In case you missed it, this is how the comments closed on my latest poorly crafted post: “Unfortunately for you, making the choice to stay in New York City, along with your rhetoric proves that one day you will end up on the extinct Darwin end of the formula…”
Translated: you’re stupid, and you’re going to die. Of course, I had to read it a couple of times while imagining it being said aloud by Dr. Evil before I got it (try it, it’s funny). Sometimes it takes awhile to understand stuff when you live in the Darwin end of the formula. This is very useful information, because here I was thinking I was going to live forever in NYC despite all those movies where my neighborhood gets blown up.
Here’s the thing… maybe we show up on these websites because we’re looking for a little support, information, or insight into solving our own personal living strategies. Your level of buy-in to the range of post-industrial apocalyptic rhetoric is sort of irrelevant, because we’ve all got a certain stake in the future regardless of how horrible or how rosy it may look for you. Most likely, you are uncertain about the future or where our society is headed, otherwise you’d be reading about wind chimes and puppies and just skip over the whole “transition” idea.
I think my critic may be surprised how many things I’ve done that would not appear beneficial to a personal survival plan, yet I’m still here — frustrating as that may be. Things change. Things fall apart and are sometimes reconstructed more sustainably and with more care and purpose, but we don’t need to constantly live in fear of these changes even if it means sacrifice. I’ve lived and traveled to enough places to know that there are problems and unique vulnerabilities everywhere. This is something we share. Concepts like community, support, and purpose are alive and sometimes finding, creating, or protecting those concepts is more important than your personal survival. I am very aware of the downfalls of New York City, but thank you.
In other words, there are things worse than death. Yes, this is a very non-Darwinian concept until you consider the Selfish Gene and the immortal genetics that get transported through our bodies. We’re just transitional host carriers that matter much less than the genetic soup we transport. In this regard, life and death are nearly identical with the difference being our limited perception of it.
I’m much less concerned about my personal survival than about discovering the meaning and purpose to this crazy cognitive ability we’ve been handed. The frustration that sometimes boils over here is when I observe mass abuse of this gift. Believe me, when you spend enough time asking “why?” it doesn’t matter if you live in New York or New Zealand. The commute to enlightenment takes the same amount of time.
Stop worrying about dying. Start worrying about living.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Unfortunately for him, survival is most likely him sitting on a pile of horded food looking at the world through a gun slot….
GE Wamser wrote:
“An amusing read, if only for it’s extremlely poor craftsmanship. The #1 tool in our oersonal survival toolbox is our ability to think, reason and make rational decisions. Unfortunately for you, making the choice to stay in New York City, along with your rhetoric proves that one day you will end up on the extinct Darwin end of the formula…”
That comment would be hilarious if it weren’t just sad how many of these types of comments I see when I occasionally scan the “Comments” section beneath the odd online news article. Invariably, the comments are misspelled, grammatically incorrect, poorly articulated, drivel-rants from people ill-equipped to comment on anything.
Take this guy, for example: He can’t even spell “extremely” and “personal” correctly (in spite of a built-in spell-checker) while commenting on the “poor craftsmanship” of this blog and Tommy’s ability to “think, reason, and make rational decisions.” A perfect example of rational discourse, right there. As for the “Darwin end of extinction,” (as distinguished from the Lamarckian end?), it’s anyone’s guess what that means.
Really though, it’s just clownish and embarrassing to attack someone’s writing as murky and ill-crafted when you yourself can’t articulate a coherent thought or literate sentence.
Shit.
My fault. I sent the link to G. because I thought he would see more of the context of FG. I was blindsided by his comment and still don’t understand why it was so far out of the line of thought. Well, then again, I do understand…people do shit, they have reasons for doing shit, in that order. Tommy, good response. I was thinking about G’s comment all night and couldn’t think of how to respond. I think part of the dichotomy is that we don’t want to see the intermingling of the various bell curves which represent our various niches, nor how they all meld together into the ‘humanity’ curve with its own fringes. G is smack on top of a certain (small) curve, while Tommy is on the fringe of the NYC curve. I feel I am on the fringe of everyone’s curve and not in the middle of any. People on top of a curve feel they are “on top of the world” (their ‘world’ being their particular favorite pile of bodies), while those of us on fringes feel we have the weight of the world on our shoulders (and the bodies), whether we do or not. G’s comment to me in an email ended “life is good”. I never feel that way. Life sucks more each day, and I’m sorry if I don’t spend my days (or any day) in “Happyland” where problems belong to any dark closet they can be shoved into and the seratonin/dopamine levels are persistent and always rising.
