Hey this is a blog right? Well here is a personal post for any who are interested. Over the course of the last month I have really stepped back and tried to examine all the bad habits in my lifestyle. One by one I have started to weed out such things as:
- Eating the wrong foods or too much food late at night.
- Working instead of exercising.
- Watching TV instead of exercising.
- Having an extra Captain’s and Diet when it’s not really necessary.
- Staying up too late, then…
- Getting up too early without enough sleep, or…
- Sleeping in and getting up too late, thereby wasting the morning.
- Blowing off taking my vitamins.
- Pumping myself up on energy drinks, then taking double doses of melatonin to fall asleep at night.
- Choosing Doritos or candy over fruit or low fat meat.
Yeah, I try to live a healthy lifestyle, but sometimes when we start to get complacent, we end up slipping into bad habits because it’s “easier” or more “fun”. For me, it came down to work. I was so hell bent on trying to keep my business afloat, that I blew off everything else and ate Ramen noodles three times a day.
Sure, I’m the only one working in the household. Sure, I have to support 2 kids and a girlfriend. I don’t regret any of it. But I definitely became focused on working, finishing projects, getting paid, and ended up blowing off everything else. Well no more!
- I’ve got a full time contracting gig starting in July to alleviate financial issues.
- I’m in the process of getting rid of as many of my clients and open projects as possible to avoid over commitmentt.
- I’m only working 2 nights a week from now on to relieve stress, instead of 5 plus weekends.
- I’m back in the dojo for kickboxing and planning to get back into the weight room.
- I’m engaging in extra workouts when I get 15-20 minutes of free time.
- I’m eating more often and better quality foods again.
- I’m focusing on getting to sleep earlier and waking up early to start my day.
After just one week of this sort of lifestyle, I am already having better kickboxing workouts than I have in the 5 months that I have been actively going. My lungs no longer feel like they belong to Amy Winehouse after a month’s vacation from performing (no, I have never smoked crack or meth). I feel healthier every day. I feel my strength and speed coming back, and also my ambition to powerlift and kick holes in every heavy bag I see.
The point is, if you are in a rut, in life, in the dojo, in the gym, or where ever; it might be very simple to get yourself out of it. Just examine your weak spot, your sticking point, your bottleneck, your bad habits. There is bound to be something you can change. Something that will kick-start you out of the plateau. Something that will motivate you to escape from a vicious downward spiral. Just think about how much better you will feel after a week, a month, a year of practicing better habits or changing up your routine.
Tags: health
