Goals 15/16 - May Update

I've fallen off the wagon.  There's really no other way to say it.  I think that i became so overwhelmed that i lost motivation.  

Anyways, here's the progress -- with just 18 days remaining.

Area	Current	Goal	Progress
Books	12	17	70.59%
Pullups	2592	5000	51.84%
Reduce Debt	$21,447.17	$25,882.11	$4,434.94
Keep the Fiance	11	12	91.67%
Volunteerism (h)	4.5	24	18.75%
Meditation (m)	115	1440	7.99%

No reason to be down on myself, though.  It is what it is.  While the past often predicts the future -- it doesn't have to.

Drinking Only Water - Conclusion

Drinking nothing but water for 21 days seemed like it would be more of a challenge at the onset.  However, i found it easy and almost enjoyable to drink only water.  It felt good to be free of the caffeine, alcohol, and added sugars that plague most of my favorite drinks.

It also changed my relationship with water.  I was able to ignore all of the other "choices" in the fridge and stick to good old spring water.  I mixed in sparkling mineral water as well as water with fruits added to change the pace but for the most part it was plain spring water.

I will continue down this path of drinking mostly water, but i'm not going to completely eliminate everything.  There isn't anything wrong with drinking a beer once in a while, but i don't need it to be an everyday occurrence in my life anymore.  

Drinking Only Water - Days 19, 20, and 21

On two of the last three days, i had at a festival surrounded by people drinking beer, kombucha, coffee, chocolate milk, and a variety of other delicious beverages.  I was, however, able to resist.

I went grocery shopping on day 21 and let's just say i went a little overboard in the drinks department...

Admittedly, the Coke and the Arnold Palmer wasn't for me but I'm sure i'll drink at least one of them.

I mentioned in the past that i don't plan on going back to drinking shitty beverages everyday and i plan to stick to it.  However, i can't wait to crack open something other than water for the first time in three weeks!

Drinking Only Water - Days 15 through 18

At this point, the challenge is a breeze.  I don't even look at the other beverages in the fridge.  Previously, water would be a last resort.  I would drink the beer, then the soda, then the juice, then the milk.  When all of that was gone i'd be forced to drink water.

I actually look forward to a nice glass of ice cold water.  I've also been drinking sparkling mineral water and water with lemon and/or lime added.  It helps change the pace and adds a little variety while technically still only drinking water.

Drinking Only Water - Days 10 through 14

Today is the 14th day of the challenge; i have officially made it two weeks drinking nothing but water.

Yesterday was a small test as i gathered with some of my baseball teammates for an end of the season celebration.  The beer was flowing but i was able to muster up the will and stick to water.  A teammate even mentioned that it looked like i was a little slimmer in the face.  Not sure if two beerless weeks have really made a difference or not but it was nice to hear.

I'm two-thirds of the way to completing the challenge.  I'm already looking forward to a nice craft beer on the 22nd day, but beer drinking won't be a daily endeavor anymore.

Drinking Only Water - Day 7, 8, and 9

Today is the 9th day of the challenge.  I've been eating a lot of soup and maybe that's been helping.  I'm not a big soup eater but i've made it three times already during this challenge.  Maybe it's cheating, but it's keeping me from drinking alcohol, caffeine, and high fructose corn syrup!

Drinking Only Water - Days 5 and 6

The weekend brought with it new challenges as i normally drink every weekend.  I'm used to waiting until about noon and then cracking a beer and watching football.  This weekend i had to crack the bottled water.  

The sparkling mineral water and the flavored varieties are nice changes of pace from drinking plain spring water.  I avoid tap water in most circumstances.

The headaches had subsided and they are no longer an issue.  I'm hypothesizing (guessing) that it was the lack of caffeine that was the cause.

Full disclosure:  i had a bowl of cereal last night and drank the rest of the milk.  GTFO if you think i'm wasting it.

Here's an unrelated photo from the Clemson v Wake Forest game, for your enjoyment.

Drinking Only Water - Days 2, 3, and 4

Excuse the lack of posts but I'm still "chugging" along with the challenge.  I'll admit that the biggest issue has been the habit aspect.  I find myself reaching for other drinks in the fridge and i have to stop myself.  (I don't live alone, so i was unable to simply throw out all the other beverages.)

The only other minor issue that i've noticed is that i'm getting small headaches.  A small annoyance.  I'm not sure if this is because i'm used to drinking caffeine regularly, or if i'm simply not getting enough water.  I haven't been drinking as much in the past few days.  I'll up the water intake and see if that helps.

Drinking Only Water - Day 1

Goodbye coffee, goodbye soda, goodbye beer.  Today was the first day of the "drinking only water" challenge.  I'll admit that i eased into the challenge slowly by drinking mostly mineral water and flavored sparkling water all day.  

Drinking Only Water - Intro

For the next 21 day challenge, i will not drink anything but water.  That means no beer, coffee, soda, tea, kool aid, etc.  The only exception will be my morning protein shakes.

Drinking calories is senseless for the most part.  Most of the drinks we find on supermarket shelves are laden with high fructose corn syrup and offer little to no health benefits.

I labeled this challenge "body" for obvious reasons.  It also falls in the "debt/personal finance" category because i spend a lot of money on beverages, particularly alcohol. 

If my Mint.com calculations are accurate, i've spent $1020 on beer, wine, and spirits over the past twelve months.  That's $85 per month.  You can bet your ass i can find better uses for that money.  Over the course of this challenge, i'll save on average $60 by staying away from alcohol.  This doesn't even include other drinks on which i spend money.  

I'm interested to see how cutting out all the extra alcohol, caffeine, and high fructose corn syrup will make me feel.  Stay tuned!  The challenge begins on Monday.  

In the meantime, i think i'll have a beer.