I’ll take Tommy’s previous post “USA…Fuck You” a little farther: Humans…..Fuck You. But then, that is a waste of effort because we are all so busy fucking ourselves and the planet to death that nobody would notice in the orgy.
Damn, you spend a few days away from the ol’ computer and you miss out on some really great shit. I’ve been too busy planting and building stuff I guess. Tommy, you inspire discussion and arouse emotions, that is for sure…what a gift. I guffawed when I read your USA post. In my darker ruminations I have felt the same angst and anger. Someone mentioned echoes of HST, an apt and timely comparison. I live in a town that over the past 5 years has consistently been rated as one of the best towns to live in by CNN money magazine, Outside magazine, etc. These accolades have been a huge motivating factor for my desire to leave, b/c they are largely the inaccurate projections of a materialistic yuppie culture that I want nothing to do with, and yet, I MUST engage if I believe in a transition, in a world that can change.
You see fat people, and it makes you sad. I see some of the “healthiest” people this planet has ever seen, world class athletes and the affluent weekend warriors who collect and weigh their shit, literally. This makes me sad. These folks believe (or at least they express this verbally) that they have attained “The Dream.” They feel as if they know Truth. They have done their best to inoculate and insulate themselves from the ugly reality of their world. United States of Delusion? You bet. This is a major reason why I can’t, and won’t, leave.
A voice crying out in the wilderness.
Vox ferus.
I recently read this:
“Sometimes we must cry in the wilderness, even when no one is listening, even when it is not changing people, just to keep the common untruth from changing us.”
Amen.
ECOPAX introduced me to this blog and, though I’ve read very little, I am enjoying it very much.
[quote]“Really though, it’s just clownish and embarrassing to attack someone’s writing as murky and ill-crafted when you yourself can’t articulate a coherent thought or literate sentence.”[/quote]
I couldn’t have said it better myself, and I agree 100%.
[quote]“Humans…..Fuck You. But then, that is a waste of effort because we are all so busy fucking ourselves and the planet to death that nobody would notice in the orgy.”[/quote]
Unfortunately, I have more days like this than I do the “happy” ones. I get the internal twitch when I hear someone say, “Life is good.” I want to believe that, I want to believe it’s possible, but I feel like I am in darkness and don’t know how to make it happen, or let it happen.
Sadly, I think I may be screwing myself and fail to notice due to the proverbial orgy. I’m massively fat, and (for the last 30 years) have bought into that marketing. I’m trying to change now; I am changing… I just hope I can change before it kills me.
Sumo,
There’s very few people who WANT to be overweight. My disgust is more at this System that provides the shittiest nutrition this planet has ever seen for the price of nearly nothing and the overall ecological cost of everything. Hence, the “crack every five feet” comment. It’s a purposeful addiction market that I resent.
I’ve struggled with weight myself in the past, and have also bought into that whole brand of marketing. I’ve been lead down the $150 running shoe path, Atkins diet path, and abs workout plan bullshit. There’s only one way to cope in today’s world: don’t believe a fucking thing and do the stuff that makes sense. I’m constantly thinking stuff like, “was this ________ on the Oregon trail?” If no, you probably don’t need it or need to eat it. I focus on pushing myself just past what I think is reasonable. It seems to work. Deprivation in the land of plenty is not easy at all.
When I see herds of fat people doing really stupid shit, it’s hard to judge despite my rant. It’s just frustrating to see the product of a living, breathing system that makes us the shittiest people ever to walk on two legs.
Then, there’s the other OCD that Pax is talking about — obsessing about your split times, caloric intake, and gear list. I think the, “too busy planting and building,” is the way to go. I enjoy showing up 25 miles into the backcountry with a school bag, loaf of bread, and tennis shoes. It’s hilarious to watch people fiddle fuck around with $2000 worth of gear. But, what exactly was the option? They were sold an idea that “it’s dangerous out there.” You need all the lightweight gear you can fit. Without the benefit of experience (that’s been all but lost) people feel vulnerable and humbled by the “experts.”
Well, it turns out it’s dangerous in here.
Wow – great posts the last few days and great comments. Maybe there’s a connection — thoughtful edgy posts atract like-minded readers who then ‘up’ the level of the original post with their own thoughtful input.
