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Week 33: Sunday Scaries & Complete Failure in Habit Moderation

Apologies to those who look forward to reading each week. I appreciate your patience. Last week was one of those weird times when you just need to get your head straight.

Writing it out would help, but you just can’t get yourself to do it. Perhaps it’s just a natural reaction to pushing and grinding only to be slapped across the face with a big fat mortality reminder when a friend dies unexpectedly.

In any event, things like this often have some ancillary benefits as the hurt and pain go away.

We consider our lives in detail.

What we spend our time on. Who we spend our time with. What we spend our resources on. What we choose to pursue, or not. What really matters to us. What legacy do we want to leave.

Questions on top of questions.

Philosophical Dad Stuff

By Sunday about lunchtime, I was feeling a bit anxious. The Sunday Scaries were getting started a bit early it seemed.

I’ve been trying to work on this, but it seems to creep up on many weekends.

This time however, I took action. I went on a run in the sunshine with the dog, came home and cooked dinner for my family, and then all ate together with no distractions. No music. No television. No Bluey.

It was sublime.

After dinner we went outside, built a fire, made s’mores and enjoyed the waning sunshine of the day. We finished by playing catch in the yard with my oldest son.

It was hella picturesque.

After showers and baths all around before putting the kids to bed, I collapsed on the couch, exhausted but content.

And just like that, the Sunday Scaries became Spaghetti & S’more Sundays instead.

It also reminded me some things about fear.

Fear is an intangible. It doesn’t exist. If you create it, you can also destroy it.

When you face your fears, you become more like the person you want to be.

Bring it on, Sunday Scaries.

Couch to Ultramarathon…and Beyond

It’s on like Donkey Kong starting next week.

Training for the big fall 100k begins in earnest and I’m psyched. I’d had a bit of a mental and physical break. With time to lick my wounds and consider the lessons of the winter races, I’ve come to realize that these things are reachable, but crazy enough to force discomfort.

We joined a gym. I signed up for yoga classes. We signed up for a meal plan. I hired a coach and joined a running group.

Any single one of these would have been a decent addition to my life. All of them taken in concert?

They might make what was previously impossible to me into something enjoyable.

They might help me achieve the next step of a larger-than-life goal; a quest that will literally take me into the skies.

They might help me meet amazing and like-minded people. They might help me become more patient and forgiving, both with myself and with others.

They might help me live longer, fuller, and healthier than ever before.

Conventional wisdom says that adjusting our habits should be done with one behavior at a time.

There’s just one issue with this.

I am shit when it comes to moderation.

All in or nothing at all.

“Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.” -Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens

Live triumphantly. See you next week.