It was just another day when my 24-years old brother-in-law finally made into way into his first government job (into Uttar Pradesh Police ) after about 4 years of struggle. Securing a government is like a dream come true for many in rural India. I was quite happy for this person as well. And just thought how the relationships amongst my family and his family will see another season of change. These new young men will replace the workforce needed for a growing economy. What did I loose?
I don’t know why, but very that night something struck me like a thunderbolt. I woke up at 2 AM. My mind was running like deer chased by a carnivore. I tried to contain myself of the mixed feeling of anxiety and fear.
Well, the hunter here was the — The Time and the deer was my age, my dream and aspiration. I realized how I turned 30s from my 20s and how much my aspirations have changed. I had so much coming into my life — Job, family, society, financials — that made me forget myself. At that moment of time I could barely sleep due to this ageing fear.
The very next day, I tried to calm myself down. And I sat beside my whiteboard which I just recently got delivered a week back, but haven’t used it much. I started noting down how I was feeling and what internal, external, long term or short term factors which caused those feeling.
After a 30-minutes of brainstorming supported with YouTube and Internet research I found a specific action point that I needed to start addressing was my health. Since last 3 years, I had being ignoring my health conditions due to various excuses and my ignorance towards how it actually contributed to ageing. The essential part of it was having a potbelly at 30s. Potbelly is killer of your dreams and this is the agent of midlife crisis.
Potbelly is curse
I am sharing an eye opening internet Q&A post which made my wakeup call again potbelly.:
Why do Indians have pot bellies unlike European/North Americans?
I’m an Indian and I’m not obese and yet I have a pot belly. So does my father and his brother. So do my cousins and none of them are obese or even close to being obese. My BMI is 24.5 which is good. I mentioned this because in one of the other answers i read about the statistics of obesity but i tend to disagree with it because many Indians are not obese but they still have pot bellies.
The one and only one reason why Indians have pot bellies is because Indians don’t exercise. People in India don’t bother that much about fitness. People here are just not aware of what to eat and the importance of exercise.
It’s also because of the food we Indians eat which causes bloating because of too much masala.
Also the cost of Public transport (very cheap in India) and the weather which discourages you to walk.
I was shocked to see the number of people cycling and running in London. The office where i spent a few hours and where around 25 British men and 2 Indians worked and i was the third, only we Indians had pot bellies and the British men were flat and fit as hell. Also shocking was that at the end of the day while leaving from work about 8 of them changed their clothes from formals to running shorts and t-shirts and they said they run daily after work since they don’t get time in the morning. All 25 of them go to the gym and belong to an age group of 25 to 47.
At another company in India a person of the age of 46 from USA was hired to look after a project. He was fit as hell too. He gets up at 6 in the morning and runs for an hour. Also at one of the Indian pharma companies where a US FDA audit was going on the 3 people who had come from USA had a flat tummy. The building in Mumbai where i worked has many offices and there was always this one group of 3 British men whom i saw very often during my lunch break had flat bellies.
I’m not saying that all Americans or Europeans have flat tummies but at least the ones that i have seen personally and the people that i am following on YouTube all have flat tummies. They remove time to exercise while we Indians sit and waste our time doing nothing.
There are many interviews on YouTube where the CEOs of top companies in USA are asked what they do in the morning and all of them say they go for a run.
A YouTuber from YouTube whom I follow sleeps for only 5 hours a day, makes videos every day, runs his looks after his business, spends hours in editing videos, travels at least 7 times a month but will still remove time and go for a run. And he runs like crazy.
Look at the top 20 billionaires of USA and compare them to the Indian billionaires. All Indian billionaires have pot bellies.
Starting & nurturing a culture against potbelly
Start a revolution at least in your life: You should run and loose tummy. Start with 15 minutes of jogging 1 kilometer. If you don’t get time from office, force your bosses. Change this culture of tummy.