Anyway — Auntiegrav echoes my thoughts about life in general but since I was born human I figure this is the only game I’ve been invited to, so I’m trying to make the best of it.
Re: The Oregon Trail — my kids loved that computer game, was it back in the 90s or so? My daughter and her boyfriend go hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park with a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread. They say they can’t afford Clif bars but I have a feeling they don’t want to
“My disgust is more at this System that provides the shittiest nutrition this planet has ever seen for the price of nearly nothing and the overall ecological cost of everything.”
I couldn’t agree more. Sadly, it wasn’t until just this year -recently even- that I started seeing things for what they really are. Seeing myself for what I am, and what I am not. I feel like I’m just discovering myself and learning who I really am. Though I AM the fat guy, I’m NOT the fat guy. I want to walk about from the crap that destroys me AND the environment; the kicker is as you said, it’s an addiction. Maybe I’ll have ECOPAX ‘sack’ me and do an intervention! LOL.
“I think the, “too busy planting and building,” is the way to go.”
-AND-
“There’s only one way to cope in today’s world: don’t believe a fucking thing and do the stuff that makes sense.”
I want to focus on this kind of thinking exactly. It’s strange, despite my education and writing, I can’t seem to gather a couple of neurons to bump together to spark an original thought. Then I read posts like these and feel so connected because someone else out there articulated what I could not.
KJEAN:
“[...]I was born human I figure this is the only game I’ve been invited to, so I’m trying to make the best of it.”
That’s a superior attitude; I like it.
“I want to walk about from the crap that destroys me[...]”
About = away, I want to walk AWAY from the crap… etc.
I, for better or worse, tend to see the world thru the same lens.
North America seems to have an endless supply of donut-snorfling, Walmart shopping, cell-phone addicted, SUV-driving, Pepsi-sucking, suburb-living, drive-thru addicted, self-centered, unconscious, corporate-enslaved whores. And they don’t give two fucks about you, or what they are doing to the planet, or what’s really going on around them. The only difference between the wealthy ones and the poor ones is the dollar value of the products they consume. AS Tommy stated, “Excess = comfort”… in any way they can play out that tune.
In most cases, a lifetime of suburban enclave living and plushly upholstered air-conditioned vehicles has insulated them from the ills of the world and they are quite content to keep things that way.
Example: A popular radio talk-show during last week’s heat wave was featuring a professor from Kentucky who was commenting on how a/c is over-used (with plenty of stats to back it up).
People calling-in couldn’t see the point and whined about other people trying to control their behaviour. One caller claimed he couldn’t turn his a/c off in the car for his kids and mother-in-law’s sake. WTF did people do before a/c in cars for Christ’s sakes?! The caller was obviously spoiled at the least, and a moron at the most.
But who can blame (some of) them? We North Americans have been exporting the “American Dream” and “Canadian Dream” (a somewhat lesser derivative) to the rest of the world for more than half a century. Newcomers, when they can afford it, feel entitled to all the excess that is available. That’s what attracted them here in the first place. ‘What do you mean I can’t have my single family house, two-SUV garage, granite countertops, and college education for my kids?’
Unfortunately these people will not be going away anytime soon. And trying to change their behaviour is futile as governments have become corporate apologists, so we can’t count on them for any legislation with teeth that might alter their behaviour. The only possible short term wake-up call for society’s sludge will be price shocks. (Hmmmm. Why isn’t the price of oil going through the roof given the GOM disaster? In the past 10 years, all that’s needed to rocket oil prices higher is the THREAT of a hurricane reducing production… not an ACTUAL hurricane. Hell, all Hugo Chavez needs to do is fart and oil prices rocket higher. I assert that the price is being kept artifically low in order not to flatline an already half-dead global economy.)
But with the momentum of hundreds of millions of selfish North American SOB’s Walmart shopping their way to happiness, one can only conclude that we are collectively doing a Thelma and Louise, with them on the gas pedal and the rest of us in the back seat. All one can really do is brace yourself for impact.
Enviro:
The gas and oil prices don’t have to be set artificially. It’s actually kind of funny that what happened was the oil companies put us in Iraq to control the price of oil, it skyrocketed to the limit stop (the derivatives of everything tanked), and it’s been bumping up against the upper limits of where it is tolerated for some time now. Three bucks is pretty much as far as people will drive, then they start carpooling, and productivity drops, the demand drops, then the price drops, the driving picks up a little, etc…
More evidence of being at the peak of our economic/cultural/imperial quest, and we are seeing the slopes from that peak, and they all go down. Part of the confusion, I think, is that the government has caused a plateau with the various stimulus schemes and the panic that hit in 11/08 subsided with some free crack hits. It’s only going to be worse the next time around.
