I miss the warmth. I miss the camping too, but at least I got a taste of warmth earlier this month in Florida. As I am aging, these winters get increasingly hard for me to endure. I am astonished by these people that enjoy outdoor activities in the frigid months of the year. In recent days, I have seen my Florida friends post memes about the cold snap they are experiencing and I feel no sympathy. I would love to have the problem of enduring fifty degrees as “cold.”
The product of all this frustration with the weather is that I find myself focusing on the thought of being outdoors more and more. So much so that I have started booking my camping trips for the summer. A couple of stays in New York State Parks, a couple of private campgrounds, and last night I signed up for Harvest Hosts.
Harvest Hosts is a middle man for RV stops at farms, wineries, and breweries across the country
Harvest Hosts popped up on my radar last year shortly after I bought my travel trailer. They are a middle man to farms, historic sites, breweries, and wineries around the country that will host you for an evening with your RV free of charge with the expressed understanding that you will spend money on their offerings and behave. The idea is great if you are a brewery and winery or farm to table kind of person. You can do a lengthy tasting and stumble to your camper and sleep it off.
I cannot comment of the quality of the stays because I have not experienced it yet, but I am hopeful it is going to be great.
The grand conflict in my life right now is when and how I escape the cold for good. I do not plan on ever moving away outright, but rather to be one of the millions of people that snow bird every year. The main decision that needs to be made is WHERE I am going to live. If you had asked me that question a few years ago, the immediate response would have been Orlando. As much time as I spend there, it seemed an easy decision. I have since learned that is not a great idea. Walt Disney World and the greater Orlando area are my happy place where I go to escape. If I lived there, the daily issues that life always presents would mix with my escapism. That is no good.
Moving to Orlando could ruin the Disney Magic for me
The next option, which is a rather new one, is Hilton Head Island. We travelled there back in December and I loved it. Its not necessarily as warm as I would like, but it certainly isn’t cold. They have a Disney Vacation Club resort there, which is the reason we visited. It is less commercialized than some resort areas, but it is also quite expensive with an elitist and uninviting vibe at times.
Another option is something foreign. Jessica and I have discussed Costa Rica. Neither of us have visited there, but we plan to in the coming years. I long for the ocean and she longs for the mountains. Costa Rica has both, along with plenty of jungle. The cost of living is low, so our incomes and retirement could offer a comfortable life style. Also, as a massage therapist and soon to be yoga teacher, I could easily find part time work there or lead retreats.
Costa Rica offers oceans and mountians
The last current option, which ties to the beginning of this blog post, is to upgrade our camper to a motor coach size RV and travel during the winter. This allows for us to be somewhere different all the time. We can visit National Parks or beach communities. We could travel into Mexico or Canada. We could flat tow my jeep or an EV and have access to cities. We could settle in one place for a while or be constantly on the move. There are so many options it could make your head spin.
For now, all of this is just a dream. I am nowhere near making that decision. It is likely seven years away. But it doesn’t hurt to think.
It is really quite incredible how terrible I am at keeping up with this website and journaling in general. But in this and in life, all I can do is forgive myself and try to do better. I have a several things I want to catch up on, so I will prewrite a couple of days worth of content and then time out the posts. Today’s topic is The Wood Brothers. More specifically, it is my review of their Rochester show this past week.
Let me start by giving a little bit of history of my time being a fan of the band. For me, they first appeared on my radar in 2015 when they played a show in Syracuse, NY at the Westcott Theater. The only reason I was even aware of the gig is because syracuse.com published a story about the band. This was shortly after the release of The Muse album and they were spotlighting the song “Sing About It.” As I watched the video, I was floored. I had to see this band. I quickly booked tickets and started devouring their music and learning more.
Sing About It
As it turned out, I was aware of them longer than I had suspected. They released an album in 2005 titled Ways Not To Lose with the single, Luckiest Man. That song was everywhere that year, but the name of the band never really registered with me. They were one hit wonders of the early 2000s as far as I knew.
Circling back to 2015, it would be hard to exaggerate how much I enjoyed my first live Wood Brothers show. While only a three piece band with Oliver Wood on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Chris on bass (upright and otherwise), and Jano Rix on percussion, they commanded attention the entire show. They are a little bit blues, a little bit jazz, a little bit bluegrass, and whole lotta soul.
