It’s been a while since I’ve posted a write up here.
My routine has changed quite a lot since my last blog.
Sat here, Wednesday morning, drinking my coffee – I got the urge to start typing and give y’all an update of where I’m at.
For around 2 months now – I’ve not been doing as many gym shifts.
Post pandemic I’d been working 65/70hour weeks every single week, mostly over 7 days.
I had 2 options….. streamline the business and do the shifts myself. Do the work to rebuild the business. Get the memberships back up etc. Or quit.
It’s been tough – but my target always was – put in the graft and hopefully be able to step back a little bit, again.
About 2 months ago, largely thanks to everyone’s support and memberships – I’ve been able to drop down to doing just 40/45 hours per week.
Rebuilding has been tough, I’m still not there yet, still need more members, but things are good.
With those extra few hours I have away from there gym, I’ve been getting outside more than I ever have in my life.
I’ve used the time to take up THREE new things.
- Walking/hiking.
- Gardening.
- Studying towards becoming a doctor of osteopathic medicine. (DR)
Becoming a DR is not to step away from the gym environment. It’s to increase my knowledge of the human body – so I can help people even more.
For the first 4 months of 2022 – I was factoring in a lot of activities to improve my mental toughness. To become more disciplined, more mentally strong. One of those activities was early morning walking, NO MATTER WHAT.
Wind. Rain. Cold. Snow. We did the walk. Early. Regardless of ANYTHING. No excuses. No weakness. No deviations. No compromises. No adjustments. I did the walk. 45 minutes. First thing. Glass of water – out the door.
I ended up actually REALLY enjoying it. Now I’m going further and further on the walks. I’ve been adding more and more hiking gear and gradually just getting my body used to going further. Now I’ve got the walking boots. The clothing. The tactical backpack. The water bladder with drinking tube.
A lot of my life I’ve spent in this gym. Indoors, underground. In artificial light. No fresh air. No vitamin D. No photons. No sun rays.
Getting the fresh air and sunlight has done me a world of good. The connecting to nature, the wildlife, the streams, the waterfalls and rivers……. I’ve been really enjoying it. It’s never been for the fitness, steps, calorie burning element of it – but I guess that’s an added bonus too.
The gardening is similar. Fresh air, sunlight. Connection to nature. The exercise. The movement. A lot of it is hard manual graft. Digging. Lifting. Turning soil over.
There are energies to be gained from the human to nature connection. The benefits to mental health are instantly noticeable.
When I was a kid, I was always in the allotment with my dad and grandad. As a teenager, helped out a lot in my step dads allotment too.
When I was old enough and had my own garden – it was no longer cool to grow fruit, veggies, salad or herbs.
But now I don’t care if it’s cool or not.
I’ve took a shovel to my lawn and began digging multiple veggie patches. Started composting. Collecting rain water.
I intend to lead by example and show exactly how easy, and how much food can be produced from a smallish space.
I came to the conclusion – what’s the point in having a garden full of grass – when it could be a lot more practical and produce a lot of clean, healthy food.
I’ve never been quiet about the fact I try to avoid additives, preservatives, fertilizers, pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMO) – and pretty much nothing from the supermarket is suitable any more.
OR, quiet about my opinion (which I may well be completely wrong about) – that there are powers that be that know fine well certain chemicals and additives in our foods and drink actively increase carcinogenic activity in the human body.
Couple of other reasons for the gardening include:
- To try to get the kids involved, outside, and off their Xbox’s.
I believe there are valuable lessons that can be taught from the garden. Perseverance. Patience. Watering, nurturing for a period of weeks until you finally get any reward.
The kids tend to want instant reward. Instant satisfaction. They’re used to instant mini rushes of success because of the devices and modern society.
Spending more time with them outside in the garden has already lead to other important conversations about life, growing up etc
I believe it’s important to instill core values rather than the shit the schools indoctrinate them with these days.
Again, my personal opinion, many may disagree with how I choose to bring up my kids – but I don’t subscribe to the participation trophy. We try to WIN. We try our best, and we understand how to win and lose. There’s no reward for coming second or performing at a mediocre level. But this is a topic for another day haha.
- I personally believe, that it’s going to become more and more important to not be completely reliant upon the state for ALL food. So at least having access to some clean, healthy, staple produce means – I can become partially self sufficient.
Finally, I wanna’ just discuss “burn out” and energy.
When I was working long days – I was burnt out, fatigued, had zero energy….. So before work I thought, I better sit, not use much energy, long day ahead, often 9 to 10 1-1 PT sessions per day and a business to run. (Which I still do, just over 40 hours instead of 70) I better just sit and do nothing and save my energy to get through the working day.
Now, doing a 5 to 6 mile walk, bike ride or 2 to 3 hours of manual graft in the garden – I actually feel WAYYYYY better.
More energy. Spending energy to get more energy is a thing. It’s hard to comprehend, but I definitely feel better for doing more.
BUT – how I’m able to do that, the gardening, the walking, the bike rides, the extra studying, spending time with my kids, taking my son to football on weekends………… It’s all thanks to you guys who use the gym or do 1-1s and for that I am always grateful.
As always – I document my life on Instagram Stories. Keep up with how everything is coming along on there.
