I feel like I have learned something about myself. In order
to get the best out of myself, I need to have something to look forward to.
Before I went on holidays I was working toward looking and feeling my best; I
wanted to “peak” right before I went away. My diet was good, my training was good, and my
engagement was high. I experienced a couple of new things during that time.
First, I turned away chocolate. There was a day that I went
to the store with the intention of buying a nice big slurpee and a big bag of
chocolate (this was on a day off from my diet). Instead, I bought a small
slurpee and a single chocolate bar. When I got home I found that I couldn’t
even finish the slurpee or the chocolate bar. I was satisfied with the small amount
that I had consumed. This was a first for me. I am normally like an animal when
it comes to chocolate. I lack the ability to know when enough is enough. I have
eaten whole bags of cookies in one sitting and I have had chocolate bars for
dinner on more than once occasion. Hopefully this illustrates what a
breakthrough this was for me.
Second, I maintained my discipline right up until the day I
left. In the past I have always started strong but then limped across the
finish line. I attribute this to a lack of discipline and not creating a
sustainable training program. Sifu Brinker has talked about black belt
candidates giving up everything in the six months prior to grading in order to get
where they need to be, which is not sustainable. This was always my approach,
and it never worked. I now feel like I have the tools to ensure that I will
never limp across the finish line again. The trick will be to get better and
better at using those tools.
With all this being said, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point
out that, despite all the effort I put in before holidays, things have been
lacking for me since I got back. I haven’t been as engaged and I haven’t put in
as much time training. This is something that I will have to work on going
forward but I already feel like I’m back in a better frame of mind and the
nausea and dizziness that was bothering me is gone now (I think that I had
water in my ear and then I flew home). It’s exciting for me to see some
significant changes in myself and I hope that there is much more to come.
Cory Smid
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