I saw a plethora of great live acts of the same ilk that year including, but not limited to, Ray LaMontagne, Gregory Alan Isakov, and The Avett Brothers. They are all amazing, but there was something very unique about The Wood Brothers. They didn’t live in a specific genre. They came to the table with individual professional backgrounds in completely different segments of music. The product of that union was sublime.
The rest of that year, they popped up on several YouTube videos from different music commentators. They were staples on the festival scene. Their star was rising, but they continued to exist in a niche market.
I saw them the next year in Ithaca at The State Theater in what is perhaps my least favorite concert experience of all time. The band was amazing. They were crisp and energetic and worked the crowd into a hyper state of joy from the first note. The problem for me is that I paid decent money for pretty good seats and the security at the show allowed the orchestra section to become a free for all. I never mind standing at a show, but this was insane. The aisles and pit were both chock full of gyrating ex hippies and hipsters grooving away to the tunes. It didn’t help that my wife at the time was not a fan of the band and was miserable. I was annoyed and left early.
My next three times seeing the band were all at the same venue: Beak & Skiff Apple Orchard in LaFayette, NY. The music scene at Beak & Skiff warrants a story of its own and perhaps I will write that at some point. I saw them first as headliners, with The Blind Owl Band opening up for them. I brought my wife at the time again, along with both my children and met some friends. It was a great show. The Wood Brothers seemingly enjoyed it immensely too. They made several comments on stage about the beauty of the venue and the amazing hospitality of their hosts. The next day they played a show at Central Park in New York City and Chris Wood was sporting a Beak & Skiff T-shirt on stage. It was no surprise they came back.
The next time they played there was with another favorite of mine: Lake Street Dive. It was billed as a co-headlining show, but it didn’t feel that way. The Wood Brothers played a reduced set and the vast majority of the audience was clearly there for Lake Street Dive. I enjoyed the show all the same. This time I was there with several friends and the woman that would eventually become my current wife. It was her first experience with the band and to be honest, she was not impressed. She said they seemed a little flat and out of place. She said she couldn’t hear them well and that the crowd was not into it and she found that distracting. In hindsight, I had to agree.
This was all pre-Covid. I didn’t see them again until this year. They played another headlining show at Beak & Skiff with Valerie June opening for them. Since Jessica, now my wife, didn’t like them the first time, she wasn’t compelled to go. I brought my friend Joe instead and had a hell of a time. We tailgated with beer and THC, enduring a lengthy storm delay of more than an hour before we could entire the venue. When we found out seats to begin the show, it was already nearing dark. Valerie June was hauntingly good and set the stage for an incredible evening of The Wood Brothers’ music.
The Wood Brothers
Shortly after that amazing summer show, they announced their fall and winter dates. They were coming to The Kodak Theater in Rochester, which is a gorgeous venue that I adore. I had a presale code and bought tickets the minute they went online. I scored two front row tickets. Leading up to the show, I didn’t know who I was going to go with. My wife still wasn’t interested. Joe didn’t want to spend the money. A couple of other friends weren’t available. The I had a Covid exposure and worried I wouldn’t be able to go at all. Luckily, I was negative and I pleaded with my wife to go. She begrudgingly acquiesced. As it turns out, she was very glad she did.
Their opener got sick, so a local duo, Aaron Lipp & Richie Stearns stepped in. As they took the stage, it was clear that were not accustomed to playing a house this big or an audience this full. After a nervous and awkward start, they absolutely killed it. Both men had wonderful harmony and played off each other beautifully with a mix of original music and eclectic covers. In all my years of concerts, I cannot remember a crowd so pumped for an opening act.
After a short break, Oliver, Chris, and Jano took the stage. From the first note, they owned it. They entertained us thoroughly for two hours, with a perfect mix of jam-band like journeys and informative narratives. Chris also led a couple of songs I wasn’t completely familiar with. His vocals are a stark departure from Oliver’s voice. While this is in no way a detriment, it feels like a wholly different band with him fronting the songs. They set up an omni mic to play a few acoustic songs with ethereal harmonies. Before they began, Oliver remarked that it was time to play in the key of Be Quiet. The crowd laughed, but he quickly followed up with a comment about what a well behaved audience it was. It was a Tuesday night, after all.
