall sit each, 3 minutes of total wall sit.
1st down - 27 total first downs. Each 1st down we did 4 high five push ups and 4 kettle bell front squats. A high five push up is done with two people facing each other in the push up position. At the top of each push up, the two people high five, ie; right hand to right hand, etc. 108 push ups and 108 squats total.