As the title implied, today's workout took place in our garage. In a very small space, due to clutter. I have a weekend project now. It wasn't anything big. Just three sets of:
10 push ups,
10 upright rows with a 25 lb kettle bell,
10 sandbag shoulder slings, and
10 air squats.
The last set of squats, I added a slosh pipe. I will be doing that all the time now. Blessed Killer of Abs! Instructions to build your own are in the link. I highly recommend it. In fact, my garage gym has been the single best influence on improving my health, other than select people. A future post will show and describe each piece of my home gym.
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I've been battling with myself a lot lately. My two biggest challenges have been not spending money and eliminating sugar. It feels as though there are two minds in my head. One, the rational one, wants to change. He sees the benefits and wants them. He is willing to sacrifice to get them. He knows what is right, what I should be doing. I refer to him as my grown-up brain. Or wolf, if you know the allegory. He is similar to the Senex in Jungian psychology. He is what I want to be. The trouble is, he doesn't seem to be in charge of my actions and decisions.
That honor lies with the child brain/wolf. He is the impulsive, childish, selfish, prideful, needy one. (Am I saying I am all those things? Yes, yes I am.) He is the Puer Aeternus, the God child. He's terrified of becoming the Senex. He's afraid of missing out. He worries that committing to any path eliminates all the others. (Which it only partially does.) He does what feels good, when it feels good. He doesn't connect the consequences to the actions. He is eternally malleable and shifting.
And he doesn't want to leave.
This eternal child likes being in charge, likes sharing his premature wisdom. He thinks he can skate by on smarts and dumb luck. And as he does, the Senex, the old man, counts the hours wasted in reckless pursuit of pleasure, leisure, and ease. This is the battle raging in my head moment to moment. As I lay here, typing this post on my tablet, the adult wolf is counting all the tasks I didn't do. And the child brain is begging to sleep. And I feel torn.
I know there aren't really two minds. Just useless and destructive habits that undermine my efforts to change. The Senex has been neglected for so long, he is weak and easily dismissed by the strong, well-fed Puer. He always speaks up, though, even after all these years of being ignored. The voice has gotten weaker, but it's always there. And that's the key. Putting in the effort to heed that voice and ignore the blaring pleas for the now and the wants. Working at working. Which, for a lazy individual, is magnitudes harder. Because while you're working, you have to work at working. It all sounds so exhausting. Or exciting.
My inner child must be sleepy.
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