Sing About It, live at The Kodak
One thing I was not aware of until about halfway through the performance was that this was their FIRST show of this tour. I was shocked. They were not rusty or tired. Their timing was perfect and their voices were exact.
After the set ended, while waiting for the encore, I looked over to my wife. She was thrilled. As she stated on the drive home, they seemed like a totally different band than the first time she had seen them. Playing a theater show where the sound and audience can be more controlled suited them. She was won over completely and my love for the band was galvanized.
I am going to take minute today to reset my “digital” life a bit. This is something I have been meaning to do for quite some time now. My plan is not to eliminate social media or delete my online presence or anything, but rather to set a demarcation from my establish past to a new and unknown future.
If you know me, you know that the last couple of years of my life have been hectic. The emergence of Covid-19 created a sense of dread and psychological conflict that spilled out into my relationships with clients, friends and family. I became hyper political amid the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. The previous administration was a constant source of strife for me as well. So as I became aware of people that supported Trump, I sought conflict with those individuals or expelled them from my life altogether.
Last year I ran for local office, which I barely lost. I expanded my business during Covid, opening a second full location. I got married (for a third time). And during this past year, I returned to travelling, which is something the previous year was fairly devoid of.
The result of all this chaos in my life was a sense of a loss of control and understading of my place in the world. I lost my motivation to be the person I have been working toward being for years. I was trying to shove a square peg into a round hole, and no matter how hard I pushed it wasn’t working.
I will not spend time rehashing my background, I have done that in previous blog posts. I just want to note a few things before continuing:
I am prior military, having served four years of active duty in the United States Marine Corps.
I have struggled with my weight. I was overweight when I entered military service and my weight has ballooned several times in my adult life.
I found an endurance fitness lifestyle in 2010 and it has been an integral part of my life ever since.
I began studying Buddhism around the same time I went to Massage School. While I have never considered myself a Buddhist, its teachings have become a part of my daily life.
I recently began a Yoga journey. Instead of attending regular classes, I have chosen to dive right into a two hundred hour Yoga Teacher Training.
I bring up these things because they are all vital components of my motivation to chart a new path going forward. I am happier when I am at peace. People around me are happier when I am at peace. I am more successful at most things when I am at peace. So peace is my mission now.
When that means for resetting my “digital” life is that I am going to focus on those things that make me happy in life and share those things with the world (understandably my small corner of it). I will make every effort to avoid being negative or judgemental. I will seek opportunities to be kind and supportive and to foster postive relationships with people that can reciprocate my energy.
Our minds and our bodies exist in a symbiotic relationship. We need a healthy body to protect a healthy mind, but we also must cultivate a positive mindset to produce a fit and able body. I do not believe it to be coincidence that, during the last several years of political and pandemic strife, I have gained so much weight. I am hopeful that focusing on the positive in life and disregarding the negative can assist me in finding a wonderful mindbody state that will improve life for myself and those around me.
Follow my journey here at The Daily Octane.
Quick note on how and why I am doing this:
I am now using a journaling app to write a daily journal. SOME of these I will publish directly to www.thedailyoctane.com, but not all. If even one person finds motivation from my blog, it will be worth the effort. My goal is to share my experiences in life and the insight I have gained from a more positive path.
I woke up with a little bit if a hangover from last night. I emphasize a little bit…
I went with Joe to dinner at Dasher’s in Homer before seeing Citizen Cope at The Homer Center for the Arts.
First of all, the food at Dashers was great. The atmosphere does not match the quality of the service or the food. It is a real gem of a restaurant. Bill Burdick has been telling me to go for years. I am happy to have finally made it there.
Then we went to the show. I have seen Citizen Cope before at this same venue but this was a different experience. I was quite irritated by the crowd. It seemed as if a bunch of locals decided to go who perhaps did not even know who Citizen Cope was OR they just knew one of his newer upbeat songs or the Santana version of Sideways. Regardless, there were some terrible people in the crowd. They heckled him, talked incessantly during the music, and laughed openly at some parts of the performance.
