It was dark, wet and windy. The moonlight behind the clouds, along with the dawn light behind me, gave just enough light so I can see what is right in front of me without revealing what was only 10 feet ahead.

Life is often like this. Its easy to see what is right in front of you, but without seeing too far on the path, you may not see the hazards up ahead.

In Cognitive Behavioral Interventions for Substance Abuse, we talk about the difference between life history and lifestyle factors. Life history is those things in our past that can’t be changed. How we grew up, family, substance abuse by parents, divorce, abandonment, etc. Lifestyle factors are the choices we have made, such as our own substance abuse and people we choose to associate with. Both of these have an impact on our present circumstances.

During a conversation with someone I once knew, we reflected on how our life history was similar but that our lifestyle factors were opposite, leading us down very different paths.

While I may have a life history that is similar to many in the system, I focused my life on health and fitness. Working in a prison has shown me the path that I may have gone down had I not chosen to focus on living healthy.

The sun is starting to come up and the paths in front of us are becoming clear. Its now up to all of us to take the right path. I highly recommend the path of heath and fitness, whether its trail running or just helping others reach their goals.

Regardless of our past, using our own life experiences to help others is the key to success.

But of course the first step to helping others is to focus on yourself. Otherwise we may find ourselves running in the same circle day in and day out, imprisoned by our own thoughts and actions. Don’t get caught in that circle.