"All Things Must Pass"

The Beatles officially broke up on April 10, 1970.  There had been rumors of an impending split for many years prior to that, and both George Harrison and Ringo Starr had temporarily left the group at different points in time during the late 1960's.  All four members of the band had been working on solo projects, and they had stopped touring together as of 1966.  John Lennon informed the other three members of the band that he was leaving in September, 1969, and the band officially called it quits once Paul McCartney announced his intentions to leave in the Spring of 1970. 


After forming in 1960, the Beatles had grown to become one of the most influential rock bands of all-time.  During their active years from 1960-1970, all four were knighted by Queen Elizabeth, their 1970 film Let it Be had won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and they had won 7 Grammy Awards.  They had 6 Diamond albums (over 10 million sold), 20 multi-Platinum albums (over 1 million sold), 16 Platinum albums, and 6 Gold albums (over 500,000 sold) in the United States alone.  They had 20 number0one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 - the most of any band in music history, and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. 


Unfortunately, all good things must eventually come to an end.  George Harrison released his third solo album, All Things Must Pass in 1970.  The triple album contained some of Harrison's signature hits, including "What is Life" and "My Sweet Lord," the first number one hit by a former member of the Beatles (all four members would eventually go on to have number one hits outside of the Beatles).  The title track is poignant - it deals with the transient nature of things:


All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day.


All streaks eventually come to an end.  Last night, after 85 days, my continuous streak of meeting my Activity, Stand, and Exercise goals on my Apple Watch came to an end.  While I confess that keeping up with the streak was incredibly motivating (see one of my previous posts, "A Big Red X"), I also should confess that trying to keep up with the streak was starting to become all-consuming.  It was almost as if keeping up with the streak was more important than what the streak represented - good, healthy habits that I should try to maintain on a daily basis. 


I confess, there were probably times when I even cheated a little bit (if I was stuck in a sitting position - for example, during a long drive or plane trip - for prolonged times, I could hit my fist against my leg for a several seconds to "register" a stand).  I am not sure that "cheating" to keep up with a streak is necessarily a good thing.  I even came across a few articles during my background research for today's post entitled, "Hacks for When You Forget to Wear Your Pedometer" and "How to Cheat Your Apple Watch Rings".  Again, getting enough exercise every day, walking a certain number of steps, or making sure that you don't sit all the time are all great goals to achieve, but not when the goal becomes so consuming that we are tempted to cheat in order to achieve them or if by not achieving them, we feel an overwhelming sense of failure.


Here's the thing though - it is the actual act (i.e. standing for a certain portion of time every hour or actually exercising) that is important and not the goal.  It is the act itself that we should aspire to and not the goal.  As it turns out, the goal of walking "10,000 steps per day" isn't so magical after all - a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine suggested that walking only half that number is linked to a decreased risk of death, at least in the population studied (older women).  In other words, daily participation in the actual activity is more important than the goal itself.   


So, this morning, after the end of my 85 day streak, I will start a new streak.  I am most proud of the days when I actually did all of the activities that maintained my streak.  I took more flights of stairs, and I got up to walk more throughout the day.  These were all good, healthy habits that I will continue to maintain.  Hopefully I will refrain from cheating and actually keep up with the true spirit of the three Apple Watch goals.  And hopefully I am better for ending the streak, and like George Harrison with his number one solo and album, coming out better for it.  As George Harrison says, "sunrise doesn't last all morning" and "sunset doesn't last all evening" - "so I must be on my way and face another day."