At the time of this article, I’m driving a Lexus IS, but if I were to be completely honest I view myself as a Ferrari Italia. Modest right? Every day I pull out the garage my world tells me that I’m built for pure performance and will undoubtedly turn heads in the process. If I were to pull over to replenish myself, subconsciously, I would be met with a yellow warning sign.
“Premium gas only”
What would your sign say? How we fuel our cars often provides great insight into our physical, financial, and mental health and in this article, I will explain exactly where the rubber meets the road.
Physical Fuel (Frequency)
What’s in your tank? Is there anything in there at all?
A few months ago my pastor jokingly chided our congregation, calling out everyone living on the fringe between empty and empty, empty. There is some wiggle room in there, and I’ve flirted with that grey area where alert lights are blaring but I’m not completely out of gas... yet.
However, how much we eat is a direct representation of how much we value the work we do. As a basic need for life, our input affects our overall functionality. For some of us, we are sluggishly moving through the day with just enough energy to accomplish all that’s required of us. Others are zooming through obstacles blissfully unaware that we are pushing our bodies further than what we could ever hope to maintain. Still, more have created a flexible system with regular pit-stops and checkpoints to optimize output. Which are you?
I’m not here to preach out veganism or how much artificial sugar you need to remove from your diet but to ask one simple question. Are you eating? Are you eating the proper amount of times a day for your body type? Are you eating in proper portions for you to remain healthy? Are you taking supplements and vitamins to compensate for what you are missing? Are you ignoring your body’s signals to keep up appearances?
Maybe that was more than one simple question, but it’s crazy how something that we’ve been doing since infancy is often ignored, neglected and pushed away. Skipping meals, minimizing meals, and improper dieting is a problem, but it’s more “attractive” than obesity so no one talks about it. Our bodies are different. Everyone cannot be a size -10, but everyone should be able to complete an 8-hour shift without fainting. We have to stop skipping lunch. Stop skipping breakfast. Stop skipping dinner. If we are dealing with weight issues, we should consult a dietitian, find out how to meet our goals in a healthy way, then work out, then eat after we work out. Starving ourselves will only make us beige eat later, while our body feasts on our muscle tissue in the meantime.
The premium life demands not only energy but high energy, and we are only fooling ourselves if we believe that sleep and sun-rays will sustain us at life’s highest levels. It’s time for us to stop being lazy/cheap/ignorant/unhealthy and put some food in our stomachs.
Financial Fuel (Quality)
It’s one thing, riding until the wheels fall off as you hold on to what’s left of the best fuel possible. It’s something completely different when you know that you are running low on the lowest grade on the market. Trash and gunk are building up and it won’t be long until you completely stop... for good.
I know I just asked if you are eating at all, but the follow-up has to be what are you eating. Are you eating at a high level? Is it worthy of the person you see yourself as?
To tell you the truth this is a tough area for me too, and there was a point where the nutritional value of what I put in my body was the last thing on my priority list. Ramen noodles... jelly on toast... sardines in a can... these are just a few “struggle meals” I have had plenty of experience consuming, and even if you have never had them yourself I’m sure you can gather that they are not on the five-star menu. A few years back I asked one of my good friends, how she measures wealth, to which she said,
“I look at how good am I eating. I know a lot of people who live in fancy places and all that, but there are few people that eat better than me. It’s important that I enjoy what I eat and that it really is the best I can get.”
That sentiment will forever stick with me, but there is one thing holding me back. Great food is expensive fam... like really, really expensive.
Whether it is taking the time to prepare it, hiring someone to cook it, or investing in the process to grow it yourself, there is no way around the costs of premium quality. That is why it’s such a quick indicator of someone’s financial status, because if someone has no food in the fridge, no matter how big the house is, it’s going to look a little... broke.
Still, we can’t be afraid to level up. Can we start where we are, but make it a point to eat well at least once a day? We may not be able to have lobster morning, noon and night but we don’t have to have cheese sticks and celery for each meal either. Eating shouldn’t be a chore or an unpleasant event that makes us miserable. I’m talking premium only. You are high end. It’s okay to get the name brand once in a while and to stop buying the food that’s on discount because it’s one day past the expiration date.
Mental Fuel (Investments)
Out of all the premium areas, mental fuel has always been the easiest for me to focus on, as I will protect my head at all costs. If given the choice, I would choose to physically starve for days to save money for brain food that will stimulate me intellectually. For some physical fuel (frequency) or financial fuel (quality) may come easier, but as I further explored this idea of premium I realized I wasn’t as far mentally as I thought I was. Although I viewed myself as a Ferrari I had a Prius mentality.
I had to get my mind right.
Though I succeeded in adopting the quality intake, I was also going on extended road trips and joy rides in a model that wasn’t exactly fuel efficient. Not only that I was trying to get where I was going as fast as I could, so already expensive expenses tripled. I wasn’t wasting money, but my activity didn’t match the vehicle or season I was in.
Are you someone that only puts in $5 worth of gas so you can make it to work today or are you filling the tank all the way up and taking the train to save money? Those are two examples, but another could be the driver who fills up three times a week because they commute, party and relax in their Corvette. If you are premium only, you know that you aren’t built for that type of use and even if you can pull it off, the costs are exorbitant.
Knowing that premium is more expensive than others, I simply can’t go everywhere and on occasion, I may need to car-pool to get to my destination. This is quite humbling because I am literally and metaphorically not a fan of public transportation. I like to control all aspects of my journey, and unfortunately, accommodation is mandatory when you are riding with others. This also means I have to continually research and test the latest and greatest fuel. When sponsors offer to pay for my travel expenses, it’s not to sit on the showroom... they expect for me to perform.
Everyone doesn’t view themselves as a Ferrari. Some think of themselves as a Bugatti others could be an Escalade or even a Rolls Royce. Regardless of your make, our manufacturer has specific instructions for us. While there are some very complex pieces that we’ll never understand about ourselves, at the very least we have to know what drives us and how to keep moving. Life comes at you fast when you are premium only, but you can limit the time you spend with hazard lights by being intentional with your fuel.
Credits:
Video Production - Philip Bloom & Tom Poederbach
Video Production - Matt Devir
Photography - Viktor Theo