Are We Willing to Commit to Change?

The last post pinpointed my problems with energy and vitality, and I have known these things forever, but for some reason I can’t implement them into my lifestyle.  I think the answer lies in consistent patterns, and having a CLEAR reason for following your passion.

I started all this endurance training because I saw myself on a video two years ago and didn’t like the the image.  I looked nothing like I “imagined” myself.  It was a bitter pill and within a couple weeks I was hell bent on running away the fat.

About 12 months, and 20 pounds later, my problem was “solved.”  The body was back and I was no longer ashamed of what I saw in the mirror.  But, of course, that wasn’t the real problem.

I had slimmed down and was routinely knocking out 1-2 hour workouts, but I knew there was still a void.  Good thing I had IRONMAN to distract me for a while.

I plowed further into the field hoping for the yield of a lifetime.  It never got easy, but I had endless fertile and seemingly endless land.  But, like a King with all the money in the world, something was still missing.

Then, I raced Ironman Wisconsin.

This was undoubtedly the best day of my life for the last 10 years or so.  I scaled a mountain and lived to tell the stories.  And there were many.

I floated on that high for days, weeks, and months before realizing my pantry was nearly empty.  It was time to go back into the field.  But I had a new problem.

I had been harvesting for Ironman, and she needed a lot of fuel.  Now it was just me, alone with my thoughts, and no plan for distribution.

While endless tilling was something to be proud of, I knew I wasn’t addressing the fundamentals of farming.  I was throwing shit everywhere and the land produced just enough to keep me going.  I neglected the soil and weeds were taking over.

Much of the world survives on food or drugs that get us by “today” but do little for the long haul.  And it’s easy to understand why we take this path.  It’s easy, and, for the most part, it works.  Hey, take it “one day at a time.”  But we all know that it’s on the surface, and not much is being done to build the foundation.

For me it comes down to habits.  Taking sleep (and its wind down) seriously.  Starting early by letting go of electronics, turning down lights, easing into the night and getting good, sound rest.  Waking fresh around the same time.

Then exercising/walking before a solid breakfast that gives me slow burning fuel.  Visualizing and writing out a productive day so I have a focus.  Then eating right and avoiding surface snacks.  At night, eating earlier, working out, then winding down again.

It sounds simple, but we get sucked in to things because somewhere we have doubts about our path.  Why?  Because establishing a good healthy pattern is painful and takes time.  A long time.  And frankly, it takes a lot of failures and lessons to figure it all out.  I think most of us have always known what it takes, we just need to define why we really want to get the answer.