This will be a pretty bitter post. And to be honest, I’ve been avoiding it (mostly because I had to finish out the last week and scan the paper) considering some aspects of what I set out to do didn’t go QUITE according to plan. In early December of 2019, I posted Here Comes The New Year… where I outlined my intention to work through a resolution for 2020 that would see me cut down and/or eliminate alcohol, cigars, processed foods and exercise regularly. I tried not to be a pest about it, since most people don’t want/need to hear about someone else’s New year’s resolutions, but this is MY blog and here we are!
I did provide two updates in the posts Getting Ahead Of The Curve and It’s Going Semi-Well, And I May Have Woken Up. That last one is a touch ironic, since I apparently didn’t wake up quite as much as I should have. But before I get into the meat and potatoes of how I felt this went, let’s take a look at the spreadsheet, which I’ll provide below as two separate images:
Now as you look at this spreadsheet, there are a few things you can notice. The first is that anyone who isn’t blind can obviously see what aspect is my weakness. And I’m quite unhappy about this. Although I’ve had some weeks where I completely abstained from alcohol, the majority of the year sees a red “X” under the “No Alcohol” column. I will admit, and I’ve pointed this out before, that limiting each row to a full week makes things difficult. After all, I can go to Saskatoon for my eyes and have a single beer with my dinner out, and it’ll earn me an “X” even if I abstain for the rest of the week.
What’s funny is that there is only one “X” under the “No Tobacco” column, which was all the way back in March. This is because I decided to treat myself to a cigar right before the world turned to shit and everything started closing because of COVID-19. Since I try not to leave my home for frivolous purposes, the purchasing of cigars hasn’t happened since then. The rest of the columns are self-explanatory, even if most of them are green all the way down.
My water consumption is always within the 3 litre arena, considering all the fluids I take in throughout the day from various sources. I’ve caught myself salting certain foods lately, so I’m admitting that those green check marks aren’t all accurate. And as a wise friend pointed out several months ago, some of the food I’ve consumed is processed even if I haven’t acknowledged it as such (Thanks, Kristen!). The “No Soda” column is likely the one I was the most disciplined with. Workouts are workouts, with some weeks showing as many as 6 workouts and a few that even had none.
All in all, the spreadsheet was top-heavy and tedious to maintain, as I’d forget to fill it some weeks and have to rely on memory in the weeks that followed as to whether I did certain things or not. The end goal wasn’t to completely stop all these things, cold turkey. I like to think that this was more an experiment in order to recognize and document the areas of myself I need to work on. And even though we can blame a certain amount of it on the current state of the world, this only carries you so far.
That’s why this year, there will be no spreadsheet. There will no grandiose blanket declaration of doing one thing or another. All I’m going to try to do better myself. Period. I’ll be cutting out alcohol and excess carbohydrates, working on developing a healthy calorie deficit. Not to be mistaken with starving myself. I’ll eat plenty, but I’ll be reading labels and taking conscious note of how many calories I’m taking in. I’ll re-assert my focus on personal fitness and hope to slim down, even if only a little. ☯
The Blogging Buddhist 