It occurred to me today that I should probably change my approach.
I set out at the start of this year to run three hundred and sixty-six miles (a mile for each day, on average) by the end of the year. I surpassed that goal months ago. I also had never run a 10K, or a half-marathon, before 2020, but I did both of those things this year.
But, the problem is, I’m not where I want to be. I’m not sure how to put this without sounding shallow and superficial, so I’ll just say it –> I don’t look the way that I would have imagined that I was going to look, at the end of a year of work like the year that I’ve put in.
Now, whether or not it was reasonable for me to believe that I could reverse thirty years of not being very physically active at all, with a single year of busting my butt, of course it seems silly when I spell it out in this blog post. But, that doesn’t change the fact that I was expecting it. But, since this is not a post about unreasonable expectations, I’m not going down that road. It suffices to say that I am not where I thought I would be, based on the amount of work that I’ve done.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve noticed some very real changes in my physique, and I am pretty excited about those changes. But, they just weren’t the changes that I was expecting to see. So, that got me to thinking about “Insanity”.
You see, “Insanity” is a DVD-series of aerobic training videos that I bought, many, many years ago. I’ll bet that you have a set of these DVDs –or some set like this one– somewhere in your possession, as well. I remembered, all those years ago when I bought them, thinking that –if I could just make my way through those videos– I would look like the person that I’ve always wanted to look like. The DVDs all have pictures on them of pretty, physically fit people. Of course, they got pretty doing those videos, right?!?!
I remember when I first tried doing one of those videos. It wasn’t even one of the workout videos proper; it was the pre-training baseline video, the video that was an introduction to some of the exercises that were going to be incorporated into the workout videos proper. I got out that first DVD, many, many years ago, and I tried my best to do what those people were doing, “to establish my baseline”.
My baseline was this –> I almost died doing that DVD. Like, I actually almost had a coronary event.
I haven’t opened the case on those videos since.
But, last week, when I was thinking about the running that I’ve done and the fact that I still don’t like the way that my body looks, I thought to myself, “Hey, I should get out the ‘Insanity’ DVDs. Maybe I’m in a better place, to be able to try to be successful at doing them, for real”.
In short, I thought to myself, “I need to change my approach.”
* * *
I am writing this blog post on the evening of December 3rd. Maybe a dozen people will read it on the day of the 4th, maybe another half-dozen will read in thereafter. I’ve tried telling myself that I don’t really care whether anyone reads them or not, but I know that’s not true, deep down inside. I guess I turned a corner when I started making these posts publicly available, and it’s a corner that I can’t “un-turn”.
I have been regularly writing on this blog since April 22nd. I don’t know how many blog posts that is, but I am probably closing in on two hundred, if I were to stop to count them all. At the beginning of 2020, my dream of becoming a writer was just a dream. And, while it’s probably still ‘just a dream’, it’s closer than it’s ever been before.
Just like me, wanting to look like the guy that I’ve always wanted to look like, is closer than it’s ever been.
Have you seen the Jake from State Farm commercials? The most recent ones, where Jake is working with Aaron Rogers and Patrick Mahomes? Can I ask you what an insurance agent needs guns like that for? I wish I looked like Jake from State Farm. I can tell you, from experience, just pounding the pavement for a few miles every couple of days isn’t going to get me there.
Writing these blogs posts has been fun. There have been more than a few of them that I’ve actually been proud of, having written them. But, just like running has taken me a certain distance –but maybe not as far as I wished it would have– I am wondering how much farther I am going to get down the road toward being the writer that I really want to be by writing these blog posts over and over again.
So, earlier today, I got to thinking about “The Writer’s Book of Matches”.
“The Writer’s Book of Matches” is a book that I bought, back during my college days, to try to help me with becoming a writer. Needless to say, back then, when I lacked the commitment that I have now, I never really used the book very much. I think I used it more as an English teacher over the years –> getting ideas from it to challenge my students in my English classes to some creative writing assignment or another. Earlier today, out of the clear blue sky, that book came swimming back into my consciousness.
And, I thought of an idea.
So, here’s the idea.
This book is supposed to have 1,001 writing prompts in it (I couldn’t say for sure if it does, although I would estimate that it’s true). From pages 22 (quite a lengthy introduction) to 243, there are probably about an average of five writing prompts per page. So, I was thinking that I will start to try to move in a different direction with my writing by working out of this book.
But, I also thought that I am going to need the assistance of my favorite readers.
This post –the one that you are reading right now– will go live on Friday. Then, I will write again on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week. For those posts, I will write a blog post, based on the suggestions that I get from people who leave comments on my posts.
So, now that you’ve read this post, pick a number between 22 and 243. Leave the number as a comment on Twitter or Facebook or WordPress. Then, I will choose one of those page numbers and select a writing prompt off of that page. Then, I will post those creations as part of my new training program.
It Occurred To Me Today 