I will admit that I was a little tipsy and a little high, so I could have been over analyzing the crowd, but it was an annoyance either way. It did not ruin the experience, though. He is a fun performer who knows exactly who he is.
Courtney Chase was also at the performance. In fact, she bought the tickets. I got the chance to explain to her how different massage felt the last few days. It’s as if my short time with yoga has altered my awareness of the body in a functionally positive way. I will try to explain this more later.
Anyone who knows anything about me knows Disney is my singular obsession. I watch the movies, listen to the soundtracks, collect memorabilia, and I visit the parks. I travel to Walt Disney World about four times a year, on average, when a global pandemic is not disrupting our lives. Every once in a while, when the fancy takes me, I attend a performance of Disney On Ice. Such was the case this past weekend.
For this visit, I did something I have never done before. I bought the absolute best tickets in the house. I sat in the very center of the very front row of the section they affectionatly call Main Street. As I assumed they would be, the seats were amazing. The cast members were mere feet away from us so often it made your head spin. Many an enthusiastic performance piece ended with the skaters posing for their applause right in front of me.
eThis is the view from our seats for Disney On Ice
Jessica, my wife, begrudgingly came along. She lamented on several occassions prior to going that she was dreading it. On the morning of the performance, she complained to her mother that she didn’t want to go. This was followed by her mother sharing stories of her taking Jessa (that is what my mother-in-law calls my wife when she thinks she is being ridiculous. She thinks she is being ridiculous a lot) to see Disney on Ice as a kid and that she loved it.
I had not been to Disney On Ice for about five years, if memory serves, and I had never gone without kids. I took my children several times when they were young, and then when they were too old to think it cool, I took nieces and nephews. This was my first time going without any children at all.
Often times, when I tell people I am heading to Disney World, I get one of three questions. People that know me a little will ask if I am going for races. People that know me really well generally just ask, “AGAIN?” And people that barely know me at all will ask if my kids are going with me. This last question is promptly answered with an emphatic, “NO!” most of the time. With alarming consistency, people retort back, “really?”
On many a Disney Fan Page the question gets asked time and time again: Should adults be going to Disney World without kids? This is a question asked for a myriad of reasons, but I think I can boil it down to a cultural fixation with “growing up.”
There is a fascinating dichotomy with Disney. One one hand, it exists as a family friendly company whose purpose is to entertain children. On the other hand, it is exorbitantly expensive to travel to the parks and make the most of your time. A five day trip to Disney World for a family of four on a tight budget is going to run at least three thousand dollars. To actually add the perks to make it memorable, you are now creeping into the six to seven thousand dollar range. Does that sound cost effective? No…the answer is no.
This is my tire cover on my Jeep Wrangler.
My wife and I know what we are doing. We know how to make the most of Disney without consistently breaking the bank. It requires a significant initial investment, but over time it completely pays for itself. To make it affordable over the long run, we are Disney Vacation Club Members, Annual Passholders, and through credit card use we rack up a ton of points with Disney and the airlines that we use.
For example, we are leaving for Walt Disney World tomorrow so I can run The Dopey Challenge (more on that in the coming days). We are flying Delta airlines to Orlando from Syracuse, renting a car for 7 days, staying at the Grand Floridian, entering parks 6 days, and all of that cost me a total of ZERO dollars. I had to pay my registration for the races and we have yet to pay for food and merch, but all in all, the food and liquor will be less than $500. We could not do that if we were bringing kids.
That brings me back to Disney On Ice. While there were a lot of children there I was pleasantly surprised to see the couple sitting right next to us, in arguably the second best seats, were also there without children. While I could sense the glares from parents all around us as they wondered why childless adults were in the front row, I did not give a care in the world to their plights or whether their little snot whine machine could see around my giant head. I was in my glory.
Showing Peter Pan my Peter Pan tattoo
Peter Pan is affectionately known as the the boy who never grew up. He is tattooed on my right forearm and his spirit is engraved on my soul. I will never grow up…never.
Chris
Weight: 219 lbs…I did it. I got myself below 220. No exercise yesterday. cardio while fasting can be very difficult.
