As we go through the challenges and complexities of life we quite often get caught up in the quagmire of tasks, duties and deadlines… Our life becomes a race of sorts, where it seems to be an eternal and endless balancing act between building a sustainable career, creating a congenial and harmonious home, providing for and ensuring the children imbibe values…when we stabilize in our own careers, we start worrying about our kids education…their growth…their careers and their lives….

While we are caught up in the seemingly endless race without a pause, we quite often overlook the magic in the mundane because it feels routine and sometimes boring too…that’s where we have an opportunity to reimagine to be innovative…Yes innovation is not about big inventions, its about small, meaningful shifts in how we see and use what we already have…

Let me share a personal experience. I had been practicing physical fitness and exercise all my life… But the only problem is that I was consistently inconsistent…that’s because for years, exercise was something that I filed under “should do” but never under “want to do” or “Must do”. It felt like a chore, a sweaty, time-consuming obligation…. I used every excuse possible – too tired, too busy, did not have enough sleep, need to travel next week, will start after I get back…

The rat race for a life and livelihood took precedence over diet and exercise which seemed mundane and boring… 

Along with the increasing numbers on the weighing scale, I was faced with increasing health issues as well…. With morbid obesity, came Hypertension, High Cholesterol, diabetes, fatty liver and the works…

People told me, “Exercise is the magical solution to all these health problems”. I started diligently working out, in the process my knees started to get affected. But I was not to give up. I kept at it relentlessly, until my hips began to pain as well… then came a stage where it seemed impossible to exercise…

My spirits sagged and I started feeling down and depressed…I found refuge in eating. Eating for solace…binge eating…and my blood test number started to soar again…

I seemed to be slipping deeper and deeper into the abyss of failing health…almost to a point of no return..

But the final straw that broke the camel’s back, was when I had to undergo surgery for Total Knee Replacement…

The rehab program was excruciatingly painful which I endured with hope…it was like a new lease of life…The Knee surgery forced me to stay away from work and focus on my body…I hit the “Pause Button” on the rat race…I pondered on the futility of pushing myself. I realized that I must adopt a more pragmatic approach…I started to reimagine my life…I took control…I focused on a balanced diet and said “No” to binge eating…I stopped thinking of exercise as punishment and started seeing it as a gift…

That one shift changed everything….

I stopped focusing on how long I walked or how much I could lift. Instead, I celebrated the fact that I could move…I started small just ten minutes walking… the more I saw exercise as part of my life, not outside of it, the more consistent I became…

Slowly something ordinary became something extraordinary. My energy improved, my sleep improved, my mind became clearer and more positive. I started to look forward to the rhythm of my movement and not the results…

Over time….I could reverse my diabetes, the blood tests started becoming normal…I felt more rejuvenated and felt like a new being in the old body…

It is like the power of compounding… like making small yet consistent savings throughout our lives which will transform in to a lifetime of financial security…

Yes, Reimagining exercise wasn’t about joining the gym. It was about changing the lens through which I saw it…I stopped waiting for motivation and built a routine around joy and simplicity.

Today, at the age of 61, exercise isn’t a box that I tick, it is a quiet celebration of what my body can do and that to me, is the true power of reimagining the ordinary….

“Reimagine the ordinary”… is a call to see the world with a fresh pair of eyes…to find something extraordinary in the mundane….

Yes friends, start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible and soon you will find yourself doing what once seemed impossible….