Meanwhile, the college campuses are expanding so everyone can be trained to get that one last technology job that hasn’t been sold to China.
“Your family has just died of consumption.”
Wasn’t that on the Oregon Trail game?
wtf message do bill-hilary think [or care] they are sending with their recent purchase of an $11M 20 acre estate? similary, al gore with his $xM purchase of his pacific coast dream house. sic.
What’s an “oersonal?”
I like this entry better than the last. The last entry is fun and captures how I feel when I am bitter. But, the truth is, we here are not necessarily carriers of the (T)ruth either. We do ourselves a disservice by thinking that the pill we swallowed was the red one. We may be better informed, we certainly have a contrarian take on things. But the minute we take our knowledge and understanding for granted as superior, is the same minute we start heading down the risky path towards hubris and ignoring good information because it doesn’t fit our worldview.
And I can’t give in to too much negativity as I am surrounded by people who are trying to start their lives. All of human history has been studded with crisis, transformation, and hardship. We are no different. To think that these youngsters have nothing to look forward to is to be a bit self-oriented. Again, was 1970s US 9for us Xers) really the be all end all of history? The 50s (for boomers)? No. So acting like there is no future, because it’s not a future as easy and comfortable as the past is kind of silly. The best I can do is try and inform them what they might be facing in building their lives, and turn them loose. Good luck kids.
On fatness. I have an internal war with myself on this one and it is deeply embedded in my family. I am unfairly judgemental towards fat people, and I have to consciously turn it off in my head. I see it in my mother as well. The irony is, my whole family (myself included) is fat people. So when I get disgusted at Wally World, and wonder when one looks in the mirror and says ‘WTF I am going to change this,’ I think of my own damn self. I got fatter for a variety of reasons, but they come down to stress and ignorance. The funny part of ignorance is that the conventional wisdom of diet and exercise is simply plain wrong. And that is what is frustrating. So you can be doing what you think is correct, what you’ve read is correct, what everybody tells you is correct, and still be getting fatter. No wonder the people at WalMart are fat. Even the ones who are trying and well-informed are mostly unsuccessful.
Tommy is right. Everything we “know” about diet and exercise is plain wrong. The nutrition you think you know is not backed by science.
Think about that. The nutrition you think you know is not backed by science. But it is backed by politics, money, and good but misled intentions.
… AUNTIEGRAV wrote:
“Your family has just died of consumption.”
Wasn’t that on the Oregon Trail game? …
LOL
I think that was cholera.
But ‘consumption’ was the name for TB; i.e. the parasite consuming the host. Definitely an apt analogy for our consumer-crazed ‘culture.’
Michael — great comment. I agree; each generation has to continue on, and hope is everything.
My ‘formative’ years were in the ‘hippie’ era and I’m still trying to figure out how the hippies turned into yuppies. I’m encouraged to see many of the old 60′s ideals in my 20-something kids. They hate corporate branding, they refuse to go into debt, and they’re more interested in living life than acquiring ‘stuff.’ And thankfully I never hear the word ‘lifestyle’ coming out of their mouths!
Everything turns, and even though the so-called ‘Millenials’ have a large cohort of the silly and the self-centered, as Charles Hugh Smith says, it only takes a remnant to alter the course of a society.
I also think that age doesn’t matter when it comes to figuring things out, so the remnant will be of all age groups, the young, with their hope still intact, as well as people with experience who have earned their cynicism but can use it as wisdom and not just as negativity.
Hey Michael, I like your post – except for the part about dieting and excercise.
Although there is a lot of bad information out there, as everyone is looking to cash in on their “secret,” what I’ve learned about diet and excercise is pretty accurate (college health and nutrition text book – not television ads.)
My weight flucuates by about 60 – 80 pounds about every two years or so, back and forth. It is not just my weight, but also how I feel – organs, digestive system, energy, etc. It is directly related to whether or not I am applying what I know. When I am not, it is linked to emotional reasons (and the shiny attractiveness of those golden arches.)
Ignorance is a reason. A unique body type is a reason – matabolism problems. Emotional problems and stress are reasons. But not a lack of reliable information.
