When lazy cancer breaks out, I recommend you to read this book, which will definitely keep you awake at night.
Desperate middle age
Let's take a look at this photo first:
Handsome, huh? This guy is the author of this book. His name is Ricky Raul. In 2009, he was selected as "one of the 25 healthiest men in the world" by American Men's Fitness magazine. But all this happened after he was 40 years old. Can you think of it? I weighed 190 Jin before, and my stomach was bigger than mine. In our words, he is a middle-aged fat house. But it is such a person who created a miracle at the age of 44. In less than a week, he and a friend completed five super triathlons on five islands in Hawaii. A triathlon includes swimming 3.8 kilometers, then riding 180 kilometers, and finally running a marathon-that is, 42 kilometers. We normal people can accomplish any one of them, even if it is very amazing. Only people with super athletic ability will challenge these three things together. But Ricky Rolle is better. He finished the pentathlon in a week.
It's not a question of five times the intensity, but whether you can survive at such a high intensity. What turning point made Richroll suddenly wake up in middle age? It also started on the eve of his 40th birthday, and the author described it in great detail.
After climbing the steps, he went into the little girls' bedrooms and watched them sleep. He not only imagined that their daughters would get married when they grew up:
The daughter is radiant and smiling, surrounded by a proud brother and a gentle and elegant mother. But when I came to my senses, I realized something was missing-I wasn't there! I may be dead!
A tingling sensation quickly spread from my neck along my spine and then turned into panic. ...
At that moment, he clearly realized that he might not live to see his daughter get married.
He took a deep breath, struggled to the bathroom, saw himself in the mirror, and then froze.
In the mirror is a fat, deformed and very unhealthy person.
And this is a far cry from him.
Shocking teenagers and dead young people.
In fact, Ricky Rolle was a good swimmer when he was a child. Joined the swimming team at the age of 6 and won the prize at the age of 8. By the time he was in middle school, he had already taken part in national competitions.
This major made him very popular when he applied for universities, and eight very famous universities in the United States, including Stanford and Harvard, all offered him olive branches.
Finally, he chose to go to Stanford University.
You see, this is a typical high flyers with a bright future, right?
But people always die. When did this guy die?
A glass of beer!
When he was preparing to apply for university, he attended a party of the university swimming team. At this time, a buddy handed him a glass of beer.
Before that, he was a teetotaler, but he couldn't refuse this man's wine.
Because the person who delivers the wine is an athlete he admires very much, named Bruce kimball, a silver medalist in the 1984 Olympic Games.
Idol can't help drinking. If this drink goes on, his life will change forever.
Why?
For the first time, he found that beer used to be so delicious. Since then, it has been out of control, from beer to all kinds of foreign wines. Started to indulge in alcohol.
You know, before going to college, Ricky Rolle was super self-disciplined about training, working hard every Monday to Friday, and so on weekends.
But after falling in love with alcohol, he lost interest in swimming that he loved for more than ten years. Not to mention not taking part in training and retiring from the swimming team.
Even on graduation day, he was as drunk as a fiddler and took off his shoes when he came on stage.
He was angry with his father and went back without having dinner with him.
That is, from then on, his parents were extremely disappointed with him, and his father basically never saw him again.
I don't like drinking myself. It's really hard for me to understand what it feels like to be addicted to alcohol and drink too much, but looking at his state, I just feel terrible.
This guy found a job at random after graduation, and then experienced a failed marriage, and the main reason was drinking too much.
Later, there was no choice but to go to a rehabilitation center, similar to our drug rehabilitation center for treatment.
It was at that time that he met his present wife, who fundamentally changed him.
Perhaps because of the power of love, he really gave up drinking.
"Although I am not a model of abstinence, compared with drunken people, I have been transformed."
More importantly, in the process, he realized that "this means not only love, but also accepting love."
Secondly, during the time when they lived together, he set up his own entertainment law without planning-providing legal services for writers, directors and producers in various film and television transactions.
Later, they got married and soon had their first child, and everything was developing in a good direction.
But it was at this time that the aforementioned midlife crisis appeared.
Jedi counterattack
Ricky Rolle's middle-aged counterattack began with adjusting his diet.
The first thing he did was to ask his wife for help-she usually pays great attention to health, so he lost his usual high-calorie food and began to eat vegetarian food according to his wife's formula.
