it's so easy to spiral into worry. one small thought turns into ten and before you know it, you've imagined every worst case scenario in your head. but what if you chose curiosity instead? what if you replaced 'i'm worried about this' with 'i'm curious about this'? it won't make the problems disappear, but it can open up space for new answers, new perspectives and possibilities you might have missed. and sometimes all it takes is that one small spark of wonder to turn a tangle of worry into a path you didn't see before 💭💌🌈
For more than ten years I’ve done dry January and February. I’m pretty sure it’s a big part of why I’m…healthy? Healthy-ish.
Since retiring from the AF in Jan 2002, I’ve been to the doctor twice - both for checkups at my wife’s urging. Neither check-up resulted in treatment. Not a brag. I’m no paragon of health, at 62, my body is breaking down in ways obvious to me or any casual observation.
I’m certain I could be in better physical condition and not drinking alcohol would be the most significant thing I could do to further that aim. If that were my aim. Actually it is my aim for the next six weeks or so. I’m two weeks into dry Jan and I’ve not had any alcohol or processed food. I feel much better already. I’m exercising each day. Only cardio now but I’ll add resistance training in February. By March, I’ll feel so good I’ll be reluctant to resume eating and drinking like I was twenty years younger. But that’s what I do.
Because I’ll feel twenty years younger, my body will be working better in so many ways. I’ll feel vigorous and will be looking for physically demanding things to do to feel a rush of accomplishment. My very mood will be upbeat and those I encounter will respond to me more positively. My appetite for life will increase.
lol, to be clear, I love to drink and eat all the things. If I could get away with it without consequences, I would. In fact, I’ll observe some restraint and balance for a couple of months. At some point I’ll wake up and realize I’ve not exercised for a month. Every meal I’ve had for some time will have been whatever seemed tastiest and available. I’ll have to stretch my jeans to fasten them around my expanded waist and my reflection in the glass door of the bar will make me want to look away. Fuck, when did that happen? lol again.
If I find motivation like an upcoming trip or special social event, I’ll reengage my “get healthy” mindset for two or three weeks, a month even if I’m heading to Europe and want to carry my granddaughter to the top of the Waterloo monument like I did my son when I was 27. Three years ago I carried my son’s daughter up those stairs and looked back to see the rest of the family struggling. I felt good.
Up till now, the consequences of my lifestyle have been mostly only mine to bear. Now as our society breaks down like my body deteriorates from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I believe I’ve got to change the way I live.
Since I threw off the yoke of religion in my late thirties, I’ve not worried about dying. Until now, I’ve not worried my family wouldn’t be safe without me. Society was a safe place.
Now it seems America is bearing the consequences of being motivated primarily by hate, fear, and careless consumption. The body of America is desperately ill but too many of us refute the cause and have been conditioned to treat only symptoms. Go to the doctor and add another prescription, it’s easier than changing the way you think, the way you live.
I’m changing the way I live because I fear death now. I fear the consequences for my family.
