The Perpetual Self-Improvement Game (Part One)

As I write this, the New Year will be upon us in roughly thirteen hours.

It's hard to believe 2012 is almost over, it went by so fast...  Hell, the last five years have just flown by, which, as I advance in age, is forcing me to slow down a bit and savour every moment.  Not that I think death is just around the corner (I'm 40 in February), but the realization that I am now a middle-aged man with a family, and no longer a young, angry, sociopathic workaholic, has led me to make some changes in my life.

The flood we suffered near the end of November was the tipping point.  As I stated in my last post, I took it as a sign that I needed to make a few lifestyle changes.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the first sign.  I'm still playing Tetris with my life, and despite now playing it on the "Easy" level, I'm still trying to fit things into an increasingly larger pile within the narrow confines of my (our) schedule.  The cleanup made me realize how horribly out-of-shape I am... and if I'm that tired and stiff after mopping the floor and moving a little furniture, how the Hell am I going to handle the demands of parenthood?!

At the rate I'm going, I'm not.  So changes were in order.

The first thing I looked at was my diet, which can charitably be described as horrible.  Thus I resolved to eat better.  Heart disease and Diabetes run rampant in my dad's family, but we've all managed to avoid the rampage so far...however I am directly in their paths.  Time to step off the road and back onto the sidewalk, so to speak.  I'm slowly adding healthier food into my diet, and hope to be rid of my beer gut by the end of the year.

Speaking of which, my beer gut is a bit... pronounced.  Back in June of 2011, I weighed 210lbs.  I had daily walks to the corner store, to bus stops, Hell - I walked pretty much everywhere.  It was pretty good exercise!  In July of that same year, Jillian and I bought a car, afterwhich we drove everywhere.  No more hiking to the bus stop every morning, no more side-trips to the corner store for coffee, the exercise came to an end. As a result, I started packing on the pounds... I am now tipping the scales at 230lbs.  Not fat per se, but enough extra bulk to slow me down and make tying my shoelaces a bit more difficult than it should be.

Not being the gym membership type, my old exercise regimen being ineffective, and not having the money (or room) for home exercise equipment, I've decided to get in shape the old fashioned way - manual labour.  I've started our home renovations (after years of talking about it) and have been eschewing power tools in favour of manual ones... hammers, sanders, screwdrivers, saws, hand-drills, and chisels, all non-powered.  Combined with the mopping, sweeping, dusting, and cleaning I'll need to do, I expect the pounds to melt right off.

(to be continued...)

Join me tomorrow as I list my New Year's Resolutions.










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