Energy is the new Skinny.

Everyone wants so much energy. If you don't have any, then there must be something wrong with you because tired isn't normal or healthy. If you're out, you can always get more.

Whoa! When did this happen?

I remember being younger and looking at guys in the gym that were the size of bears and silver-back gorrillas who could runs laps around the gym between their sets. I specifically remember thinking that there was something inherently wrong with that picture.

Just like skinny models, eventually the image stuck. Americans, by far, became unhealthy and these individuals became the poster child for health. One problem. That amount of energy and level of exercise is not normal or average. All the sudden you could refuel on gas and energy at the same time.

Just like skinny, however, more energy doesn't always translate to being healthy. Yes it is true that healthy individuals have better energy than unhealthy people, but that level is different for each person. A woman with curves is never going to be as skinny as she wants, but that is only because of a social stigma. Someone who works overnights and has 2 kids, is never going to have the energy of a gym rat, or performance athlete.

So why did we start measuring ourselves by the standards of what was socially acceptable? When we got so far off path that we needed to overcompensate the other way.

No one can change your bed time for you. Stop looking at pictures to get what you want and find out what you need to do to get it. The picture of a healthy person does not have on the picture what their healthy diet looks like. A person with energy doesn't show you in a picture what kind of life style they live, their eating, sleeping, and exercising routines in life.

Start where you are with your energy level and find ways to increase it. More coffee, energy drinks, sugar, it's not going to work. Eating healthier is NOT an overnight fix. There aren't any. There is not magic pill, there is no one formula. Find something you can commit to, and stick with it, that's probably the best advice you could get.

There is something to be said for having pure energy and being healthy. I will not take away from that. It is awesome. Just don't kid yourself into thinking that what you see is what you want. What you need, is what you want, and most of the time we aspire for more than what we need.