A New Kind of Peace

The last few days my family has been away visiting family for the holiday as I stayed home to meet work obligations. During this time I have realized more than ever what my family means to me.

I was always one that could handle my alone time preferring to live by myself in my 20’s rather than having a roommate. Long bike rides and workouts by myself were the norm and countless hours drawing, painting or driving were a place I found peace and time to reflect.

Because of my chosen profession I work many holidays and my wife will often head off somewhere to have that family time and give our children the memories all children need to have of their grandparents, uncles, aunts and other relatives. 

This week, five days, were the longest five days I have ever experienced. The house was empty, other than my dog Cooper and I and we both missed having the family with us. Cooper went through the usual withdraw that he experiences, not eating for the first day or so and then the sleeping by the door waiting for them to return.

Me, I was just flat out bored, two nights in a row I contemplated going to bed at 8:30 pm. This for me is way out of character, early for me is usually 11:00 and average bed time is midnight. Even my motivation to get up in the morning was lacking and my workouts were uninspired. I push myself to accomplish many of the things I do for them and not having them here with me has stalled that drive.

They will return tomorrow afternoon sometime and the house will once again be loud and full of emotion and laughter and I have grown to enjoy all of it. Something I never thought would happen. I am a long way away from my former search for peace but this is a new kind of peace and I have grown to love it. 

Giving thanks 4 years later

I have been doing some sort of Beachbody Fitness program for four years now and have been a Beachbody coach for a little less than that. Addressing my health was life changing for me at that time. I had let myself go focusing only on earning a living and supporting my family all the while slowly killing myself a little bit more each day. Today I am stronger than ever and I will say wiser as well because I am in better health I am more alert and I enjoy each day that much more.

The benefits to all of the workouts I have been doing is that I am more active and more present in mine and my family’s life and this past year I needed to be more than ever.  My daughter had the courage to have a life changing surgery and showed me what true strength is. Both of my kids moved into different schools and are learning to adjust to the new style of learning. And lastly my wife continues to be a non- stopping whirlwind of everything to everyone. She is the one person I know that over promises to people and then over delivers on those promises. I do not know how she does it but I am proud of her.

This is my little note giving thanks for what I have and what is yet to come in all of our lives. I have finally zeroed in on my Primal nutrition program and I am back on track with a program I enjoy which allows me the time I need in the morning to still to get off to work on time. This time next year things could be completely different for many if not all of us but I will still be plugging away in my garage trying to slow the aging process down.

Happy Thanksgiving, 

Self Imposed Obstacles

Life has a way of giving you just enough to make it hard but at the same time not so much it drives you over the line into insanity. At least that is the way things have been going lately for me. I have been inconsistent at best with my nutrition and my workouts over the last few months just kind of bouncing around with no direction or set goals in mind and for me this is not a safe path. I need my own self imposed direction placed upon myself to keep me pushing forward otherwise a few months go by and I feel like I have nothing to show for it.

Although I feel like I have accomplished so much personally and professionally over these past moths I feel as though I have neglected myself and I need to refocus my energy on myself again. Monday I will start P90X3 again and focus on it as if it were the first fitness program I have ever done.

It may be some form of undiagnosed disorder but I need to reorganize the garage (my gym) this weekend and clean the place up so I feel motivated and comfortable out there each morning. There is nothing like working out and being distracted about what needs to be done when you should be focusing on wheat you should be doing. Once I get that done I will be ready to attack each day.

When it comes to eating I have pretty much gotten myself under control when it comes to proper food intake and portion sizes. My biggest problem is that sometimes I do not enough during a long day at work. I have also grown into the habit of prepping my meals out a few days so I have clean options that I can grab and go with. This makes the odds of eating junk a lot less likely.

I know this will be the right thing for me because lately I have been feeling run down and a bit tired. When I am working out hard every day I have much more energy. I have completed my usual October of late night Baseball Playoff viewing causing a lack of sleep streak which always coincides with my having to complete the budgets for the next year at work. Now I can break away from the mental stress I subject myself to each year and apply my efforts back into my workout.

I have tracked all of my workouts over the past few years with a heart rate monitor which I was able to see the pattern I had created for myself and helped me to understand why my body was performing the way has been. Not trying to make excuses but really to better understand how my mind and body works so I may be able to better myself in every way.

This leads to one of my favorite quotes ever.

“Excuses are a list of self imposed obstacles that prevent you from having a better life.”

Life gets in the way. When you are driven to a goal you must make detours to get to your final destination.