During my quarantine reflections I have thought a lot about who I am, what I am doing, why I do it, and more importantly what I should do differently. I honestly got really depressed earlier this year about my life/work balance, and quarantine at first made it worse, and then clarity came. Talking to a counselor made me realize I need to do things to work on me. I started thinking on some personal changes I could do to make me the better version of me that I know I can be... well here in a few blogs I will discuss those. It is all still changing but basically here is my list and my first blog discussion (ideally a blog on each coming as I have time).
My main changes (so far):
More Family Focus - quarantine allowed me to see just how much I was missing of my kids and how much more time I want to have with them. I need time focused on them, and less time when I fit them around work. I can fit work around them, and still be good at my work.
Enjoy My Age - From what I drive to my schedule, I feel like I needed to upgrade to being in my 40s. Most of my friend group is younger, and I still travel and work with college students... but I can't drive small sporty cars forever (well not daily) and my body needs more sleep. So I bought a grown up car (blog on that adventure soon) and am working on my schedule post quarantine.
Get Back to Hobbies - I wrote about this HERE already. It's been nearly a month since I wrote that, my Datsun Z is nearly ready to roll for the summer, my basement "Car Cave" as Cruz called it is pretty much done (before/after pics coming soon), and I am enjoying Hot Wheels and all three kids are enjoying it with me. I needed something else besides work to do in my spare time, and this has made a big different for me.
Break From Beer - A year ago I went 30 days without alcohol for final training for my triathlon. I lost weight, felt better, and for my first tri turned a decent time for an old guy. I hatched an idea for an ultra multi-day protest run and I thought might as well train during quarantine. What I planned as a 30 day alcohol drought turned into 60, then 90 and now who knows... even with quarantine lifted I am sticking to it. So here is my first of a longer reflection.
I am sure anyone has thought, man what if I didn't drink? Impossible right? Maybe not.
Some of my favorite memories were times that included alcohol. Fun college nights, celebration events, graduations, reunions, or even just a beer with my dad on the patio. It's what you do to mingle, to see friends, to network, it's a core part of daily life. Why avoid it?
Some of the times I wish I could do over, included alcohol, or were maybe because of alcohol. However, would avoiding alcohol cause the change? Not exclusively not, so why avoid it?
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| Family will still be Brew Werks regulars! |
If I cut out alcohol, could I still do all the cool things I normally enjoy with alcohol? I think that is part of what held me back in the past from trying to make the decision. Everyone knows I love the Brew Werks, is it only cause of the beer? No, I remember the month I was training I still went a lot, but didn't have beer. I could do it again for 30 days, but longer? I did it in quarantine, could I do afterwards?
People know I like a challenge, I like doing things that are hard, so here we go. I am not sure how long I want it to last, so far it's not felt impossible. It's been easier in quarantine, but even when Brew Werks opened up I just told the staff I wasn't drinking, and the ice teas kept getting refilled with no questions.
So if you see me out, I will probably still buy you a beer, but don't need to buy me one. I'll take an ice tea, unsweetened please (still training for a potential run), and more than happy to talk work, life or whatever without a beer in my hand.
Thanks to everyone who will help me make this commitment last.
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