A million years ago when I was a faithful trail runner, I adopted the phrase, Dig in and Push as a personal mantra. It related to everything I was doing: weight loss, personal fitness, self-improvement. It’s time to revisit that effort and start again.
Since that marathon, I’ve put on 25 pounds. The reasons for the slide are myriad: a sudden wave of 80 hour weeks, a new kid, a shoulder injury. They’re all valid. Who gives a crap? None of them excuse me from moving forward. None of them make a sh!t of difference to my current status and health.
To that end, I’m ready to get back in and start digging again.
What will it take?
Above all else, consistency. Starting small, but not too small. Biting off (no pun) as much as I can handle. Being realistic. Setting ACTUAL numbers and measures in place, instead of just patting my own back. Being around positive people and reading positive blogs. (I have lots of running and general health friends from the way old days. It’ll be easy to get some RSS love back into my daily reading).
I heard a professor talking about hip-hop culture and how black males are finding it hard to escape the addictive lure or self-esteem the culture has built into itself. The professor said that the young men (sometimes young ladies, but more often the men) have this whole system in place that reinforces them, keeps them feeling great about themselves, even though it doesn’t translate to much in the “real” world. This kind of surrogate for success is addictive.
I used to belong to a few weird communities. In those situations, emphasis was mostly on social interaction. I was a great guy because I was easygoing, because I was funny, because I showed up. That was pretty much it. And it was addictive. I became addicted to the notion of people liking me for who I was, accepting me as I seemed, and giving me credit for a creative mind, regardless of if I was actually DOING something with it.
Boy that sucked.
Now, the social circle I spend the most time around (including my online contacts and friends) is mostly a community of people doing big things and interesting things with their lives. I’m involved with artists via Flickr (and a little in real life). I’m involved with enthusiasts and passionate people. I write to CEOs and researchers, discussing whatever is of interest and import to them. I learn more and more about the world, about ways I can contribute and participate.
It’s a WHOLE different thing.
But, I’ve been totally neglecting my body, dude. I’m downright roll-y compared to how I was doing a year ago at this time. And it’s wonderful that I’m engaging my brain and all that (you haven’t seen the HALF of it– wait’ll you see what’s cooking next), but there’s a body attached to this all too, right?
So, starting now. Starting now. Digging in. I’m going into it all again. What’s this mean? Well, to you, it means that I’ll also be adding back in some of the fitness and nutrition posts interspersed with all this stuff about growing your professional career and your business career. Does it blend? Hell yeah! There are HUGE studies showing that employers prefer dealing with folks who are more fit.
Ask yourself that question. Do you treat the round folks at work any differently than you treat the triathletes? Are YOU in one camp or the other? Do you have perceptions around this?
So, I’m heading back to the work of fitness and nutrition on top of everything else I’m doing. By even just BLOGGING about this, I’m engaging one of the pillars of this work.
Now, what comes next, is doing it. Sharing it. Seeing if there’s something you can take from it as well.
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tags: fitness, nutrition, selfimprovement, weightloss