March 4th, 2012: I guess I’m going to do this little disco dance called the “Up One (or two or three)-Down One (or two)” as I hover right near a major milestone, but I’ll set it to the rhythm and the riff from “Stayin’ Alive”. Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m staying alive. This is merely a speed bump. Back up a pound to 304. My mindset is as solid as concrete – solid as concrete – solid as concrete. I repeat -solid as concrete. I’m still a believer, and still just doing as told. I will toe this line.
Yeah, so without any cool stuff to report, I’ll cut right to a daydream that I better deploy, which, if I was living it out right now, I’d be at Grand Targhee ski resort just about to board the lift. Since I can’t speed up summer coming, I’d like to be out enjoying winter. We got quite a bit of snow the last two days in town here alone, so up in the mountains it would be killer right now. It’s a windless sunshiny day, too. I’d probably come back to town with raccoon face from my sunglasses. I’d ski like I used to ski in high-school – without worries of my knees exploding like popsicle-stick bombs. Crystals form on the powder snow as I swoosh through it with my K2’s clicking on every turn. It’s crisp and cold, but I’m warm and flexible. It’s steep and fast, but I’m strong and quick. Those days are coming again, my friends. I swear to God that this time next year I will live out this daydream. It’s worth the frustration and sacrifice of right now as I invest in the near future.
March 4th, 2020: Unfortunately, I admit I never have been back skiing. Yet. In fact, it’s been so long since I’ve gone that I haven’t even tried this “new” type of ski that, rumor on the street has it, change the very nature of your movement down the slope. Looking forward to giving these a try…
I put my skiing on a temporary hold when I tore my ACL playing football, which required a few trips to the mechanic and the parts store. I tried it again some time later, but by then I was starting to climb the scale, and coupled with a few years of relative inactivity, this kinda took the fun out of skiing. Priorities change, things happen, etc., and then just about the time I was physically, financially, and mentally ready to hit the slopes again, my hip started hurting – and not just a little bit. Now I have a new one of those too! So, by God, I’m getting back on skis next year. I hope. An excess of $100,000 of new body parts and stitcheseses and cranks and adjustments still leave me with no small amount of trepidation.
What happens if you do have a physical setback when you’re in the middle of the first leg of the process, i.e., you haven’t reached your initial goal weight? Well, you fuckin give up, of course!
Really?!? Hell no you don’t give up. It’s just another challenge man. I’ve had more than my share of emotional and mental setbacks through this process. I have lost family members in the middle of this, and still have not yet yielded to the demons. However, the physical barriers I’ve encountered have presented some very concrete issues. All those mental games can be adjusted and tweaked as I go. What happened when I had to get my original hip sawed out and a prosthetic one put back in its place? What happened when I would get sick as fuck from time to time? What happened when my hip was 100% ready to rock and then I ruptured my bicep tendon?
Within the thunder-dome of the program, injuries aren’t welcome, but sometimes they just happen. Life happens. Shit happens. Fortunately, I’ve learned from these complications and developed strategies to maintain fidelity to the process and belief in myself and in the program. What doesn’t kill you…
