When you boil things down to their essence, my entire philosophy on health, fitness, nutrition, and all the other things we talk about related to “wellness” revolves around whether or not it makes me feel good.
This isn’t hedonism. Hedonism posits that the only important virtue is feeling good in the immediate moment. Hedonism discards feeling good in the near and distant future for the certainty of feeling momentarily good for a few minutes, few hours, or the evening. My philosophy is expressly anti-hedonism. Or, more subtly, mine is a philosophy of long term hedonism.
I want to feel good in the moment, tomorrow, next week, next month, and a year from now.
And hell, the hedonist isn’t actually feeling good. The hedonist focuses on a small facet of “feeling good.” The taste of the beer, the social lightness of the buzz. The taste of the ice cream, the chocolate lava cake, the fresh crusty bread. It’s single-minded hedonism, unidimensional. The hedonist eats to feel good in his tongue for a brief flicker of time. That’s pathetic if you ask me. Feeling good can mean so much more.
I eat to feel good in the moment and across time. To please my tongue and my gut, my mitochondria, my performance the next day, my waistline a month from now. Do you get the distinction?
I’m still all about feeling good. It’s simply that “feeling good” encompasses much more than most people consider.
The best part about this way of living is that doing things that feel good tomorrow or next month or year also end up feeling good in the immediate moment. Eating steak feels good in the moment, just like eating french fries cooked in month-old soybean oil feels good in the moment. But only the steak also feels good across time on into the future.
How about you, folks? How would you boil down your approach to health, fitness, life, and food? Let me know in the comment section of New and Noteworthy.
