Mah Buddahs
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Don't just live your life. Live it well.
I have spent the afternoon editing photographs I took last week for a friend while back home in Omaha. He is an entertainer of the crooner variety and the shots we got will suit him well. I think he will like them. But that is not the point of this.
As I was editing, I sent him a message regarding the choice between black and white versus color for some of the shots. Fairly mundane message. During this conversation, I found out something about my friend that I had not previously known. He told me he was so excited about having professional press shots done since he had lost a significant about of weight four years ago. That is not the point of this, either.
My friend lost 130 pounds. That is a significant accomplishment. As I was so shocked by this statement, he sent me a picture of himself, taken before the weight loss. The difference is striking. I would not have recognized him as the man he is today. Still, his appearance is not the point.
It is the message he sent along with the picture that is the point. It was not a message of self-deprecation as one might expect. It was not a message of vanity or of conceit, which would be well-earned. It was simply this -
"This is me at about 250 or so, right before I decided I wanted to enjoy the rest of my life."
Those words struck me significantly. Not because I need to lose that much weight, no, nothing as literal as that. His words had an impact because it was a reminder I needed desperately at that moment. It was a reminder that life is worth living well. Whether it is by losing weight, by changing careers, or simply by smiling more often, I think we all need to be reminded at times, maybe several times a day, that not only is life worth living, it is worth living well.
As I was editing, I sent him a message regarding the choice between black and white versus color for some of the shots. Fairly mundane message. During this conversation, I found out something about my friend that I had not previously known. He told me he was so excited about having professional press shots done since he had lost a significant about of weight four years ago. That is not the point of this, either.
My friend lost 130 pounds. That is a significant accomplishment. As I was so shocked by this statement, he sent me a picture of himself, taken before the weight loss. The difference is striking. I would not have recognized him as the man he is today. Still, his appearance is not the point.
It is the message he sent along with the picture that is the point. It was not a message of self-deprecation as one might expect. It was not a message of vanity or of conceit, which would be well-earned. It was simply this -
"This is me at about 250 or so, right before I decided I wanted to enjoy the rest of my life."
Those words struck me significantly. Not because I need to lose that much weight, no, nothing as literal as that. His words had an impact because it was a reminder I needed desperately at that moment. It was a reminder that life is worth living well. Whether it is by losing weight, by changing careers, or simply by smiling more often, I think we all need to be reminded at times, maybe several times a day, that not only is life worth living, it is worth living well.
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| Michael before... |
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| Michael now. |
Post Script...
I wrote this post while waiting for permission from Michael to use these images. He graciously consented, with an addition to the point of the story he felt needed to be told -
"You sure can, but what I said is not quite the whole story. The bigger picture, the more inspirational story to me is that I completely reinvented myself...for several reasons.
I still marvel from time to time that I became WHAT I THOUGHT, down to the last detail. Someone once said to me- 'You are what you eat, and you become what you think.' I lost 130 pounds and my lovely wife lost 85. We are having a blast."
Michael Lyon is an entertainer and real estate agent in Omaha, Nebraska. His voice, his talent and his spirit is simply amazing. If you would like to book him for your next event, or to sell your house, please reply to this post and I will put you in contact with him!
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