But, in the end, I just cast it aside and kept a YOLO attitude about it. It honestly didn't matter to me that my longevity on earth was probably going down year by year.

If I'm being honest, it was the pandemic that really lit a fire under my bottom. Back in March, for the first time ever, I was TRULY scared for my health and well being. I had cramps and aches in my body constantly. I knew that I had relatively high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I also was recently diagnosed with gastrosophical reflux disease and was close to being in the super-obese-range. So, it was clear to me that if I got COVID, I was going to be in a world of trouble!

So, it ultimately came down to this question that popped into my head... "Matt, do you wanna live or do you wanna die?" I answered that question with a resounding, “YES! Yes, I do want to live!” Then another thought came to mind... "Alright, you know what you need to do then!" So, the motivation set it and it was off to work.

I told myself that if this virus was going to get me, I was not going to go down without a fight. That's the attitude I had from about March to May. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but started out pretty extreme.
I read up and got educated from healthline.com and stocked up on immune system boosting foods such as spinach, garlic, ginger, and broccoli. I also did intermittent fasting. And these weren’t just skip two meals a day kinds of fasts. Oh no, these were going an entire day without eating anything! (BTW, I do not in any way recommend this). I also made it a habit to drink lots and lots of water and eat healthy snacks that included sunflower seeds and mixed nuts.

Added on top of this, I was also exercising every single day which involved hiking, biking, or Nike Training App. Sometimes, I would even workout two or three times daily.