37 Days...
In the last few years I'd often recall how sharp I used to feel in my teens, as though I had a further back perspective on the world and it's workings than most others and therefore a greater confidence to impart myself on it. But somewhere in the last 3-5 years, after years of fairly constant heavy drinking, I became increasingly aware that that ability to see the world around me for what it was, to assess a situation effortlessly and act with the mental precision required to produce the outcome I'd desired, had gradually been replaced by a contorted, distorted perception of reality that in the end I felt I simply couldn't trust anymore. And when you can't trust that the reality you're communicating to yourself is accurate, then how can you confidently affect the outward world to your choosing? Answer : You can't!
I could no longer gauge or calibrate what was happening during interactions effectively in real time. My reality lens was so freakin smudged I could barely see anything. Almost like the world around me was a stereo and someone had thrown a blanket over it. I felt separated from it and while initially only manifesting as lower self-confidence, this feeling of separation ultimately bred into moderate neurosis and periodical depression. And I'm sure the toxicity of being either drunk or hungover on a constant basis didn't help either.
In the last two years I've returned myself to a reasonable state of physical condition and in turn my mental engine room warning lights have been flickering less and less. But I still wondered if those years of drinking to excess had eliminated the possibility of fully re-kindling that spark to the way it was.
Around 37 days ago I made a decision that although seemed innocuous enough at the time, would provide me with both the answers I'd hoped for, and tools, both mental and physical, that would turn my foundations in reality from sand back to stone...
For a long time I'd wondered what would actually happen if you cut out all of the man-made bull shit in life, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, processed foods (which really is almost anything that comes pre-packaged) and replaced it with only whole foods from the fruit & veg/deli/butcher. Effectively eating only what nature would have us eat if we weren't so darned advanced as a people.
But curious as I was, I never had the guts to declare that I'd do it and carry on through. I think I doubted whether I could continue in my current social circle 'sans shit'.
So 37 days ago I made that decision.
Like many others I'd seen some pretty amazing results being had with P90X, and being always keen to try something new fitness wise, I made this commitment.
P90X + wholefoods + zero alcohol/caffeine/nicotine for 90 days.
Well 37 days in, what I can report on the physical aspect so far is nothing unexpected. The impeccable diet coupled with structured daily exercise has combined for increased muscle tone, fat loss, and an exponential increase in energy (I know, go figure...) but it's the alcohol hiatus that has brought on the clarity of thought and in my opinion the real and somewhat hidden payload of P90X... It gives you your mind back!
- Awareness of situational chemistry has improved dramatically
- I feel as though I have a wider perspective and an increased overview of my surroundings (hopefully that's not just an out of body experience I'm talking about)
- Uncertainty has again been displaced by confidence
- My problem solving abilities are back (with a vengeance!)
- The red crooked spell check line has appeared only a few times during this entire post so far (something of a big deal for me... and almost all of those were for typos)
- I feel mentally 'young and fit' again, not to mention physically too of course
I feel as though I'm still learning how to be the person I used to be again, but getting there, and rapidly.
If this story sounds at all parallel to yours, then I'd encourage you to try it for yourself. My results have been far beyond satisfying so far, and emulating results is as easy as emulating the actions taken to achieve those results.
I'll post some pics when I get a chance but for now, the transformation over the last 37 days, both mentally and physically, has had me shaking my head in disbelief on more than a few occasions.
37/53
