I admit it. I am a bit of a nut.
Why do I say that?
Well, this morning, I got up about 6 a.m. I got dressed, put my walking shoes on, and had a nice cup of coffee.
I kind of just wanted to sit there.
Last night I slept well but was still groggy.
Nevertheless, I know I like to get out and walk before sunrise.
I like the dark and shadows.
When I went outside, I was immediately struck by how warm it was.
Huh? It’s early November.
Why is it so warm today?
I had a hoodie on over my T-shirt, and it was almost too much clothing.
At the halfway point in my normal walk, there is a bank sign that displays the time and temperature.
It was 66 degrees Fahrenheit at 6:45 a.m.
What the heck?
Then I remembered last January, when the temperature was 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning.
Am I really going to complain about this warmth?
No, it’s just the sort of ridiculousness that I am capable of from time to time.
It was a good reminder that I have a ways to go in becoming a guy who experiences things by just being himself, rather than a guy who simply does things.
All I seem to know about what a “successful” life looks like is to set a goal, discipline myself to do it, and track how it went.
I am doing that right now by drafting this blog article.
I set the goal that, come heck or high water, I will post a blog article each day for a year.
Today, I am approaching eight months of this, so I am at the less-than-four-and-a-half-months-to-go mark. I would feel like a loser stopping now.
Fundamentally, I guess I just don’t trust myself.
I know how I was as a child and an adolescent. I had almost zero ambition except to live hedonistically.
Somewhere along the line, I picked up the desire to do things that mattered.
And the only way I seemed to be able to do that was by disciplining myself.
Well, nevertheless, I came back from the first walk, lost the hoodie, got a cup of coffee to go, and did my second walk of the morning.
I like to get two out of the way before the sun gets too high in the sky.
I have vampire tendencies, I guess.
And I am thinking of getting a second test apartment in Florida?
Have I lost my mind?
I’m not kidding. I am a nut, and proud of it.
Here is what I know that I really want to do, though:
Simplify my life even more.
Get very clear on my “truest” core values.
Figure out where I belong.
Find a way to simply be, and let the doing be what it will be.
It’s a tall order, but I have created the conditions to allow for it.
But let’s face the reality of my situation.
I cannot and will not give up on my goals of:
A daily blog post for a year.
Achieving 15,000 steps per day on average for a year.
Maintaining my target weight range for a full year (it was not a blip; I was still two pounds over yesterday. Yikes).
Five minutes of cleaning and decluttering each day.
And now I have made a public commitment to do more strength training, practice guitar every day, and have a daily adventure.
Ugh, what was I thinking?
Oh yeah, Checklist Tracker Man was talking.
Guess what, though? I have learned a valuable lesson.
Do not define a target unless you mean it.
Set a minimum acceptable standard, and stick to that if you must.
And I must.
If I do one set of pull-ups every day when I have a pull-up bar available to me, that will fulfill the goal.
If I practice guitar for five minutes per day, that will fulfill the goal.
If I just sit for five, ten, or even 30 minutes with no inputs and am “moved” to do something, that will count as my daily adventure.
I feel better already.
Go enjoy your day if you can.
Personally, I am going to the local “Oktoberfest” restaurant after a walk along the river today.
That will be fun!
And I will have a clear conscience, knowing that I have “checked” things off the list to allow for my hedonistic inner-vampire-child tendencies to roam wild!
Whooo!!