Transcript
What's up, you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here,
and welcome to More Movement, Please, the podcast
about inspiring people to move their bodies more.
Today, I want to talk about the movie Sliding
Doors. Have you ever seen that movie? It has
Gwyneth Paltrow in it, and it's where her entire
life, it splits into two completely different
timelines based on whether she catches a train
or misses it by just a few seconds. And today,
I kind of want to do my own version of this,
where I talk to you guys about, instead of trains
and relationships, a decision you're facing right
now at this very moment. And it's a decision
that seems small, but it can echo through your
entire future. And so the question is simple.
Would you rather hurt now or hurt later? Would
you rather feel the burn of a workout today or
the pain of a doctor's office visit years from
now? So let's watch what happens. Same person,
two completely different lives, all because of
one choice. So picture this. It's a regular Tuesday
morning and you're standing in your living room
at 630 in the morning. Your workout clothes,
they're laid out. Your alarm just went off, but
you're tired, like really, really tired. And
this is where our timeline splits. In timeline
A. You drag yourself up. You're not thrilled
about it. Your muscles protest as you start your
warmup. Five minutes in, you're wondering why
you do this to yourself. 10 minutes in, you're
sweating. 15 minutes in, okay, you're actually
feeling pretty good. And 30 minutes later, you're
done. You're sweaty. Your legs are shaky, but
you feel alive. Fast forward a month. You're
still going. You're not every day, but you're
doing it most days. You've stopped needing three
alarms. Your back doesn't hurt as much when you
get out of bed. Weird, right? Now fast forward
six months. You're carrying groceries up the
stairs and you realize you're not even breathing
that hard. When did that happen? You catch a
reflection in a window and you do a double take.
You stand differently now. You're taller somehow.
You feel taller. You feel stronger. Now let's
fast forward five years. You're playing with
your kids or your grandkids or maybe your dog
and you're running. You're actually running.
You're laughing. You're not thinking about your
body at all. It just works. Maybe you book a
hiking trip, you say yes to that pickup basketball
game, or you lift your suitcase into the overhead
bin without even a second thought. Now let's
fast forward 20 years. You're watching people
your age, they're struggling to get up from chairs,
they're popping pills for blood pressure, cholesterol,
they're taking insulin shots, they're canceling
plans because they're too tired, or their back
is out again. But not you, you're planning backpack
trip. Your doctor keeps using words like remarkable
at your checkups. You have some aches, sure,
you're human. but they're normal, and they're
the normal wear and tear of a life lived, not
the breakdown of a body that's been neglected.
Now let's look at timeline B, the snooze button,
right? Let's rewind back to that Tuesday, that
6 .30 a .m. alarm goes off, and you hit snooze.
Just this once, you'll start tomorrow. You promise
yourself you'll start tomorrow. A month later,
tomorrow never came. You meant to start, you
really did. But work, it got busy. And you were
tired. You're always so tired. And you're back.
Well, it still hurts. And actually, you feel
like it might be getting worse. Six months later,
those stairs at work, you get winded going up
them. You're out of breath by the second floor.
You avoid them anytime you can. You tell yourself,
it's no big deal. Everyone gets older, right?
And you buy new pants. Well, because the old
ones don't fit. They just are too tight. And
you tell yourself that you'll deal with it later.
Now let's fast forward five years. Later has
arrived. Your doctor's using words like pre -diabetic
and blood pressure concerns and we need to talk
about your cholesterol. Maybe she's recommending
you start exercising. You nod and you agree.
But the idea of starting now, well, it feels
impossible. You're so much heavier than you were
five years ago. You're so much stiffer and you're
so much more tired. And now let's fast forward
20 years. You're on four medications. Your knees,
they're shot. The doctor, she says that you might
need knee replacements. You can't play with your
dog the way you used to. Hell, you can't even
travel the way you dreamed. You're not living.
You're managing. You're just surviving. You're
managing pain. You're managing conditions. You're
managing limitations. And then you think back
to that Tuesday morning 20 years ago and you
wonder, what if? Here's the truth about these
two timelines. They both hurt. In timeline A.
You hurt for 30 minutes a day, maybe 45 minutes
a day. Your muscles burn. You get sore. You feel
uncomfortable. But then it's over. It passes
and it gets easier. Eventually, it doesn't hurt
as much, if at all. In fact, it feels good. When
your workouts are complete, you feel better.
But in timeline B, you hurt all the time. Your
back hurts. Your knees hurt. Your joints hurt.
Getting out of bed hurts. The hurt doesn't pass.
It accumulates. It compounds. It becomes your
new normal. Same person, same genetics. The only
difference? One choice made over and over and
over again. The beautiful thing about this story
is unlike the movie, your sliding door, it's
not closed yet. If you're still breathing, you're
standing at that train station right now. You're
above ground. You have the option to step into
Timeline A today. Not tomorrow. Not Monday. Not
after the holidays. Not January 1st. Today. Will
it be easy? No. Will it hurt a little? Yes. But
I'm going to tell you something, and it's so
important and I need you to hear it. The hurt
is temporary. And it's going to feel better over
time. Sure, you're going to be sore. But... Like
Rhonda said in the interview that we did, wouldn't
you rather hurt from working your body and let
it break down from working than to let it break
down to sitting in a chair? The hurt of neglect,
that hurt is forever. So I'm asking you right
now, would you rather hurt now or hurt later?
Your body is going to require something from
you either way. It's either going to require
the effort of sweat and a little discomfort now,
or it's going to require medications and doctor
visits and limitations later. I want you to choose
your heart. Think about this. Think about the
choices that you're making every single day.
You have the choice every morning when you wake
up to either go work out or just not. If you
choose to not work out, you're going to hurt
later. So choose your hurt. Choose your hard.
Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked
out today?