Do you ever feel like you are not who you are supposed to be? Happens to me all the time.
I am not talking about vocation or name or even sex, necessarily. I am referring to a more existential sense of misalignment. There are moments, increasingly often as I once again battle my weight, that I feel like there is a completely different version of me stuck inside this meat and bone bag fighting to get out.
In my soul I am different than myself. I am a fit, charismatic, kind, and motivated individual with an inescapable need to help people and the world. I get glimpses of this version of myself regularly enough to know that person is real, tucked away deep inside of me.
So why can I not be this version of myself?
I think the answer to this question is very complicated. If I had to dumb it down and choose a singular culprit, I would say it is compulsive habits. There is no doubt many others share this same issue. I live my life in many ways on a proverbial hamster wheel. These habitual actions lead me astray sometimes. My eating schedule, sleep schedule, interactions with my wife, and work all play a part in forming this structure of life I cannot escape.
Normally, structure is a good thing. It provides a grounded sense of familiarity and safety in an otherwise unruly world. But when you are trying to make fundamental change to the way you live your life, this rigid way of living makes new habits extraordinarily difficult. This is the crux of my problem.
If you read yesterday’s post, you will know that I wanted to attempt a 30 hour fast followed by a 36 hour fast. This is incredibly difficult for me because my hamster wheel has been spinning for many years. The day started fine. I woke up, wrote yesterday’s post, did a workout, visited with my mother-in-law before she travelled home, went to Disney On Ice, came home and napped. All went well until I woke up from a 2 hour nap and those urges to eat kicked in. I struggled for hours with the jitters and that dreaded sense of emptiness in my belly.
I am very proud to say that with the help of my wife I was able to endure and finally fell back to sleep around 1am. I woke this morning to coffee, a bagel with cream cheese, and a pile of scrambled eggs. Next meal is dinner Tuesday. Oh, and seven pounds came off on the scale! Fasting is nuts
I am going to use this annual calendar transition as an opportunity to step off the hamster wheel for as long as possible. Wish me luck.
Chris
Weight: 221.8 lbs Workouts: one hour of walking on the treadmill and I moved my whole gym around.
I am one of those people whose weight fluctuated dramatically over the years. I have documented most of this in previous posts, but I will provide the short version here. I first gained substantial weight while my ex-wife was pregnant with our first son. Our second son a few years later pushed my weight up and my belly out.
Shortly after he was born, I lost a chunk of weight but was still heavier than I would have liked. In 2009, I quit smoking and my weight shot up dramatically. I reached the heaviest of my life that winter, tipping the scales at nearly 280 pounds. Then the first overall lifestyle change ocurred. I found cycling and running and healthy eating and dropped over 100 pounds, leveling off at 168. I didn’t stay there long. A slow march over the next few years got me back up to 220.
In early 2015, my ex-wife and I (still married at the time) exerienced an extended split. During that period, I found Intermintent Fasting, or IF. I also set a goal of running a marathon, which I completed in January of 2016 at Walt Disney World. Between IF and the constant running, I got myself back down to 190 lbs.
This is me right after completing my first marathon
Shortly before the marathon, I reconciled with my ex and returned to much of my former lifestyle. Again, the weight began to creep up. In 2018, the same person who turned me on to IF introduced me to the Ketogenic diet. I was aware of Keto prior and I even knew a couple of people who made it their primary lifestyl choice, but I didn’t really understand it. But it worked. I started 2018 married and 225. By fall of that year, I was 174 and divorcing (it would stick this time).
Over the last few years I have wandered in and out of Keto, Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescaterian, IF, and “eat whatever the hell I want.” I go on benders with candy and bread and wine and beer. The latter two are, what I believe, the primary culprit of why I have gained so much weight back. I also believe, as there are more and more studies to show this, that being keto for so long messed up my metaboilism. I will not get into the science of it here, but essentially your body forgots how to properly process sugars, akin to diabetes.
So between the wine and beer and bread and candy, I am once again creeping on 230 pounds. It is a new year. It is time for change. New Year’s Resolutions are a joke and we all fall into the trap because they are so often impossible to maintain. Yet here I am, about to attempt one.
