Jul 10
23
WARNING – This will probably be a weird and rambling post. In some wacky way, though, it’s probably the most important training related post I’ve ever written…
IMPORTANT – WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST AND THEN READ THE POST!!!!!
Just what exactly is your health worth to you? It’s worth a whole lot to me. At least it is now. I think we actually have two sets of values – those that we set out on paper and those we actually live by when the shit hits the fan. If you had asked me 10 years ago how important my health was to me I would have said it was the most important thing there was. All that mattered to me when I got out of college with my shiny new Chemistry Degree was making great money and living a great healthy lifestyle and maybe making some kind of a difference in the world of science.
I bought the lies in the media and the glossy health magazines and thought that I too could be a successful corporate superstar sauntering off to the gym after a full day of exciting, stimulating and rewarding work for a killer workout full of PRs. Maybe I’d even work as a trainer part time in between riding my motorcycle on the weekends. Sure, that’s a lot to take on. But that’s an active lifestyle and all those guys in Muscle and Fitness seem to be able to do it. Plus, I’m eating a great healthy diet full of whole grains and advanced meal replacement powders – surely those will help me keep up with my cool life. And things would get even better once I meet “that one special girl.” You know, the one the eHarmony and match.com commercials keep telling me is just waiting for me to log on and send an email to. I mean, the internet dating sites are loaded with emotionally healthy, honest people just looking for the right person to settle down with and build a quiet positive life with, right? Right… “We’re a generation of men raised by women, I’m wondering if another woman is really what we need…”
So, I got the “great” job with a tech start-up while the internet bubble was still inflating, I bought the big, new house with more bedrooms and bathrooms than I’d ever use and filled it with Ethan Allen and IKEA furniture. I had a great space for my power rack and weights in the basement and plenty of money and credit to buy more too. Funny thing is, I wasn’t training as much as I wanted to. Unless I got up around 4am to train before work or trained around 7pm after work there was no time. And when I did train I was too tired to do much of anything let alone get anything resembling a good workout.
But things would get better right? Pretty soon I’d be established enough in my career that I could stop working the 12+ hour days and taking work home on the weekend to get done in between mowing the lawn and whatever else had broken on the house that week…
Oh, but wait. Apparently, a BS in Chemistry Cum Laude from UConn just isn’t quite good enough and I needed ANOTHER degree. Luckily, there are a number of colleges and universities in Connecticut who will let me take classes at night (so I can keep working during the day and paying my mortgage – actually TWO mortgages by then) and they even take credit cards. The credit card thing works out great because the employer I had at the time didn’t reimburse for classes – but they happily benefited from the stuff I learned in the classes. And they didn’t pay me enough to NOT use credit cards to pay for the classes. The classes that I was taking to improve my value to the company and make more money. Which they weren’t giving me. Hence, the need for credit cards…
So, basically, everyone: the credit card company, the company I work for and the college make out. The only one not making out in that deal is me… Oh, but I get the incredible value of the EDUCATION right? Oh, sure. I particularly liked the fact that a GRADUATE Chemistry class I was in took 95% of the class VERBATIM from the UNDERGRAD textbook one of my professors used at UConn. Way to be on the cutting edge of science there… Or the self-proclaimed “Cutting Edge” GRADUATE marketing classes I took at another school that was using 10 year old case studies and did absolutely ZERO with anything even remotely related to the social web and the incredible changes we’re seeing in marketing. This was in 2006. 2006!!!! Any business school that wasn’t teaching social web marketing concepts in 2006 deserves whatever excruciatingly painful extinction it is heading toward…
What does any of this have to do with health and passion?
Here’s what it has to do with it. My house is on the market and I’m living back home in Old Saybrook, CT. I jog and work out almost everyday, I sprint up hills so close to the beach you can taste the salt in the air. I rarely answer my phone, do yoga in the yard while humming birds buzz around the Trumpet flowers my mom has lovingly tended for years and I could GIVE A FLYING FUCK about anything other than rebuilding my mental and physical health and absolutely CRUSHING my CrossFit and Kettlebell training. I’m eating full Paleo, writing every day and things are getting back on track.
If you want to be truly OUTSTANDING you have to focus on the thing you want to be truly outstanding at. I want to create a truly outstanding Paleo Lifestyle blog and make a major contribution to the Paleo and athletic community. And I want to live in TRUE and sustainable health, peace and happiness. To all of you have opposed me on this path, made my life difficult, tried to convince me to give up, tried to convince me to do what was in YOUR best interest, tried to push your own agenda to advance your own endeavors or told me that any health issues I might have WEREN’T in any way related to diet: FUCK YOU! Meet me back here in 5 years and we’ll see who was right and who knew what was up…
To all of my friends who have been so non-judgmental and supportive – like the whole crew over at MSDC. Thank you. And to my mom, who didn’t kill me or my cat Thila when she peed on the antique couch the first night we were here. Thank you.
I could truly give a fuck about my house and half the shit in it – particularly my J Crew khakis. I also don’t particularly care about my credit score and I WILL kill that fucker with the pirate hat and the guitar from the commercial if I ever see him. I’m sure the Boston girl I met on JDate a few years ago, who stopped talking to me when she found out I drove a Chevy Truck – she “prefers boys who drive Saabs or BMWs” – or those like her won’t be all too impressed with my life choices to this point. But I won’t be very impressed that they have a 12 hour Fran – SCALED.
Besides, in the wise, wise words of spiritual author Stuart Wilde: “Don’t worry about your credit score – when you’re a millionaire you won’t need to take out any loans anyway…”
I played the game and fed the corporate and societal machine for over 10 years of my life and I got SHIT. I got a load of debt, a few stays in the hospital, a terrible case of adrenal fatigue and a few other stress related problems. AND NOT ENOUGH TIME TO TRAIN AND DO WHAT I LOVE. Now it’s MY time and it’s MY turn to get what I want and FUCK what anyone thinks I should be doing. It’s my life. DON’T FUCK WITH ME.
So, the question for you is: “WHAT DID YOU REALLY WANT TO BE?”
I’m keeping your driver’s license and I’m going to check in on you. I know where you live. If you’re not on your way to being what you REALLY wanted to be in 6 weeks, I WILL find you 
ttys
Adam
But I’ve always remarked that when women say they want a guy who is “Driven and Ambitious” what they really mean is they want a guy who HAS BEEN driven and ambitious – is currently successful – and now has both TIME and MONEY to spend with her.
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