One of my favorite movies is the Tom Hanks’ classic, Forrest Gump. The film was released in 1994, won 6 Academy Awards and made almost $700 million in revenue. For those of you that have seen the movie (I have watched it probably over 20 times) there are many poignant as well as funny scenes in the film.
One of the funniest scenes was when Hanks’ character, Forrest Gump, decided to run across the country “for no particular reason”. He became a cult hero for doing this and he was joined by an army of people following him, believing he had some sort of mystical influence. During the run, some random guy starts running next to him seeking inspiration for a new bumper sticker and as they are running alongside each other, Forrest steps in a huge pile of dog feces. When the accompanying guy points out what Forrest just stepped in, Forrest says “It Happens”. Of course the guy is inspired to then come up with the idea for the very famous line and bumper sticker: “Sh-t Happens”.
Pretty much all of us will agree that at various, or even multiple times in our lives, this statement sort of encapsulates how we feel at those times. Whether this refers to a bad day of work, a car accident, an appliance at our home that breaks down, an agonizing loss by our favorite sports team…all of these situations and many more could be summed up by “Sh-t Happens”.
Let’s turn to the topic of our own health. When we feel well, all organs seem to be functioning well, we have great energy, then we do not think much about our overall health condition. However, no one escapes “sh-t happening” over a lifetime. We will all experience health conditions over time. Some/many of these could be very mild and self-limiting such as minor infections and some/many could be life-altering such as metabolic diseases, organ diseases, cancers, etc.
Controlling your weight will markedly lessen the chances of “Sh-t Happening” when it comes to your health. There will be much less chance of developing heart disease, diabetes, chronic joint pains and/or cancers when we are at a more ideal body weight.
Another quote from Forrest Gump: “Life is Like A Box Of Chocolates…You Never Know Which One You Are Gonna Get”. Control that weight and you will know much better what bad stuff you are NOT “gonna get”.
Enjoy an iconic scene from the iconic movie, Forrest Gump.
