I was trading emails this afternoon with one of my friends who had a birthday last week. He threw a party that I skipped because a night out for dinner and boozing just isn't on the agenda right now as much as I wanted to go and celebrate with the crew. I apologized for missing the party and he said something to the effect of "No need to explain, you need to stay in the zone. Giving you a hard time for missing the party would be like offering a recovering alcoholic a tequila shot."
I'm still thinking that through. People don't (or at least I didn't) think of fat and out of shape in the same way they think of alcoholism. I'm not saying fat is a disease (at least for me it wasn't), it is more about making bad choices. Is what I'm doing really any different from an alcoholic going to rehab though? Both are about developing new habits and making a lifestyle change. One big difference is that as opposed to an alcoholic's goal to have "not one drop" I'm already doing a lot of thinking about how life works after this ends. I'm excited to go back to eating out with friends and meeting people for drinks, but I can't imagine ever going back to the way I was. It is all about striking a balance and no doubt it will take time to figure out.
Things are going well. New diet is a touch smaller than last week's, but nothing to be afraid of. Timed cardio all week again. Turns out 45 minutes a day of cardio is boring and time consuming (it takes 45 minutes!), but it sure is effective. Still failing by the end of pretty much every exercise, but getting further and further so all good.
Nice work man, sounds like the brain rewiring is almost complete! And good for your friend for recognizing you need support and encouragement not pot-shots from the peanut gallery.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that dude sounds like a keeper as a friend.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting post, and interesting way to think about things. Good luck to you, and to all of us in finding that new balance. Maybe I will get a pair of NB sneakers to remind me of the words "new balance" every day. Or maybe not. Anyway, keep making progress, Foundation.
We're all still failing, and through it, progressing.
That's a solid comment from your friend, and you can definitely call him that. Like the way you are thinking to, this isn't 90 days and right back to our old ways, I think we will all look to strike a balance, and stay on each other if anyone gets back into bad habits. Worked to hard to just go back to old habits.
ReplyDeleteahh the going for drinks with friends,,,thats a tricky one! cause when the party starts!! Oh well likeyour way of thinking though Brian you are in the zone mentally its awesome to see!
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