Now that I’m fully committed to this lifestyle, at least for the foreseeable future (definitely until May), I need to make sure I don’t turn into a total lame since the bulk of my social life has revolved around drinking for most of my adult life. I am comfortable with shaving off some relationships that I have either outgrown or are not conducive to what I want for my future. But this means a definite switch in the way I operate in many areas of my life. Like when asking a woman on a date, one of the highest success and least threatening approaches is “let’s meet up for a drink”. That’s not to say that I don’t have other date options, but that’s a pretty easy one to open with.
So basically, I need to replace all of my “let’s meet up for a drink” dates with friends and women, with other ideas. This I think is actually a great opportunity to pursue a lot more of my own interests, because I often have felt that I don’t have time anymore for hiking, weekend trips, exploring downtown, kayaking, biking, etc and yet I have always found time and money for nights out.
I also think that I can use the extra time to pursue some personal projects and learn new things. If I am accepted to the UC DPT program, there is the option to do one clinical rotation in Italy, which I think would be super cool to do. So I downloaded the DuoLingo app and have started learning basic Italian so that it can be a cool experience I will always remember, should I choose to do it, as well as an incentive to learn another language and have an actual reason for doing so.
My main problem is that I have few friends that I don’t regularly drink with, and I have told very few people that I have even quit so they are still unaware, and so I think that my biggest challenges have yet to come. I think that in the next 6 weeks, I will have 3 significant challenges: my friend’s housewarming party and party bus (which I have opted to do and have fun but still not drink), my friends’ wedding in October where there will be an open bar and many of my longtime drinking buddies will be there with me, and Halloween weekend which I usually take part in but may sit out entirely this year. But I don’t want to be some weird loner so I’m going to see what my options are that weekend, and probably just make other plans.
When I make decisions, I always envision my life at 35. At 35, I will be out of debt, with my house paid off with over a quarter million dollars in retirement savings. I’ll have a beautiful wife and starting a family. I’ll be in fantastic shape and will live an active lifestyle. I’ll be a purple belt in BJJ. I’ll go on killer trips every year and not worry about money. I’ll have a great work life balance. I’ll be involved and well-liked in the community. I’ll have made positive friend choices and have a great mix of fun, exciting, positive, and successful friends and will prioritize spending quality time with friends and family. I will be generous with my time and money. And I will have set myself up so that I never have to make a decision based on money again. I am already on the right track to be this person, but I have a long way to go. And I’m excited about building this future for myself.
Iron Sharpens Iron 