Men’s Health – What is Your ‘Check Engine’ Light?
We are designed to make, fix, create, provide, compete and win. Many of us treat winning as evidence of strength magnified by normatively nice “things” or results. Providing for our loved ones naturally follows when we compete well, sustained by rugged individual strength. Chinks in the armor of performance are weakness, prompting us to lower our shoulders against the wall, push harder and find a way to make things happen. This is our lot. This is what we do as men. This orientation to success and hard work has sustained relationships and cultural norms for millennia.
What happens when we protect this norm more than we protect our work tools? In any line of work, men like tools, whether it is IT infrastructure, a band saw, a boat, or a truck. We monitor mechanical limitations and maintain them in the most cost-efficient ways available to ensure that we can continue to compete and provide without interruption.
What happens when our striving for success exceeds biological limitations? What happens when the weathering inside our bodily systems and cells collides with additional work responsibilities, unexpected delays, or roadblocks to obtaining a permit or closing a deal? What happens when weathering collides with physical changes around 40? Do we avoid the low-hanging fruit; decrease alcohol, stop smoking? Do we implement preventative maintenance strategies to improve cardiovascular fitness with running, swimming, cross-training, pilates or yoga? More often than not, we ignore these hassles and push harder into the same strategies to manage stress that worked in our 20s when we had less weathering, fewer skills, less understanding, fewer opportunities and fewer responsibilities to others in our growing spheres of influence.
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