Wisdom of Tom Sawyer

As a child, one of my favorite books was "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. In the book, Tom is tasked with the duty of whitewashing the picket fence. Being the crafty, creative, and conspiring lad he is, he convinces others to do the task for him, even paying him for the 'priviledge' to paint for him. Of course, it all comes crashing down on him, but initially, it works quite well.

How did he convince others to do a task that most would find painful? He convinced them that whitewashing the fence was fun. By convincing the others that whitewashing was something he loved to do, something that was more fun than anything else, he made his friends want to do it, so much so that they PAID HIM to let them do his job for him.

In the health care world, they have a saying: "Fake it 'til you make it." In the same vein as Tom Sawyer convincing his friends that whitewashing is fun, sometimes we need to convince our bodies that getting into shape is fun.

Now, don't get me wrong, often exercising is fun and you can definitely find 'fun' exercises. But, sometimes it is just too hard, too difficult, or too crazy to get started. The human body is extremely "lazy"; it wants to do things with the least resistance and will fall back on poor habits when aloud. So, when starting to 'get into shape', sometimes it needs pushing, prodding to get going. At times like this, remember what Tom did; fake it 'til you make it.

See, you really can learn from reading. Fake it 'til you make it! I DARE YOU!