About To Go Off Track

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Goodmorning! Have you been on track with your health? For the sake of this blog post let’s focus in on 2 of the 3. Mental & Physical Health. The third being spiritual health. We’ll touch on that… but, I’ll go deeper— in a future post.

Let’s check in with ourself. On a scale of 1-10. 10 being we are CRUSHING IT. How are you doing in your Mental and Physical health?

I like to do this simple practice with myself every couple weeks. A moment to audit, reflect and get honest.

“Have I been slacking in my training? Yeah, yeah, I been doing the things but am I showing up with intention?”

“Am I taking care of my mental health outside of my fitness?”

See I think 80% of mental health is physical fitness. If I check that fitness box everything else starts to fall into place. I’m more likely to read, write, journal, practice mediation, sauna, ice, fast from food and technology, get out into nature, or do breath work if I have been up on my physical training. These are all practices I use to strengthen my mind on top of physical training. Nothing is done everyday as I’ve mentioned in previous posts. These practices are simply tools in the tool belt that I’ll pull out as needed. Often on a weekly basis. Things like: bible reading, prayer and worship I would consider spiritual health practices. Most of these practices overlap with each other. Prayer does as much for my mental health as it does my spiritual health. Fasting does as much for my mental as it does my physical— and spiritual.

Am I About To Go Off Track?

Yes. I am. It’s the 4th of July week which is one of our favorite weeks of the year. Between camping, parades, cookouts and concerts I’m sure that I will be falling off track this week. Not too far though—I’ll have some beers and eat some foods I don’t typically eat. This will lead to me half-assin a couple workouts this week. The odds of me doing a sauna or ice bath are zero. The likelihood of me setting a run PR- zero. Will I still attempt to get some training in? Forsure— even 20mins will count. Will I be feeling a bit groggy the next day after boozing at a concert? for-sure. Which leads a clouded mind… I’m aware of these things. I call it the gives and the takes of life. I’m honest with myself about them. There’s freedom in that. If I say I am going to do XYZ this weekend on top of all the celebrations I know I’m lying to myself. Honesty is superpower* but thats for another post.

Going Off Track

Is a normal thing for me throughout my year. I share this with people all the time and they don’t believe me. It’s hard to tell from the outside looking in that I was ever off track. See, even the day after the concert I’ll be taking my family on a walk or a hike. The 4th of July I bet we get 25,000 steps in— and a few beers along the way. I’ll take the mountain bike camping and rip plenty of miles. Why? Because it’s fun to ride bikes. Even when I’m off track— I’m never too far gone. Even on the days I am a complete degenerate the next day I bounce right back! Not to my best self (or anything close to it) but I line back up again and get into the game.

Mastery

I have not mastered staying on track. Yes, I’ve gone months or probably year+ before without substance (alcohol/ weed) But it wasn’t a goal to do that. Just happened. I haven’t mastered staying on track because I DON’T WANT TO STAY ON TRACK. I like enjoying the activities I mentioned above. I have a really good time drinking a beer around the fire with my wife and friends— or at a concert— or on a random Tuesday in the garage. So, ima do that! Without guilt too. The difference is I don’t live there. On the micro I’ll do these things from time to time. On the Marco I’m on track doing my thing.

What I Have Mastered

Not feeling guilty about “living a little”

Getting BACK on track— this one especially! I’ve become world class at bouncing back after a day or two— or week off track! It’s a combination of still doing something (like long walks or a bike ride or a quick workout) when I’m partying (for lack of a better term). And getting going again on the day I’m back to “normal flow” I’ll wake up after the last day of vacations/trips and start right back into my rhythms. I’ll fast from food and when I do eat I’ll consume only protein because I was probably slacking on it the days prior. I’ll get a sweat on and a good workout even if it ain’t feeling too good in the moment. I’ll DO THE THING even when I don’t want to. The resistance is loudest on the other side of being off track for a few days. It’s harder to do the “basics” This is why so many people fall of track and stay off track. The barrier to entry becomes higher on the other side of being off track. I know this— so I’m OK with suffering for a few days while I get going again. I don’t need to feel* any certain way to do the things I know I’m supposed to do. I do them when I feel good and I do them when I don’t. I call it “being a pro” A pro shows up even when he doesn’t feel like it. You could argue that a pro would never get off track— I would argue back “how many pro’s have you shared real life with?” Most of us are just like the rest of us. Some fall off by accident and others fall off intentionally. The only thing that matters in the long run is:

WHO WAS ABLE TO GET BACK ON TRACK THE FASTEST

So, if you are like me who’s living healthy but also like to partake in what I call a “gooooddd timmeeeees” Do your thing. And MASTER GETTING BACK ON TRACK!

With Love and from reality

-Your Friend Zach