WHY STAY IN SHAPE? An Essay No One Asked For

​Though I played sports in school (soccer and basketball), I was never a gifted athlete.  At first, in grade school, I played because it was more or less expected. At the time I lived in small town Indiana, and sports were one of the few activities available.  That was when I started playing soccer.  There were no expectations when you played soccer in Indiana in the 90s.  Basketball was, of course, KING.  Baseball was Prince of the Realm.  Football (Go…Colts?) was the Power Behind the Throne.  Soccer, if it was even royal, was the lowly Duke of somewhere very, VERY remote, and it would CERTAINLY never ascend to the throne.  If you ran and kicked and seemed to try, you were “good” at soccer.  
 
So that was what I played.
 
Later, when basketball became my sport in middle school and high school, I played because the people I knew played.  Fine, there was a girl.  She played.  And since I wanted desperately to be noticed by that girl, I practiced hard and played basketball whenever I was able, and DOUBLY so whenever she was around. I liked the game fine, but I liked the girl more.  And the fact that I was not all that good at basketball never really bothered me.  I’m only 5’11”, after all.  (Fine!  I am actually 5’10 and 3/4”.  THAT IS MY ACTUAL HEIGHT.  What.  A.  Joke.  To my everlasting disgust, I never reached 6’.  BOTH my younger brothers are taller than me. And yes, that does sting.)
 
I mention this brief history of sport by way of introduction.  Today, we will be talking about staying in shape.  I’m going to crawl out on a tangled, leafy limb here and guess that YOU are not a professional athlete.  Well, as you can tell by the preamble, neither am I; therefore, I will not be laying out some grand exercise plan here.  And I do not intend to insult your intelligence by explaining the health benefits of staying fit.  You already know all this.  We have all seen the TV infomercials and watched the documentaries.
 
I would simply like to share a smidgeon of my own, deeply subjective experience.  Exercising has helped me immensely in ways BESIDES keeping me healthy (although, as a lower-incomed individual, that side benefit is nice, too). 
 
Please allow me a short list.

1.  EXERCISE GIVES ME A SMALL MEASURE OF CONTROL.  Life is chaotic for everyone, and a million factors forever dance outside of anyone’s grasp.  This is true for us all, but it is triply true for an actor walking the vast wastelands of our world, seeking work.  For the most part, an actor needs people’s permission.  You need agents.  You need casting directors to notice you.  You stand, sit, and stroll at the bequest of your director.  All this swirls dangerously beyond your control.  You can’t control MUCH, but you CAN control how you take care of yourself.  And committing to consistently exercising gives you something practical to DO.  The fact that it makes you LOOK a bit better to all those people whose permission you need is just a peripheral positive.  It is a small way to seize the steering wheel of your own destiny. 
2.  EXERCISE BOOSTS MY MOOD.  I am by nature a moody person.  I brood and overthink and suffer from ups and downs.  I believe these swings to be within the normal parameters, but the swings feel real enough regardless.  It is a cliché to say that exercise produces endorphins, whatever THOSE actually are, but the truth remains that after a decent workout and a shower you feel good in a way difficult to reproduce without prescription meds.  I have found that exercise helps me to balance out my mood swings.  I am a much better man for the extra effort.
3. EXERCISE LETS ME DO MORE.  Life is stuffed to the brim with paradox.  I have noticed that when I beg off exercising because I have no time or energy, this only makes things worse.  Moving more allows me to move MORE.  This is especially true when performing.  The extra strength and stamina that come from “extra-curricular” workouts apply directly to your work.  Even if you sit at a desk all day, working out will help get you moving.  And if you MOVE more at work, working out will PREPARE you to move.  We humans are famously bad at knowing our own limits.  Push yourself a bit, and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.  Which is a great segue into my fourth and final point…
4. EXERCISE SETS THE PRECEDENT FOR THE DAY IN A WONDERFUL WAY.  We all are familiar with that terrible feeling that comes from hitting the proverbial wall.  In exercise, the wall is that awful moment when you honestly do not think you can finish the routine, or the set, or the session.  It’s that moment when everything in you screams JUST STOP and when it is so easy to walk away.  But there is a feeling just as wonderful as that first feeling is wretched that comes when you push past that wall and press on regardless.  When you ignore that stitch in your side, when you hustle through it to the other side, you win a vital victory.  And victory attracts more victory.  Good choices MADE make it easier to make more good choices. 

 
So there you have it.  I am not a professional athlete.  I will never be one.  And, despite all my desperate dreams, I am not an action star in the movies.  But I can choose what kind of man I will be today.  Exercise has helped me with that, and I harbor hope that it may help you as well. 
 
So here’s to hope.