2024 It Begins Here
To stop focusing on the external world and letting it dictate how I think and feel. And instead, OWN my life Mind, Body, and Spirit. I want to be the deciding factor if I am happy, motivated, successful, and fulfilled.
That is my goal for the next year. I could have said that I want to lose 100 pounds because I would love to. I could say that I want to make twice as much money or sell ten thousand books or write four books or land a major agent, but those are the peripheral results of the main goal which is to own my life and stop being a spectator.
That tag line, “Own your life” is something that former professional wrestler and owner of DDP Yoga uses in his motivational speeches. He holds a challenge each year called The Positively Unstoppable Challenge. That is what I am going for.
Now to be fair, tonight I plan to drink and eat and enjoy the gluttony for one more day. But for the last few years I have been trying to get things on track, weight, health, career, dreams… And I keep falling off which ever wagon I hop on. So hopefully this one will be the one that I can stay in my seat.
I am doing a few things. I am working on my diet. I am trying to spend 30 min a day exercising. I am trying to get 10 thousand words written each week. I am trying to spend 30 min a day reading. And ideally average no more than an hour and a half a day on entertainment. That of course includes the reading. And most of all I want to wrangle my drinking habit.
I feel like things have been slipping away over the last few years. In 2020 I got a lot of things under control. I made strides in my work while being one of the few people my company did not drop during the covid downturn. I rebirthed my love of writing and written seven books over the next couple of years. And I dropped 95 pounds.
In 2021, 22, and 23 I gained those pounds back. I started to become a slave to work. Working from home without leaving the house or seeing people I stopped buying new clothes and just started to wither away in my home office. And I am tired of withering.
For the last three months I’ve been trying to get the exercise piece down. I have been jogging on my treadmill for 30 min a day, three days a week. This was in preparation for a 5K that I was doing in Disneyworld. I did finish the 5K. It took me just over an hour which is decent for the speed I typically go, but it was hard and painful and I wanted to do anything but finish.
At the same time my wife has been training for six months to complete the Dopey Challenge. This is a 5K on Thu., 10K on Fri., a half marathon on Sat., and a marathon on Sun. in Disneyworld. I watched her for six months spending mornings and afternoons running around our town. She was getting up at four and five in the morning to get in the miles before the heat hit. She was fighting to get more miles, more speed. She had near injuries and setbacks. I would help her as much as I could with ice baths, breakfasts, warm baths…
It was a lot and I didn’t understand it. I still don’t understand what was driving her to do this. But, when she crossed the finish line after the 48.6 miles in four days. Hearing the announcer tell the challengers that all their work was for this, this was their finish line and they were now marathoners. I teared up. I couldn’t handle the emotion that I felt for her. It was a type of pride that I have only ever felt for my children. I have never been prouder of a person, it was amazing.
I am hoping that pride and that feeling will be the motivation I need.
So here we are 2024. It’s time to be in charge. It’s time to own my life.
**Image by David Revoy under Creative commons license