happening every day, which made me really happy. I felt like even though I was past thirty, there were
still some possibilities left for me and my body. The more I ran, the more my physical potential was
revealed.
I used to tend to gain weight, but around that time my weight stabilized at where it should be.
Exercising every day, I naturally reached my ideal weight, and I discovered this helped my
performance. Along with this, my diet started to gradually change as well. I began to eat mostly
vegetables, with fish as my main source of protein. I never liked meat much anyway, and this aversion
became even more pronounced. I cut back on rice and alcohol and began using all natural ingredients.
Sweets weren’t a problem since I never much cared for them.
As I said, if I don’t do anything I tend to put on the pounds. My wife’s the opposite, since she can
eat as much as she likes (she doesn’t eat a lot of them, but can never turn down anything sweet), never
exercise, and still not put on any weight. She has no extra fat at all. Life just isn’t fair , is how it used
to strike me. Some people can work their butts off and never get what they’re aiming for, while others
can get it without any effort at all.
But when I think about it, having the kind of body that easily puts on weight was perhaps a blessing
in disguise. In other words, if I don’t want to gain weight I have to work out hard every day, watch
what I eat, and cut down on indulgences. Life can be tough, but as long as you don’t stint on the effort,
your metabolism will greatly improve with these habits, and you’ll end up much healthier, not to
mention stronger. To a certain extent, you can even slow down the effects of aging. But people who
naturally keep the weight off no matter what don’t need to exercise or watch their diet in order to stay
trim. There can’t be many of them who would go out of their way to take these troublesome measures
when they don’t need to. Which is why, in many cases, their physical strength deteriorates as they age.
If you don’t exercise, your muscles will naturally weaken, as will your bones. Some of my readers
may be the kind of people who easily gain weight, but the only way to understand what’s really fair is
to take a long-range view of things. For the reasons I give above, I think this physical nuisance should
be viewed in a positive way, as a blessing. We should consider ourselves lucky that the red light is so
clearly visible. Of course, it’s not always easy to see things this way.
I think this viewpoint applies as well to the job of the novelist. Writers who are blessed with inborn
talent can freely write novels no matter what they do—or don’t do. Like water from a natural spring,
the sentences just well up, and with little or no effort these writers can complete a work. Occasionally
you’ll find someone like that, but, unfortunately, that category wouldn’t include me. I haven’t spotted
any springs nearby. I have to pound the rock with a chisel and dig out a deep hole before I can locate
the source of creativity. To write a novel I have to drive myself hard physically and use a lot of time
and effort. Every time I begin a new novel, I have to dredge out another new, deep hole. But as I’ve
sustained this kind of life over many years, I’ve become quite efficient, both technically and
physically, at opening a hole in the hard rock and locating a new water vein. So as soon as I notice one
water source drying up, I can move on right away to another. If people who rely on a natural spring of
talent suddenly find they’ve exhausted their only source, they’re in trouble.
In other words, let’s face it: Life is basically unfair. But even in a situation that’s unfair, I think it’s
possible to seek out a kind of fairness. Of course, that might take time and effort. And maybe it won’t
seem to be worth all that. It’s up to each individual to decide whether or not it is.