I try my best to be serious about my health. I make sure do have my annual physical. I don’t just do this because it’s what I should do. I do it because I’ve seen what happens when you don’t do it. Over the past few years, I have learned something important about myself. It takes a little more effort to stay healthy.

I’m (rapidly) approaching 50 years of age. I’ve experienced a slowing down of my metabolism. The amount of effort that it used to take to lose 10 pounds isn’t enough anymore. I ache in places that I didn’t use to ache.

I don’t want to be someone that relies on too many pills to regulate things in my body. I want to avoid that for as long as I can. And, so far, I’m basically okay there.

This year’s physical was just about two weeks ago. As a result of some questions that I had an how the results of my tests came back, I’ve already seen some more doctors, and I have more appointments on the way. So far, it looks like everything that’s wrong with me is a result of being overweight. I had put in a plan in place to tackle that even before I had the physical.

I’ve made some changes to my diet. I’m eating better again. I’m eating slower. I’m drinking more water. I’ve (mostly) cut out sugar. I’m paying attention to my calorie count. I’ve started exercising regularly again and I’m following a plan that I’ve come up to get myself back into shape for some 5k races later in the year. By no means is it an elaborate plan, but there’s enough of a plan.

My physical health is not the only thing that I’ve been put a concentrated effort into working on in 2026. I’ve also put a much greater focus on my mental health. I’ve found using a particular app a few times per day has kept me very grounded with my mental health. I’m trying my best to practice mindfulness and to just continue with the gratitude for all that I have.

My physical health and my mental health are not things that I take for granted. Both require consistent effort to remain in good shape. I’m doing the work.

The year is only one month old, but I think I’m on the right track. I’m genuinely optimistic about my health.

I’m not ashamed of getting help with my health. I have sleep apnea. I treat that with a CPAP machine. It’s greatly increased my sleep. I have depression and anxiety issues. I treat that with therapy. I’m overweight. I’ve begun seeing a nutritionist/dietitian for that.

Health insurance companies truly do want you to be healthy. Sure, it’s mostly due to them not wanting to pay out on services, but that’s almost not the point. If you go to your provider’s website, you’ll find so many tools and services that are designed to keep you healthy. I’ve earned cash rewards from my provider this year due completing various activities. All that you need to do is look at the website and I’m sure you’ll find rewards programs and discounts on health related things. I’m glad that I did.

I used to be angry, resentful, cynical, and bitter. I think it’s fair to say that I’m (almost) optimistic about things now. I have a lot of gratitude and I’m basically in a much better place. I included the “almost” there because it’s impossible to be completely optimistic about life when you see what’s happening in the world right now. But, I know that eventually things will turn around. It may get (a lot) worse before it gets better, but it will get better.

A joke that I’ve made about my health recently is that I’ve told people that I defer to a song by Warren Zevon (which you can listen to here and this blog’s title references) to describe my health. I don’t think that I’m quite as bad as the song describes, but I understand the sentiment of the song. Being healthy requires effort. It doesn’t just happen. I’m doing the work and I’m pretty confident that I’m going to see good results when I get my next round of tests.