waking up

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I'm a sucker for talk radio. I've listened to the same morning show for years. I even remember my middle school bus driver playing the show and I used to sit up near the front, as uncool as that is, just so I could hear it better. The people of Elvis Duran and the Morning Show have become important people in my life. It seems really weird to say this but the more I think about it, the more I know it's true. I remember when Elvis wasn't "out of the closet" yet. I remember when Carolina was the crazy single girl, and now she is the crazy married girl. I remember when Danielle gave birth to her second child and Greg T, a child himself, had babies. These are people who are there for me everyday, making me laugh, telling me the news, asking their listeners to share their crazy stories. Yeah, sometimes they make dumb fart jokes or they "wish diarrhea" upon people. They also have extremely heartfelt moments, such as this morning.

This morning The Morning Show had Dr. Oz on. He is a frequent guest of the show and while I never watch his TV show (it's on while I'm working AND don't have cable) I have come to really like him a lot and I would definitely watch it if I could. He often comes on and answers listeners questions, dispels health myths, and talks about ways for people to get healthy. What's not to love about that? Today he came on to talk about a new project he is doing where instead of helping people one on one to get healthy, he is trying to get as many people as he can to get involved with Transformation Nation. It involves 7 easy steps to improving your health and for added incentive, a chance to win a million dollars.

Using Elvis as an example, Dr. Oz started going through what he would do for the program including getting more sleep, telling a friend for support, figuring out his BMI, and getting his blood pressure taken. Dr. Oz took Elvis' blood pressure on the air and said it was in the healthy range but could be lowered. After talking more about the program they then cut to commercials. It was when they came back when it really set in. Elvis said during the break, Dr. Oz was about to head for his next interview when he approached Elvis and told him he wanted to retake his blood pressure. He told him he lied on the air when he told him what his blood pressure was. He retook Elvis' blood pressure and it was the same abnormal number as before. It was SO high that Dr. Oz told Elvis he could have a stroke any day now. It was SO high he had to retake it to make sure! He didn't want to say it on the air the first time because someones health is very personal and he wanted to wait to talk to Elvis privately. Elvis said it was okay to talk about it on the air. After hearing the danger Elvis was in, I started crying! I have been a little emotional lately but hearing that this man who has basically become one of my friends could actually die any day just hurt me so much. Other members of the morning show started crying and saying they would support him to get healthy.

I've been trying to get healthy myself and what happened this morning just reinstated how important it really is. I know my weight is unhealthy and I have never been so motivated to take and keep it off. Also, it isn't just my weight that I need to change. I wake up everyday at 5:30am having had about 6 hours of sleep and rush out the door without breakfast. Why? I can go to sleep earlier. I can start planning healthy, quick breakfasts to take with me on my way to work. There is so much I can do for myself to get healthy. I've been eating at home lately and choosing healthier options MOST of the time. I am definitely sticking with it, not just for me, but also for the people who kinda sorta like me.

So it may seem sort of silly, for me to have people who mean a lot to me when they don't even know me, but today I had a huge awakening. While I have already been on the path of getting healthy, it really struck a cord in how serious and important it is. I really hope Elvis gets healthy, not just so he can keep me sane on my early ride to work, but for his own sake and the sake of those who love him.

Do you have people who don't know you but are part of your every day life?