Friends of Dave #410: 🏃♂️➡️ just do it 🏃♂️
Identifying and avoiding the unhealthy things is the hard part.
I’m heading to Las Vegas in a few weeks for a work thing.
It’s been a while, over 20 years to be exact, since I was last in Sin City. I know a lot has changed there in that time, but I can’t say that I have had an itching desire to go back since my last visit.
For me, and maybe many of you, I put Vegas in the same bucket as Disney, New Orleans and Hooters — you go there once to see what it is all about, take some pictures, check it off your list, pay your money and move on.
A main reason is that I’ve just never been a big gambler. I will play Blackjack (and actually have come out a head a bunch of times) — low stakes, conservative play, hang out with friends and socialize — but after a night or two of doing that, I am good.
A vivid memory from my last time in Las Vegas: walking through the casino and just being consumed by all of the sounds and sights of the spectacle. People talking, drinking, cheering, yelling and surrounded by flashing lights, dings, pings and coin clangs. Back then there was even still that faint smell and haze from cigarette smoke too that added to the aura of the scene.
I’ll never forget passing by a set of slot machines and seeing a bunch of elderly, overweight women commandeering two slot machines each — rapid firing coins, confidently pulling bandit arms and pressing buttons — all with the hopes they would hit the big one.
Their worn out T-shirts and beat up shoes, their emotionless, reactionless stares and their almost business like precision that was displayed with their alternating between machines told me their visit wasn’t one of those fun Bucket List trips….it was a way of life.
This just didn’t seem like a guilty pleasure as it was for most people there. It wasn’t for more than 30-45 seconds but I remember feeling kind of dirty and sad watching it all as I passed by.
Now who am I to judge what some random elderly person does with their time and money, right? I mean, I have been known to spend a beautiful Fall Sunday afternoon mindlessly on the couch gnawing on pretzels and watching NFL Red Zone, shouting at the TV and then checking my phone to see if my Fantasy Football team is getting the points it needs to win the week’s matchup.
But I can honestly say it doesn’t get dark. Intense and spirited, maybe….but it doesn’t get unhealthy.
It got me thinking — like the elderly ladies at those slot machines, don’t we all have activities we do or behaviors we exhibit or people to whom we gravitate that maybe start out good and positive but become unhealthy?
Doesn’t have to be gambling.
Could be eating.
Could be shopping.
Could be scrolling on social media.
Could be playing that game on your phone.
Could be isolating yourself when you get anxious.
Could be a dysfunctional relationship with a friend, family member or co-worker.
With our physical well-being, we can go to a doctor and they can help us identify the thing that is causing a pain here or there and prescribe action for us to take to get better. Maybe it is a new diet or medication we need to alleviate the pain.
But what about those things we do that start out good and maybe slowly go to guilty pleasure to becoming an unhealthy way of life over time? How do we make sure that doesn’t happen?
Seems to me the first step is recognizing, identifying and ACCEPTING that there may be things/activities/behaviors/people that we think are good for us but actually aren’t. That is probably the hardest part. Think about all that has to go into deconstructing that — the time, humility and courage we may need.
Then, our reward for performing this discovery? We need to do the work, change routines, alter behaviors and be accountable so that we can take action and get us back on the healthy path. In the end, it takes a lot of effort to break those habits, and we need to be certain that there will be a jackpot and payout for the risk we take making the change.
I don’t have a lot of answers on this one Friends.
Weird preamble this week, I know….just happened to think about this as I recalled my last trip to Las Vegas all of those years ago and the memory of those Slot Machine Ladies and feeling I had watching them came back to me….and I guess it reminded me of why I don’t choose to go to back to Las Vegas that often...
XOXO
Dave
And now a few things to make you smarter…
The U.S. is famous for chain restaurants, franchised shops, and brand name hotels. One thing these franchises aim for is consistency in store feel, customer service, product offerings, and prices, no matter which state you’re in.
This visualization uses Entrepreneur’s annual Franchise 500 Ranking to showcase the best franchises in the U.S. worth owning, from Dunkin’ Donuts to Snap-on Tools.
There’s a reason Nike’s slogan isn’t “Just learn it.”
“It almost turned into a full-on cop-versus-twink extravaganza.”
The title. The sub-title. The pictures. The drama. 🤌🤌🤌
From Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to candy corn, here’s how far past Halloween you can enjoy the fruits of all that trick-or-treating labor
According to Digital News Report, up to 43% people surveyed say they avoid the news in some form. It doesn’t mean that 43% of Americans are not consuming any news at all. But it’s a sign of a clear decline in interest in news. Interesting interview discussing how this will impact results that follow this coming Tuesday.