I would be interested to know what’s working for you, and when you gain that 60 lbs, what’s not?
Not as a challenge, but as an empirical question.
There are five basic area of health (all contributing to physical health.) They involve muscular skelatal health (weight lifting, push ups, sit ups, squats, etc,) Cardio vascular health (running, swimming, aerobics, etc,) ligament health (stretching, yoga, etc,) Organ health (dieting – not meaning eating less as much as what you are eating,) and emotional health (meditating, not so much in the spiritual sense as much as the stress reduction sense.)
All five need to be addressed.
A thing to note is that when you are at the plus weight, it is not uncommon to add weight when you initially start to work out. Depending on your routine, yoiu might be adding muscle quicker than you burning fat.
Other things to note: You have three energy systems. Your body has three types od ATP – Adenosine triphosphate – which are essentially energy transfer systems. This is important to know because it is how you lose weight.
In the first level of ATP – you have readily available energy, for fight or flight. It will allow you to sprint 20 yards.
The second level is the readily stored energy. When you are exercising, often you feel like you get to a point where you hit a wall, it is because you reached the end of your stored energy.
This is the point where it is important to exercise beyond. You are about to either stop ao that you can start the process of storing more energy, or, if you keep going, you will transition into the third level of ATP where your body is actually converting fat to energy. This is where you have to be to be losing weight. This is what has become known as getting your second wind.
Keeping this in mind, when things are going well, I exercise twice a day 3-4 times a week (and walk/bike ride or partake in some physical activities on the off days.)
One of the workouts will be with weights, or simply multiple sets of push ups and sit ups. (For the push up version – you will increase strength and endurance quicker using multiple sets, rather than one or two big sets. For example, if you start with ten sets of 4 pushups, you are doing 40 push ups. In one set – assuming you don’t do them, you won’t be able to do that many. After every three to four push up days, I increase by one. So then I am doing 10 sets of five, then 10 sets of six, etc. So every week you are adding on ten push ups. In a short time you will be up to sets of 15 – 20, and you will feel like you can keep going. At this point you increase to 30 sets. You do your sets in groups of three. One set normal, one set with your feet raised, one set triangle pushups – treating that like one set. So you are doing ten sets of those three sets. Doing that, I went from being able to do just a few push ups to over 800 over the period of just a few months.) I would rotate every few months between push ups/squats/etc and weights.
As you increase muscle, you will also burn calories while at rest as you have that much more mass that needs stored energy. You are also increasing bone density, etc.
My second work out will be either running, biking, or punching a heavy bag (sometimes 2 out of the three.) I make sure to go at least ten minutes after I get my “second wind.”
I think that stretching and meditating are self explanitory.
Dieting.
Breakfast: Varieties of fruits and water. You cannot drink coffee or tea before you drink water. coffee, tea, and soda are diuretics. They prevent your body from absorbing water. Your organs need to be regularly flushed of toxins which is not possible without water. Of course fruits have all sorts of vitamins, but for weight loss we are concerned with the fiber blast.
In reality, I have always had toast, butter, and jam with tea right after that – although is not in the book. Sometimes cheese sandwiches. On occasion, suasage and eggs, etc, but always after the fruits and water.
Lunch: Water, of course. Lunch is also where you are adding your protien, as it is where you are getting your energy. Fish has the most usable protein, whereas ham has the least (something like 8% where fish is over 50% with chicken being the second highest.)
Dinner: Water, fiber and carbs – which can translate as rice or pasta and a spinach salad. If I am planning on exercising that night, or doing something that requires energy, I will have fish or chicken (or a cheeseburger if I haven’t already had a few that week) for the protein.
I would eat based on what I knew my activities would or would not be. Carbs are for energy tomorrow (that I better burn tomorrow – or six hours from now) and protein is for energy in a half an hour.
So eating is then serving a purpose. I am eating based on what I am doing today and tomorrow, etc.
I also create things in the house that make it easy to exercise passively – not included in my regular routines. For example, there is a pull up bar in the doorway leading into the kitchen. I cannot enter the kitchen – ever – without doing one pull up. After a month, I cannot eneter the kitchen without doing five pull ups.
When I add weight:
It all starts the same way. I will stop at a McDonalds. Just once I tell myself. And it is not because I need energy, it is to satisfy an emotional need. I am aware of this, but I say, “just once.”
