Day 18, Reason 18: Because I Can

When you think about it, it's pretty obnoxious of me to complain about the struggle to eat healthy foods and exercise.

Unlike the majority of the world, I have easy access to an incredible array of healthy, fresh foods, 24 hours a day if I really want it.  I have no less than seven grocery stores within 5 minutes of my house.  They are stocked, between them, with enough food to feed a small city.  And while people starve around the world, I have the gall to complain that I don't feel like cooking or that I don't know what to make for dinner, or that it's too hard to find healthy and delicious meals that my kids will eat.

Unlike many people even right here in the U.S., I have enough money to purchase that food that is within easy reach of my home, a car to get there, and a well-stocked kitchen in which to prepare that food.  I can afford to buy healthy, high-quality food, unlike many people whose grocery budgets barely allow them to purchase the cheapest, most basic necessities.  I can run out at a moment's notice and come home with not only the ingredients for that recipe that just sounds so good I absolutely must make it tonight, but a bottle of wine to go with it.

Unlike people who are struggling just to survive, my biggest struggle on a daily basis is to just put on my workout shoes and spend an hour sweating.  While children do backbreaking labour to make those workout shoes somewhere in the world, I have the nerve to complain that they're rubbing on my big toe during my cardio kickboxing workout.

Unlike the many people grievously injured in wars, weakened by malnutrition and rampant illness, exhausted from the very struggle to stay alive, I am strong, healthy and whole.  I am physically capable of vigorous exercise, and I can work out for fun while others try to find the strength just to make it through the day.

I'm among the luckiest people on the planet, and I somehow think I have the right to complain about how hard it is to eat healthy and exercise.  I'm actually challenging myself to do it like it's some sort of major life accomplishment.

You know what that makes me?  An asshole.

Day 18, Reason 18: Because I am so freaking lucky that I can, so I should stop being an asshole.

The 30 Days, 30 Reasons No Scale Challenge.