Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!
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​tl;dr We don’t have many assurances in this life (you know how they say death and taxes…). But we are also promised chaos in some way, life not going as planned. While we can’t decide what those surprises will be, we can choose the life most likely to lead to the chaos we are willing to tolerate.
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I will die on the hill fighting for people to take better care of themselves. What started as a desire to help everyone squat, bench, and deadlift has grown into a more comprehensive understanding of what it means to have a quality of life until the end of our lives. Do I still think everyone needs to deadlift? Not necessarily. But everyone absolutely should be doing resistance training, and not just for the physique or the bragging rights, but because of how it affects us in every decade of our lives.
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In our 30s, it allows us to create a strong foundation on which to build our habits and our lives. In our 40s, resistance training helps us to keep an active presence as caregivers. In our 50s, it helps prevent muscle and bone loss as we go through hormonal changes. In our 60s, lifting weights allows us to enjoy retirement and not revolve our schedules around doctors' appointments. In our 70s and 80s, it helps us maintain our independence, be active grandparents, and uphold a better quality of life than we would have without it. Any bonus years in our 90s and beyond can be filled with purpose and quality if we put the odds in our favor by maintaining this one simple habit.
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Resistance training is just a single example of how we can do our best to plan for the chaos. I’m not naive, I know it’s not a surefire way to have all of those wonderful, aforementioned benefits. I’ve seen many (otherwise healthy) people have terrible things happen to them in the hospital. But I have seen way more people who don’t take care of themselves wind up with worse hospital outcomes, longer stays, and lower predicted quality of life if and when they do leave.

Strength training does not guarantee avoiding worse outcomes, but the lack of strength training certainly increases our risk of undesirable chaos.
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Similarly, taking care of our financial health (or not) necessitates different struggles. Being financially literate now requires the discipline to learn at least the basics, set money aside for retirement, and turn down expenses for current you instead of future you. The alternative is to ignore all financial responsibility now for the freedom to spend money any which way we’d like, for the tradeoff of stressing about it down the line when the proverbial shit hits the fan.
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The only predictable thing about life is that it is unpredictable. But we can position ourselves for the least undesirable chaos by making a conscious effort to live our lives intentionally.
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If you’re not sure what trajectory you need to aim for in the life you want to be living, find someone who is living your ideal life and ask questions, model behaviors, and learn from their mistakes. Lots of us have loved ones and role models we grew up with, but if they don’t live the life you want to be living, then find someone who can teach you from their experience. The best way to learn from mistakes is to learn from the mistakes of others.
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Your goals will be hijacked and thrown off course; there’s no preventing it completely. But if you’re at least on the right path, it will be much easier to course correct than if you’re heading in the totally opposite direction.
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No matter what chaos and setbacks come our way, we will always be further ahead by failing forward in the direction we want to be moving in. So if you’re getting lost in the day-to-day, make sure you have your sight set on where you want to end up. That way, if you lose focus, you ensure you’re moving in the right direction.
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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.
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This week, my podcast recommendation is from The Curiosity Shop, “Brene and Adam on What They Will Never Agree On.”
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With that, we’re officially wrapping up the first third of 2026, is your year on track with where you want to end up? And if not, how can you course correct now?
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Until next time,
Shannon