Approximate read time: 3.5 minutes
Well I did it, friends. And I've been doing it. And truth be told, I feel really fucking good about myself. 26 days ago I went to a Second Cup near my house and had a latte. A lot of the preamble is covered in that post, but just in case…
- I was feeling pretty shitty.
- I had a tasty hazelnut latte.
- I went to the gym and pushed myself harder than normal - inspired by my readings of Can't Hurt Me.
- I posited the notion of starting a 75 Soft routine.
- I went and bought aprons.
- I went to a cooking class. It was great.
So what is 75 Chris? I'm glad you asked.
It's what I landed on. Later that day, actually, and what I began the following morning and have continued every day since. I've completed 25 of them now. Here's what it looks like:
- 45 minute workout
- 30 minute workout
- One of those being outdoors, no exceptions for weather
- Progress photos
- Drink 128 ounces of water
- Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book
- No fast food
I worked out the specifics of what I wanted to hold myself accountable for and took inspiration from 75 Hard and 75 Soft, finding my way to 75 Chris.
I didn't really announce it publicly, outside of people that I had normal interactions with where it came up (I may have leaned into it a bit in some cases, but it wasn't entirely forced upon them). No social media posts. No promise of something extreme that I couldn't maintain. Just a commitment to myself to start. And it's been going really well.
I feel great.
But why? Another great question that I've worked towards finding a suitable answer for that captures the reasoning behind it for me.
Sure, health and fitness are important. My joking expression right now is “I want to live forever, so I need to make sure my body and mind are up for it,” but it's a bit deeper than that. I'm trying to find my walls. I want to identify the things that frighten me, or that I think I can't do, and I want to do them. I don't want to quit. So I took on something that I would've quit so fucking fast a mere 27 days ago. And every day I check off the last item is a victory. An opportunity to feel some redemption for the 20 years of fucking off.
I'll exercise in the rain. I'm up at 5:15am and pushing myself to new steps every morning - weekends included (although they don't open until 8 on them, so I sleep a bit later). I'm cutting away things that don't allow me to succeed. I'm looking for things to break me, so I can push through them instead. And it's working.
I feel great. I know I already said that, but it's true. I've lost weight. I've gained perspective. And among stressors that have shown themselves to me over the course of the last month or so I've felt capable of addressing them head on. I've weathered things that would've left me agonizing and in depressed states for months. I won't quit.
This could keep going with me just sprouting out shit, but let's wrap it here. I'm exhausted and I think I'm just rambling by now. I'm excited, and for the first time in a long time, it seems like there are things ahead of me, not just pieces I'm leaving behind.
<3 flurp