(continued from yesterday’s post FISH! for life ) 

One lazy afternoon I just realized I wasn’t reading any book lately (thanks to blogging). So, I grabbed ‘FISH! for life’ from the shelf and began reading it. Yeah, the story is really so simple as my sister told me. It is none of those deeply written books on some complicated theories for readers who belong to the ‘H.I.’ or the ‘Highly Intellectual’ group.

The conversations between the story’s main characters seemed too scripted or too unrealistic for me though. It’s like getting your theory across by using dialogues, and the result was a story with conversations that didn’t sound so natural, like motivational speakers talking to each other instead of hearing the usual ordinary conversation between a husband and his wife facing some challenges in life. I just felt that there should have been a more creative yet subtle way of incorporating the ‘FISH! philosophy’ in the story. I have read many books using stories as an approach to getting their point across and they have been successful in doing this. Anyway, this is just my own observation. I know some readers who gave 5 stars for this book and loved everything about it.

So, after having done reading it, I asked myself: Did I learn anything from this book? Did it  move me?

Well, I must admit, ‘FISH! for life’ did stir something in me. Maybe because I could relate to the character of Mary Jane who did a color coding on her calendar as a quick ‘life balance’ indicator – blue for community activities, green for work, yellow for family and marriage, orange for friends and self – and realized where most of her time was spent when she saw a sea of green and occasional blue colors on her calendar. It made me also think about my recent activities, how I missed out on a lot of things because of being stuck with work with less time for family and myself.

And where does the exercise part come in? On the last pages of the book, it was tackled when Mary Jane and her hubby Lonnie decided to be more careful about their health and particularly about losing that big bulge in their tummies. Oh well, this is the stuff my sis is talking about. I eagerly read on expecting some new theories or techniques, but nope, they’re all the same health wisdom we’re already familiar with – exercise 5 or 6 days a week, always eat breakfast, avoid bad fats, eat 4 or 5 times a day, and all that stuff we know.

The only difference is in the approach by using the ‘FISH! Philosophy’:
1.    Play (make exercise and healthy-eating fun and not boring or stressful),
2.    Make their day (think of creative ways to encourage and reward yourself or a fellow health enthusiast),
3.    Be there (be aware of your present emotions when eating), and
4.    Choose your attitude (being proactive by making the first step to a healthy living).

I kinda liked the last philosophy since it hit home. I have been putting off exercise and going on a healthy diet for the longest time. I kept telling myself, I will do it later. Until the days became weeks and the weeks became months, and I still haven’t taken the first step. Well, last week I finally was able to renew my exercise routine and this is just the beginning. As Mary Jane quoted a line from a Mary Oliver poem,

One day you finally knew what you had to do,
and began.

Let’s go FISH! for life.