Happy New Year everyone!!!!! I hope this year brings you happiness and good fortune. Of course, you can control some of this by inserting more positive aspects of progress into your life and dilute out the negative ones--grow in a positive way. I know this may sound like a motivational message that you would see on a late night TV program, but the fact is that I am living proof of this progress. Over the last 7 months I have been incorporating a bicycle and other avenues back into my life to improve my overall well-being. So far the results are outstanding. Although, the path has been difficult at times. Let me explain what I mean in terms of my own growth and how this relates to the new year that is already upon us.
Six months ago, I gave up drinking alcohol and started riding a bicycle to work in order to incorporate more fitness into my daily life. I wrote about this a little over a month ago in a November post. Again, let me remind you that I am a normal person who is trying various implementations to improve my overall health. I begin with the mental aspect of my health because from there everything else will follow. Change the thinking in "command center" and you can change the overall implementation. At least that has been my thought over the last few years leading up to this change in lifestyle. The problem was that I was not able to fully take the chance and commit to just throwing myself into a full on change in lifestyle. Over time, I would not achieve the results that I was looking for in terms of overall health. Some of you may relate to this feeling. Not to say that you do not feel good and healthy, you just do not feel really good about yourself. Anyways, since I have started commuting to work using both the bicycle and Metrolink train. I have seen a change in my physical and mental energy that is totally noticeable. Plus, I receive the added benefits of reducing the stress by using the negative energy or useless anxious energy to propel myself on a bicycle.
Over the last month, I have additionally started to return to training in Jiu Jitsu at a school in Northridge. I am not stating this fact to brag in any way. What I am intending to share is that through gradual change of implementation in my life I am seeing a noticeable change. This change has affected the way that I deal with stressors in life on a day to day basis and planning for the longterm change. I have seen a diminished energy that I can devote to reacting to change and as a result, I am more balanced. I must note that the rate of change that each person exerts in their efforts to implement change is solely subjective. Go at your own pace. I am noticing that I get rather excited about feeling great with exercising and then border on the injury side. Currently, I am building on my ability to read myself more thoroughly in terms of my well-being.
During the Christmas holiday, Kayla and I decided to ride our bicycles to my sisters house to celebrate Christmas with the family. We live in Glendale, California and we rode to Newport Beach, California, which is a total trip of 119 miles. Kayla wrote about this trip from her perspective in a recent blog that you can read about here. This was a long trip for us. Not easy, but certainly not impossible. Six months ago, I would have said 'absolutely not.' Due to my recent bicycle commuting lifestyle to work and back the trip was not out of sight for me to envision. I am more comfortable with my bicycle after riding nearly everyday and feel less anxious about riding longer distances. I did not arrive her overnight, I can tell you that. Getting used to riding in traffic is difficult for people, including myself. Here is where your mental state is critical in order to move forward. Riding a small amount daily will build up your confidence as I have experienced and allow your muscles to adapt toward longer distances. "Priming the pumps" as Kayla likes to state the process of riding short distances before riding longer ones. Over time and training, the longer distance will seem shorter. Try this and prove me wrong. I bet that you will see with effort that the amount of change that is noticeable in your physical and mental states is larger than you previously thought. Do not forget to give your body a chance to heal. This does not mean take a whole year off of cycling, just enough time to heal.
Heading into the new year of 2014 I started to think of New Year's Resolutions for the year. I was reading an article written by a Neuroscientist, Billi Gordon, who was extremely obese and lost around 500 pounds. He has been in the news over the last few years. The point of his article was not to set any New Year's Resolution for the simple reason that you will inevitably arrive at failure. You can find the article here to read for yourself and judge for yourself. My take on the piece of advice is that I do not disagree and will adapt accordingly in my own way. I decided to build on my progress rather than set some resolution that will inevitably fail. Building on one's progress is an attainable challenge. In the process, I will try to remember not to beat myself up with the setbacks. Well, I wish you well in your journey towards a better mental health state and overall well-being. Until next time!!