The Cliff

Picture yourself standing on a cliff. Look over the edge and realize that you don’t want to step over the edge. You step over the edge and you are dead. Plain and simple you fall to your death. One step forward and its lights out. Forever.

Do you take that step?

Do you?

Pretty stupid question.

Or is it?

Let me ask the question again. You are standing on the edge of a cliff looking over the abyss. One step forward and you die. Do you take that step?

Before you answer let’s add one more element to the equation.

Your family is standing there with you; your spouse; your kids; your parents and siblings.

You are standing on the cliff. Do you take that step?

Of course you don’t.

Now let’s look at it a different way. You are a mile away from the cliff. You can’t see the cliff. You know it’s out there but you aren’t sure where. Do you take a step in that direction? Two steps? Three steps? The cliff is out there but you have no idea how far. How many steps do you take today?

Tomorrow?

The next day?

How far is the cliff?

You may have figured out by now that I am not talking about a cliff. I am talking about the end of your life. Death will come to all of us. The manner that it arrives may be unknown but the end result is. Death is out there. Just like the cliff.

Somewhere it’s out there.

If you were to do one simple thing that meant your death would you do it?

Would you step off the cliff?

If drinking a Diet Coke was sure to kill you would you drink it?

What if drinking the Diet Coke brought you one step closer to the cliff would you drink it? How far away is the cliff?

Did you ever notice that not as many older people smoke? Why is that? Well it’s because people eventually realize that smoking pushes you closer and closer to the cliff. Eventually we just get it. When though?

Picture life as walking down a path. The beauty and joy is all around you. Your journey through life is along the path. Every night as you lie down for sleep you first have to fast forward a set certain distance based on what you did to accelerate your life. If you smoke or due drugs you miss a few steps. If you drink Diet Coke or doughnuts then it’s a few more steps.

The journey down the path can be wonderful but for you it just keeps getting harder. The weeds get higher and the rains bring mud. Sickness looms. You get hurt. You get poison ivy. Darkness prevails.

For every dark day there are days of sunshine and warmth. The path is clear. The path is easy to follow. The good seems to last forever.

I hope that you understand the path of life metaphor.

We are all on this journey. Now I want you to think of it in yet another way before I tie together the whole analogy.

Picture the path having forks. You decide which fork to take based on basic information. Sometimes it is clear and sometimes it isn’t as clear. There are, however, always choices. Some choices are simply lessons and some choices change your path altogether.

Some of your paths may be tough but those are the paths that you chose.

Back to the cliff.

Standing on the cliff none of us would take that last step.

Most of us will take the step that brings us 10,000 steps closer when we can’t see the cliff.

Life is here for YOU to enjoy and appreciate. You get one shot at it. There is no manual BUT there are some simple rules. Actually I have 3 simple rules.

Before I state the rules I will give you one caveat. The cliff will come. You will get to the edge of the cliff and be forced off; THAT you have no control over. When will you reach your cliff?

Well I can tell you that it will take a lot longer if stop RUNNING at it.

YOUR THREE RULES

1. Have a GREAT attitude. I talk about this all the time. If your attitude sucks then so do you. Be positive and you will be positive. Think the worst and the worst will come. Accepts life’s challenges and relish in anticipation for the next one. Live for the day and remember that your future is perfect. Attitude is EVERYTHING. Live this.

2. MOVE your body. When you lie down tonight to sleep ask yourself this question: Did I move my body in a functional manner today for a least an hour? Did I walk? Did I sweat? If you answer no that you just lost a day off the back end. May not seem like much now but in 10 years you’ve lost 10 years that you can’t get back. That sucks. Move your body for at least 60 minute per day.

3. NOURISH your body the right way. For every snack, soda, alcoholic beverage, or serving of processed food you have today you stripped away an hour from your life. (I made up this number, by the way. Same with the one above. This is to prove a point not be scientific) The hours will add up. I promise you this.

This is what we all need to do. As you lie down to bed at night evaluate you performance in the 3 areas above. Did you have a good attitude today? Do you move today? Did you nourish yourself in the right way today?

If you have any “no” answers then you need to change that tomorrow. Do that every day like you KNOW. Ask and answer the questions like the cliff is coming. You will move towards the cliff. This you cannot change. It’s the speed that you can work with. Take a slow stroll towards the end and enjoy life so it gets here at the proper time.

Do you have this all in your mind now?

Do you understand what I am saying?

Good. Now envision your kids watching and following you. When are they going to get to their cliff?

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