After a week of persistence, he felt some effects and planned to stick to it like this. Then, he began to resume exercise-running, cycling and swimming.
After all, he has a sports background and recovers quickly. His waistline is getting thinner and thinner, and his energy is better than before. When these goals began to be realized, the desire to participate in sports competitions in middle age began to sprout.
So, he began to strengthen his training intensity. At first, I ran 1-2 times in Zhou Chen, swam 1-2 times, and rode again on weekends. Later, it developed into weekly 10 hours of training, 15 hours, and sometimes even 18-20 hours. ...
The competition he participated in is getting more and more difficult and his grades are getting better and better. Until the end, he finished the pentathlon in less than a week.
There are many inner monologues and descriptions in the book when he participated in the competition, which I think is very wonderful. Space is limited, so we won't expand it here. It is highly recommended that you read it yourself.
After telling this buddy's story, I want to share with you my own feelings and what kind of life strength I or we can learn from him.
There are two things that impressed me most about this book:
The first is that life is really not easy, and it is too important to take every step well. Sometimes, one step is wrong, one step is wrong.
If it weren't for the infatuation with alcohol, our hero's life might be different. It is not always possible to be a famous swimmer.
However, the most precious years of his life were delayed by alcohol, which is not for everyone to bear.
The athlete who handed him wine at first was sentenced to 17 years in prison three years later, that is, two weeks before the 1988 American Olympic trials.
There is no other reason except drunk driving-he drove into a group of children at a speed of nearly 145 km/h, killing two boys and injuring four others.
What do you mean, a slip of the foot makes a lasting regret? What do you mean, dead? That's it.
Of course, we in China often say that it is not too late to mend. It is not terrible to make mistakes, as long as you correct them in time. All this is true, and so is this author.
But my question is: wouldn't it be better if we could make fewer low-level mistakes? If you don't have to pay such a painful price, why pay it?
It sounds particularly like an old father preaching to his children, but that's the truth. I believe that if you understand, your quality of life will be higher.
My second insight, which is also the most influential one after reading this book, is: what is the possibility of people reaching middle age?
At first, I told you that I started running in March this year. As we all know, many of our compatriots paid a heavy price this year because of the epidemic. Some people lost their jobs, others lost their careers, but the most important thing is life.
In the face of the epidemic, human beings are actually very fragile. You will find that no matter what medicine, the most useful thing is your physical fitness.
In recent years, I have been overdrawn by my body. Moreover, as I gradually enter middle age, there are many people and things that you need to be responsible for.
It is said that the body is the capital of the revolution, but in fact, most of us cherish the body the least. Me, too, just like this author. In March, I suddenly realized that I couldn't go on like this, so I started running.
At first, you can only run for a while, walk for a while, run for two or three kilometers, and then you can't run. At that time, you were particularly easy to give up.
Having said that, I'm going to talk about the influence of this book on me.
I was in June and July, and one day, I occasionally went to the company bookshelf to look through this book. The more I look at it, the more I feel. Turning to the middle, he said that he woke up his body again, resumed his interest in sports, and his grades began to get better and better. Suddenly, I have a strong impulse to run.
So, this book didn't inspire me when I didn't want to run, but it really inspired me when I started running with difficulties and bottlenecks. Especially when he wrote that he challenged pentathlon in a week, I was really moved.
It turns out that there are so many possibilities when people reach middle age. Why should I stop? Why can't I have a try?
I now find that many things can really be done as long as you do them.
The stage goal I set for myself is to run first 1000 km, and now it has reached more than 300; The next goal is to run a horse and a half. I hope everyone can encourage me, an ordinary fat man, and I hope we can give each other some strength.
Suppose you are at a low point now, or in case we encounter setbacks, I recommend you to read this book. Maybe you can learn some strength from it, just like me.
As the cover of this book says, "We don't want a quiet and desperate life", we want a higher quality of life.
Finally, I want to give you two of my favorite sentences in this book:
The first sentence is: "do what you like and love the people you care about;" Serve others and make clear that you are on the right path. "
Our life is very limited. For me, the initial intention of making a book list is to dig out more good books, screen them out and share them with more people. I hope the power of reading can affect more people.
The second sentence is: "pursue the ideal in your heart and the whole world will support you."
I also hope that each of us will pursue our dreams and do things with our own ideas, with sunshine in our eyes and sunshine in our hearts. Be serious, be happy, live every day and be the master of your life.