The Lexington Convention Center had the pleasure of hosting a very inspirational leader on Friday night, Dr. Mehmet Oz.  He has appeared on many of Oprah’s talk shows and just recently completed his last show with her to start his own.  I know this is corny, but I was really excited sitting there in the crowd knowing he was just standing to the side waiting to come out.  I was excited to see what he had to say, since I have watched most of his shows and read two of his books.

A good way to summarize the night’s performance was to help us connect with the many objectives he always talks to us about.  He wanted to give us a very broad overview of his appearances on Oprah, his books and even things we have heard him preach before.  And you know what, that is exactly what I needed.  It’s sometimes hard to remember all of the points from many lectures and sometimes I just want a one sheet reminder of what I need to do every day.  I think that is why I enjoyed this so much; because I knew what I was supposed to take away from this and how I could, for the most part, sustain a healthy life forward.

I think his biggest message was remember to keep YOU in the equation.  You cannot be there to help someone else, take care of other people or animals or make a difference in someone else’s life, if YOU are not there to do it.  He described the 5 things that are 70% within your control for living an extended life and how you are 4 times more likely to live past 100 years of age.  The biggest of the 5 things he talked about was exercise.  You just have to exercise 30 minutes a day, which can even include just walking.  It is so simple to just get out and walk every day and it has such impact on your overall health.  If you are like me and hate doing any type of physical exercise, a good way to keep yourself motivated is to either walk with a friend or even take a dog with you!  Dogs are great walking companions; even on the days I desperately don’t want to get off the couch, I feel bad not exercising my dogs.  I don’t want my bad decisions and habits to be a negative effect on their life, so I get up and walk them for 30 minutes a day.  Whatever might be your inspiration for exercise, if you want to increase your chances to living to 100 or even past 100, just get up and walk 30 minutes every day!

He actually started out and ended the evening with the same message.  He convinced us that we are an army.  He has equipped us with the knowledge, not just the messages from this talk, but also from his appearances on TV, his books and the Internet as well.  We all need to live a better life; it’s important to educate ourselves with the knowledge to make a difference in our own lives, but it is equally important to help make a difference in others’ lives.  We all know how hard it is to continually be motivated to work out or to even sustain eating right, so try to make a difference in someone else’s life by also giving them the information and mostly importantly the pep talk they need to keep going. “Emotion drives change,” quotes Dr. Oz, so let your emotion help you drive the change in others and most importantly, yourself.

Guest Blogged by: Julie Johnson