Then I say, “today I am not doing pull ups on my way into the kitchen.” One or two bad days of this and I can project my weight six months in the future. I have to get sick of myself before I will commit to a routine again, eating or exercising. It is easier to eat what you want and make exceptions to everything (that is the state I am in at the moment.)
I’ve been told this before, and it is absolutely true. Once you have a routine, it is important to keep that time available. Once you start skipping out on your routine, life will have no problem filling in that void of time. Once it does, it is very difficult to make that time available again.
But when things go bad – the plus sixty (80 this time) it is letting one thing slip here and there, and not considering what or why you are eating somethin – instead – it is time to eat so I eat.
Exercising a few times doesn’t make a difference. Exercising for a few weeks doesn’t make a difference. You can’t hit the gym a few times and quit, frustrated. It is a big commitment to be in shape, and you can’t fool yourself about that ahead of time. You have to change your diet and your habits, and it is a permanent change, not a change for a few weeks. That is why dieting doesn’t work – in is not a change in lifestyle – it is a “I suffered for 10 days, I should now get everything I want.”
If I commit to exercising twice a day, and commit to changing my diet, the weight will come like it has all the other times. Of course, that won’t be this week…
P.S. When the fat starts coming on, soda replaces water. When fat starts coming off, soda is not in the diet at all.
Cagesafe,
That was awesome. Thanks for taking the time to write that out.
No problem. And in the future I will proof read before posting.
Michael, I was one of those kids who ate whatever, whenever, and never could gain weight. Seldom exerecised. Actually was about 125 pounds when I got married in the mid 60′s. Even took “weight gain” pills during highschool so I could look less skinny.
Never understood how people could let themselves get “fat.” Even though there were plenty in my own family.
Over the years of no dietary discipline and little exercise I started gaining first the little belly fat. Quit smoking a few times. Kept going for that snack at night. Saw myself go to 135, then 145, then 165, etc. You get the picture.
Was starting to get uncomfortable, sure, but never thought of myself as fat or even unhealthy. That is til I saw a photo of myself about two and a half years ago. That can’t be me – I’m not fat. Came home and weighed myself at almost 225 pounds. Waist was about 46 inches and I was squeezing myself into size 38 – 40 inch slacks. That photo was a wakeup call.
I don’t know what you weigh but I do hear in your tone a certain resignation about it as well as a frustration. My story may not resonate with you except I have found a way back to weight sanity.
Cagesafe gave you great insights and he’s right on every point. I’m guessing you already have read most of the diet and exercise books out there though and already know most of what he’s telling you. (Those books are another major example of a “market” that really is all about making money, isn’t it?)
I followed diets and workout routines but they never worked in the long run. In the last 2 and a half years though I’ve found my own way though. I’ve lost over 40 pounds and almost 10 inches on my belly, feel better, do more, and am healthier than I have been in years. The point is – 2 1/2 years. My way. My choice. No books, no diet. Just me. In other words, this time is different.
If you are looking to change you must start inside your own head and make that choice. Make activity part of your lifestyle and put the time in every day or every week. Just like showering, brushing your teeth, doing pushups becomes part of the routine day. But it must start in your own head.
I’m all about making daily choices. Conscious decisions every day. Give some thought to why you see yourself as fat. Embrace the fact that you don’t like it. Now what? What action will follow? One simple decision each day. Just one. Skip that last mouthful today. That mouthful and that extra soda tomorrow. One pushup today, then a second.
Think long term, small steps. And almost most importantly, recognize your success. You did eat one mouthful less today. That’s success!!! Do it again. Now you’re moving forward. Try something eles now. Another.
Set small goals for yourself. When I decided to get sane about my weight I set a goal of 40 pounds. Way too overwhelming. I did great for awhile then fell off the whole thing. When I figured out small goals were more attainable I started moving again. More successes.
I’ll bet those runners Tommy talks about don’t think 400 + miles. They probably think just “next hill.”
I think body image is a mental thing so getting where you want to be starts in your own head and you have to make a choice; especially in your head as you seem to be surrounded by people who don’t value fitness. You are you and only you. You will never be someone else so you can make your choice and don’t have to be like those around you.
What do you want – really want? Honestly, if you’re ok with who you are right now then be ok with it. But if not, do something. Never forget that you have that choice – always.
Small goals. Small success. Something I learned many years ago (and actually carry this on a note card with me):
-Consistent choices lay the foundation for your habits.
-Your habits determine your future.
-Life happens NOW.
-Improve one behavior at a time.
Hope this is helpful, Michael.
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