Just Don’t Stop

As we head into the New Year, I thought I’d share a piece of wisdom that I’ve learned from some close friends whom I truly admire.

In a recent interview with leadership guru Adam Mendler (Just Don’t Stop: Interview with Olympic Gold Medalist Steve Mesler), I was asked: “What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?”

As the article title indicates, my answer is this: Just don’t stop.

As I explain in the interview, this advice comes from my goal to live a healthier, happier, longer life. But today I wanted to go a little deeper into where that advice comes from and why it means so much to me…

You see, I’ve begun asking people that I look up to - people who are in their 60s and beyond who are fit, happy, maintain positive mindsets, and are still very engaged at work, with their friends, and with their family - about the secret sauce to their lives. 

I ask them: how do you do it? What should I be thinking and doing right now in my mid-40s to be like you in my 60’s and 70’s? 

The best and most useful advice I’ve gotten has been to keep doing all the things: lift weights, do cardio, party with friends, love your family, and work hard. Don’t let yourself say, “Well, it’s like this/I feel like this because I’m getting old.” Just keep doing all the things.

I’ve heard this advice in various forms but the biggest hat tip by far goes to my friends Kim Wright and Jason Zaran (of Fit Kitchen fame). They’re both in their 60s, and they're both fit and active, they work and travel, and they can still party like the best of them. 

They never complain about aging or give excuses for what they can’t do - they just keep on living their full, happy lives. If something hurts, it hurts and they’re active to fix the problem. It doesn’t hurt because they’re old. And that’s how I want to live too.

People who are older and wiser than me (like Kim and Jason) tell me that the “just don’t stop” advice matters because if you do stop, it’s ten times harder to start back up again. 

But I actually think an even more important message is that we should keep going because we can.  Yes, we all have limitations in life, and for some people those limitations are severe: chronic pain, illness, injury, and so on. But if we assume time’s up, and we can’t do the things we love anymore just because we’re getting older, we’re seriously selling ourselves short. No matter our limitations, we can always choose to make the most of what we’ve got and we can always choose to exhaust all of our options to make our lives what we want.

After retiring from sport, I assumed for a long time that my days of being an athlete were behind me. And when out of the blue my knee told me I couldn’t run anymore back in 2016, I assumed that a lot of physical activity - running in particular - was over for me. 

I thought, ‘Oh well, clearly, I've beaten up my body after a decade of high-performance track and field and another decade traveling the world bobsledding. I'm older now, so it makes sense that I would have a knee injury. It would make sense that I can't run anymore.’

Those assumptions were logical. But they were also incorrect. 

It took me four years to figure out that by properly working the problem and doing the little things right that I could absolutely run again. And that has made me wonder: what else can I do? And, what else can I keep doing?

Personally, I want to go into this coming year, and the years ahead, not loaded down by assumptions about what I can’t do. I’d rather go into it thinking: I’m going to keep going. I’m going to keep doing all of the things that help me stay happy and healthy and help me show up better in this life. And I’m going to somehow figure out ways to do the things that I currently can’t but want to do.

I’ll leave this year behind us with a recent conversation I had with someone that I’ve known for almost twenty years, but only see occasionally, who reminded me of the soul of Just Don’t Stop. Mike, from Calgary, was diagnosed with MS in the 1980’s. Now in his 50s, I only see Mike once a year - at an Arizona Cardinals game every December in Phoenix thanks to a mutual friend. The past decade or so has been difficult to watch. Every year, Mike’s MS appears to physically grab a hold of him more and more. This year was no exception. 

This year I learned a couple of things about Mike that I didn’t know. First, he reads my newsletter, appreciates what we talk about here, and leverages it to keep his mindset positive - that meant more to me than Mike knew. Second, Mike has an incredible outlook on life, his disease, and his prospects for living the life he wants. He tries to not feel sorry for himself, he seeks to not wallow in his pain or his inability to do certain things he once was able to. Mike explained to me that he refuses to let his MS dictate the mindset he brings to his days and that he understands the hand he’s been dealt, realizes it’s his hand, is doing everything in his power to stave off the inevitable, and that he will be enjoying every waking moment he can regardless of what he’s up against.

Though this piece credits Kim and Jason, it is dedicated to Mike. That conversation reminded me how fortunate so many of us are, including Mike, to be here, to be in positions where we can do something about our challenges, and that we not only don’t have to stop - we won’t.

To Mike, Kim, and Jason - thank you. My life is much fuller because of you.

To the readers of this - I’d be grateful if you could share what the best piece of advice you’ve ever received is. You can fill in the form below to share.

- Steve