The last month has been tumultuous at best. Following the stress and joy of my daughters wedding I got a pretty bad head cold. That seemed to trigger the dormant Chicken Pox in my body and I got shingles. Now I get to deal with those for the next 2-4 weeks (per the doc).
And I have a dry cough!
And all this at a point where I was planning to begin working out again and taking better care of myself. It seem that every time I plan to do this and begin to work out I get sick.
Maybe it just goes with this aging thing or maybe it is just my mental state, which has not been the best of late.
However, it has given me ample time to be down and just do some thinking. This is a double-edged sword for me. While it allows me to think through my state it also provides too much time to potentially lament things I wish I had done better. And there are a lot of those in fifty five years of life!
I have written a lot in the past year about minimizing and living a simpler life.
I think I went the opposite direction.
Getting rid of the stuff I need to get rid of has been challenging. Even taking just a few things to start with was difficult. Seems no one wants the old stuff I have. I have had little luck selling much of anything and I still have a shed full of good stuff. Well, good in my eyes. Evidently not in others.
I think that I may just have to decide to just let go and not expect that I am going to be able to sell the stuff I have. No one seems to be buying.
However, if I don’t start moving stuff I will still be writing about it next year at this time.
So my mantra needs to just be – Stuffs Gotta Go!
Second, as I started, I need to get a handle on my health. While I am actually in pretty good shape for my age, I realized with this recent visit to my doc that I have not had a full physical since 2010. I thought it was like 2015! Man time flies.
As soon as I am well of this current malady I am going to go for a full work up. I think I am keeping the diabetic thing in check, but there are other topics at fifty five that I need to address/manage.
This brings me back to working out. I have not in a very long time. When I tried to start between the head cold and the Shingles it felt really good, but was short lived.
Thus, that mantra needs to be – Just Do It!
I realize that I tend to write and think a lot about what I need to do but rarely actually do a lot. I find I am a man, now, of thought and not action. That is a hard pill to swallow, but swallow it I must.
The key to motion is habit. I have goals, but my habits do not support my goals. Thus, there is little motion without implementing a new habit to support a goal.
Let me say that again – goals must be accompanied by habits.
Otherwise they are just words on a page.
Additionally, I tend to acquire things and not enjoy them. I have collections. Same goes for relationships, I acquire them but I don’t do much with them. I have lots of acquaintances but few friends, and the friends I do have I don’t see all that often. If I am honest I am not a good friend.
I realize that I really tend to put things on a shelf, metaphorically, and not interact with the things or people in my life. They are there for me, but I do little with them. This really does need to change. I find that I am often quite lonely in a world full of people I interact with daily.
So what habits am I changing/making to support my goals for change?
Move something every week – both with my stuff and my body, I am making a habit, even during my lingering infirmity, to get in motion. I want to do the following;
– Sell or give away one thing (minimum) each week till its all gone!
– Walk or work out in some way every day. No exceptions. Not big workouts at first, but something every day.
Acquire less – the key to getting rid of stuff is not getting other stuff. I am bad about acquiring stuff for my “hobbies”. Thus, while I am thinking about getting rid, I am either planning or buying other stuff. That is a bad habit. Thus, I need a buying hiatus of at least 6 months!
Enjoy more – I don’t enjoy the stuff I have and I don’t enjoy the people I know. I spend too much time planning, acquiring or doing other things and not embracing what/who I have. Thus, I often feel very lonely. Even while around a lot of people I am a very solitary person. Maybe that is a writers thing. We spend our time on the page and not in the world.
Once I feel I have mastered these three things and have sufficiently changed my habits in these areas I plan to do more. Taking control of my life by changing or creating some new core habits is imperative to a long term healthy state.
I want to move from the funk I have been living in to a sunnier time in life. Especially with the kids both married and starting their lives. I want to be a long and positive influence for them and, hopefully, their kids. But this won’t happen without me changing my habits!