Smoke Free - Conclusion

It's safe to assume that my lack of posting means that i fell off the horse.  I'm not going to try and make posts for the final few days.  It wasn't pretty.  Fell back to my old ways.  Unsure what happened.  I just gave up.

Needless to say, this is something that will be a work in progress.  I'm not going to simply give up completely.  I have work to do.  Having such difficulty with a challenge really helps expose my weaknesses and let's me know which areas deserve more attention.

Nothing is a failure if you learn from it.  I learn more in failure than i do in success.  Don't be afraid to fail.  Don't make that an easy excuse to quit, either.

Smoking Less - Day 16 & 17

The past two days haven't gone as expected.

It's just too easy to drop the ball. I can be good for 23 hours and 59 minutes a day but it only takes that one minute to light up.

When i fail once, it makes it easier to fail later.  I tell myself, "i already failed today's challenge i might as well keep smoking."  I'm really not sure why i do this to myself.  Sabotaging my own efforts.

Smoking Less - Day 15

I succeeded today in that i did not smoke before work or during lunch.  It helped that i woke up only 25 minutes before i had to leave.  I was rushing around and didn't even time to think about it.  I also stayed downtown at lunchtime as opposed to going back home.  Thus, there was no opportunity to smoke at lunch either!

Let's hope i can stay strong tomorrow without having to hide!

Smoking Less - Day 14

I was being productive today so i used that as an excuse to smoke as i pleased.  I was supposed to have a couple of baseball games this afternoon but they were rained out.  I was looking forward to being out of the house for 7 hours.

Anyways, it's back to cube tomorrow so i'll get into my after work routine.  One week left in this challenge.  There's plenty to be salvaged if i allow myself to be successful.

Smoking Less - Day 12 & 13

The weekend brought with it new challenges and new disappointments.  During the week i have the "luxury" of being at work for 9 hours a day.  I don't ever smoke at work.  However, on the weekend i typically smoke from the time i wake up until the time i go to bed.  While i wasn't that extreme, i still didn't put it off until the end of the day.  

I'm frustrated with myself, i just can't let that frustration get me down.  That's when other and more negative behavior occurs.

I'm looking into joining a local gym.  I have a consultation in a week.  I'm looking to fill my schedule with meaningful activities so that i don't have the opportunity to partake in these negative behaviors.  More on that if/when it happens.

Smoking Less - Day 11

So i realize today that it's still an uphill battle!  After a decade of smoking regularly, it's just normal to me.  I'm used to smoking in the morning and smoking again at lunch.  I still had to flex that "don't do it" muscle!

This challenge, although a "failure" is still going to be beneficial.  I don't want to use that as an excuse to just give up in the future, but more like, "just fuckin' try it!"  You're going to learn something regardless.

I'm convinced that i'm still going to come out of these 21 days a better person.  That's what it's all about.  

I love and appreciate each and every one of you!

Smoke Free - Day 10

If you've been following along, you've probably been waiting for me to cave.  Today is that day.  I broke down and bought some smokes.

As i mentioned before, i embarked on this challenge because i thought i should, not because i really wanted to.  Truthfully, my goal all along has not been to completely quit but to simply reduce the amount that i smoked.  A beer and a smoke after work to chill, for example.  More of an occasional indulgence as opposed to a regular occurrence.

I appreciate the support that i've received.  You know who you are.  I'm sorry i let you down.  For the haters, congratulations, i failed.  You can bask in this one.  I'm down, but not out.

Instead of completely abandoning the challenge, i will only smoke once per day.  I believe that this is a goal that is a little more attainable.  Perhaps it's where i should've started in the first place.

So, from now on out the title of this challenge is misleading.  It is what it is.  I've done worse.

Smoke Free - Day 9

I have a feeling that this challenge isn't going to last for 21 days.  As i mentioned before, this isn't something i feel like i even want to do.  I feel like i should.

Being smoke free has simply led to an uptick in other negative behaviors.  I'm simply replacing a bad habit with another bad habit.  That wasn't the idea.

Where is this going?  Stay tuned.. 

Smoke Free - Day 8

I'm not going to lie.  I don't want to do this anymore.

I never really wanted to quit smoking.  I started this challenge in hopes that i'd quit for 21 days and then reintroduce it back into my life.  The hope was that i'd ultimately cut down on smoking and make it more of an event than a regular occurrence.  A "drink and a cigar to unwind" kind of thing.  

Not being 100% committed makes accomplishing goals really hard.  (See the gluten free challenge)  It's easy to find ways to cheat or simply give up.

As i mentioned yesterday, is it really that big of a deal?  Doesn't everybody have their "thing?"  I can't help but think that addiction plagues almost everybody. We typically only think of vices such as smoking, drinking, or gambling but the reality is that people are addicted to many things.  Money, shopping, sex, power, being skinny, etc. etc...

Why isn't being addicted to money and power frowned upon?  It seems as though in our society people with those types of addictions are rewarded and put on the cover of Fortune magazine.

What does this all mean?  Fuck if i know.  I still haven't gone out and bought smokes but i really want to just say, "fuck it!"  Which is also the reason i feel like i should continue... And although i don't think it really applies to overcoming addiction, we're not supposed to should on ourselves!

Can you tell i'm a gemini?  Constant internal battles..

Smoke Free - Day 6 & 7

Still on some bullshit.  Now i'm just replacing my habit with other vices.  I consumed a 12 pack of some decent beer in the last two days.  Normally, the chances of this happening are very slim.  It seems as my "smoke free" challenge has just led to other negative behavior. *shaking my head*

It fuckin sucks but i'm still dedicated to this 21 days.  When the days are up, i'm pretty sure i'll continue to smoke.  It is what it is.  Everybody's got their thing though, right? (Bargaining?)