Hey all. It’s a Sunday morning and it has been beautiful outside all week. I took advantage and got some things done, but not as much as I wanted to and actually ended up wasting a good bit of time this week getting sidetracked. One of my first posts was called “Being on my Purpose” and in my opinion, it is the most important post I have done so far because the biggest thing that drinking took away from me is the resources (time and money) that it diverted from the things that actually matter to me and that I want to accomplish and become. I don’t like wasting time. AT ALL. I can come across as impatient at times, but I actually am very patient about things that SHOULD take time or that are important to do the right way as long as we are working towards them. But I am VERY impatient when nothing is getting done when it should be. Maybe it’s a character flaw and I should chill out sometimes. But that’s not me.
In about an hour I’m going to church. Not for the reasons that people usually go to church. I don’t consider myself a Christian, and I don’t have kids. A lot of families go to church because they don’t want their kids to be assholes and so that they can meet “the right kind of friends”. Which, fair enough. I go maybe once a month, for other reasons. The first is that I don’t meet new people THAT often since I am usually either at work, at the BJJ gym, or at the fire station surrounded by the same people. I meet people in passing on the bike trail and around town when I’m walking Keino. But for the most part I see the same people over and over. So I like the variety of walking into a building where I know nobody’s name. I am not shy, but I also am not that great at starting conversations with total strangers. So sometimes I just workshop and chat up whoever happens to be in the area or sit next to me and practice my social skills with strangers. Maybe that’s weird. I don’t care. I also go because I usually do take away some new perspective from the preacher dude. I usually go to the same church, called Northstar, and I don’t even know the preacher dude’s name. But he is a good guy and I enjoy his energy and his perspective whenever I go. It’s basically like listening to a podcast. The third reason I go is because I like to people watch, and the herd mentality of a church from someone who does not believe what everyone else does is really amusing to watch. Sometimes it makes me feel like an outsider and I end up just walking out before it even starts. But sometimes I decide to stay and listen. At worst, it is an hour where I can chill out and not be thinking about work and stuff.
Anyways, the real reason I wanted to write today is to revisit My Purpose and check progress on that. And I am basically defining Purpose at this point as who and where I want to be at 35. From memory, I want to be completely out of debt including mortgage and student loans, be either married or with the person that I will marry, be starting a family, have completed the DPT program wherever I end up going, make $100,000/year, have a net worth of $500,000, prioritize spending time with family and friends, in great physical shape, and consistently travel and spend time working on personal projects and hobbies, like BJJ. By focusing on my life at 35 rather than my life right now, I get a lot more satisfaction from putting in the work and time it takes to get there. It is easier to sacrifice fun and nights out, so that I am in a better position tomorrow. I always say that I am building my future, or building my life, because it makes me appreciate all of the foundational work and the process it takes to make my vision happen, even though the frame work might not resemble the finished product yet. That being said, it is very important to make sure I am using those extra time and money resources to build my future rather than wasting that time.
I am only 3 weeks into this thing, and I think that I have done a lot of things well. My PTCAS application is submitted, which was a huge undertaking, and now all I have to do is wait a few days before I can submit all of my individual grad school applications, which is way faster and easier, and I have that high burden lifted off of me now. I have also spent a good deal more time at the fire station and volunteering at community events. And I have cleaned up the house and yard pretty well, which is an area that I sometimes let fall through the cracks. So those are the three areas where I have done well.
I have not really increased the amount of time I have spent practicing jiu jitsu, so that is something that I am going to prioritize this week and going forward. Not just attending more classes, but practicing my foundational moves, base fitness and strength, and reviewing lessons at home instead of wasting time. I also don’t work out consistently enough to see the results that I would like. I am definitely stronger and more in shape than the average person, but I have always considered average to be a terrible benchmark to compare oneself to because the average person is not doing very well, whether you are considering financially, physically, sexually, with their relationships, or even with mental health. Average sucks. Aim higher. When considering physical fitness, I want to maintain a level at which I can do anything I want to at any time without having to consider if I’m able to do it. If I want to climb a big ass mountain, I can do it without a problem. Bike all day? No problem. Run across town? Easy. Push that car out of the ditch? I’m your man. Need an extra for your volleyball team? I’m there. It takes a fairly high level of strength and fitness to have the confidence to be that way, but not unattainable by any means. I have a little work to do before I’m there, particularly in the running department.
I also wanted to spend the extra time spent not drinking to improve my relationships, and I haven’t done that yet. It’s not that I’ve been a weird hermit or anything. I’ve hung out with some good friends a few times. But I haven’t socialized quite as much as a should have. Part of the reason is that I was in a financial bind and had to cut back on spending a lot, and so spent a couple of weekends in. But in reality I need to make more of an effort to build and strengthen relationships. I can get into a “lone wolf” mindset when I am working on something, and it is important for me to remember to prioritize relationships with positive friends and family even at those times, and to build new relationships when I come across the right people. Over the next several weeks, my social calendar upticks quite a bit so I will have lots of opportunities to do better in this area.
Alright, I’m getting out of here. Thanks for reading.
Zachary
Iron Sharpens Iron 