I’m presently in my 2nd week of this and I’m still consistent. I do a little reading daily, took a walk before having dinner, worked on my finances, and today I got a chance to speak to both my parents. The day was productive, that’s for sure.
Today is my father’s birthday. He’s 65 years old. I asked him how he was, but his reply was just “okay”. I wished there was a way to make him feel better than okay, however it’s difficult to do that when he’s out in Louisiana and I’m here in New York. Then this evening my mother called me after returning from a cruise with her husband. We did some idol chit chat, and then she started with the negative talk about me, which prompted me to get off the phone with her as soon as possible. I ended with “love you” in both conversations, which felt odd since I’ve never heard them say those words to me in my entire life, and then my mother responded with “I love you, too” and made it a point to let me know she said it. It’s strange and feels almost unnatural to try to form healthy relationships with your parents, especially when in so many years, one did not exist, but it has to start somewhere, and it might as well be with you.
Outside of my daily bible reading, I’m reading three books.
- “The Art of Woo” by G. Richard Shell & Mario Moussa
- “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell
- “The Five Love Languages for Singles” by Gary D. Chapman
You would figure I’d be reading one book at a time, but for some odd reason, I’m digesting at least two books on my ride home or while I’m at home daily. In truth, I have so many books in my library that needs reading, with three more on the way to me from amazon, that it’s going to take me at least six months to finish them all. I want to better myself, and these titles came highly rated. If you want a book list of what’s in my queue, let me know, and I’ll put it together.
I mention both of these situations because I want to let you know what momentum can do. Ten days ago I decided to go on this journey and I made good on my promise the following day. Although this walk right now is significantly easier than the times when I fasted off of solid food, it still required a desire for a completion. A few weeks ago, I went out to dinner with one of my aunts. She ate meat, which was strange to me because from my understanding for the last 10 years or so, she was a vegetarian. When I asked her what happened, she explained to me she went off of meat because she was fasting. For 1o years she did this because she had a goal she wanted to accomplish and she finally was able to achieve it, and it wasn’t to be a vegetarian for 10 years. She was living a marathon, not a sprint, and it was interesting to see how her iron will allowed her to persevere.
Because I knew that video games had become a problem for me, a month ago, I went on a video game fast. This meant I could not play any app games, or facebook games, no PS3 or computer games as well. The only one I allowed myself was “Superbetter” and that’s more of a personal task manager than a game. The fast forced me to use my daily commuting time to either read or rest. It also forced me to focus on my task list and become more productive. It stopped me from burning through the day, focused on game play instead of getting important things done. Understand this, I still have games in my queue that require attention and I’m still trying to find where I hid my 3DS, but when I noticed that I was allowing games to distract me from important things like getting ready for work or getting sleep, I knew it had become a problem. To break that stronghold in me, I decided to fast off of games for a month. There were times when I was jonesing, but I had to make sure that I had enough restraint to not play: that I played the game and the game did not play me. Officially tomorrow, if I chose to, I could play a game, if I wanted. I don’t know if I will.
If something is important to you, start somewhere, stay on it, allow all the accomplishments to snowball, then follow through. Plan all you want, but eventually move.
Initiate, gain traction, snowball, and follow through.