In three days, I leave for Florida to compete in The Dopey Challenge. I going to run 48.6 miles over four days way too heavy. I have no idea what is going to happen, but I do nto want to do it at 228 pounds like I am this morning.
I am going to begin by fasting. I normally follow The Warrior Diet, which is a twenty hour fast with a four hour eat window. That is not going to cut it this week. I going to attempt a 30 hour (at the time of writing this, I am already 11 hours in) fast followed by a 36 hour fast. This should knock several pounds off. When you are running that much, a few pounds can make a huge difference.
I will keep you up date on the progess as the week develops. Wish me luck.
As I sit in my kitchen drinking my morning coffee, it is easy to forget that today is New Year’s Eve. 2021 has been a hell of a year, both in great and terrible ways. One could even say the 20s have been the most demanding and rewarding years of our lives.
I have learned a lot this year. I have experienced a lot this year. I have lived a lot this year.
Even though we are still in the midst of a global pandemic, with cases now surging due to the Omicron variant, I am so hopeful for the future. Many of the measurable aspects of my life are in a state of growth and improvement. My business is thriving. My relationships are evolving in ways that feel beneficial. I have traveled to new places with the promise of more new experiences around the corner. I have very little to complain about.
As this year comes to a close, there is little I can reflect upon with disdain. Perhaps one is my experience with the political system. I have been involved in local politics for a number of years now, but this year was my first where I put myself out there and ran for office. I enjoyed so much of the experience, but there was much to be desired. When all was said and done, I left the process with a sense of emptiness. I see more clearly now than ever, the dispicable facets of the construct. There is an insidiousness that becomes hard to ignore. Even with the best of intentions, it is easy to get sucked into the polarizing blame game.
I don’t want to be that anymore.
So I am going to relax my grip on politics and its affect on today’s society. I want to let go of its obligation to erode relationships with people I care about. I want to stop allowing it to nurture relationships with people I should be avoiding (this may be the most important).
As this year comes to an end, I look forward to new year of opportunity. I find myself excited for a world of opportunity and growth in the coming months and years. My mind is awash with a desire to improve my existence, both existentially and spiritually.
The Fab Five will be on hand, as they always are, for The New Year’s Eve celebration
Tonight, following a full day’s work, I will sit with my wife to watch an online broadcast of the fireworks at Walt Disney World. In that moment, I will close the book on 2021 and reach for the next tome. I will begin writing that book tomorrow…starting with a longer Saturday morning post, where the distractions of the days preparation are not as demanding.
Enjoy whatever festivities you decide upon, be safe, and live your life the best way you can.
Weight: 223.4 (clearly I am not losing weight yet) No workouts yesterday. I chose to use it as a rest day.
Its not shocking that I already missed a day. It is an attempt at a new routine and these things seldom come easy. In addition to that, last night was packed with activity. I had a 2 hour afternoon workout followed by a couple of hours with friends at a restaurant and then a couple of hours with my close friend, Joe.
I also need to keep mindful of the fact that I do not want this to become burdensome. This must be a natural part of my daily activities. So as I write this, it is morning. Perhaps I can fit it into my morning routine better than my evening one.
So what happened yesterday?
The day started with mostly housework. I completed an application for a commercial mortgage for my office in Camillus and then spent a bunch of time in the gym downstairs. I completed a three mile run, an eight mile bike ride and a couple of lesser workouts on the rower.
We have had the rower since Christmas day and I have to say that I am really enojoying it so far. Interestingly, the unit would not find any of the heartrate monitors we have in the house. I called Ergatta to get help with the issue. The very attentive and helpful man on the phone gave me a free month of service and we got a firmware update the next day that resolved the issue. Excellent customer service.
Following my workouts, Jessica and I went to dinner with my friends Brian and Beth Meany. We chose Francesca’s Cucina in the city, which is a fine spot that never disappoints.
The day ended with Joe coming over for the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett. I have been looking forward to this show for some time, as the logical next arc for the new Star Wars universe being created by Dave Filoni. I was NOT blown away. It wasn’t bad, per se…it just wasn’t as “cool” as I was hoping it would be. One of the characters, an emmissary from a local mayor, was especially cheesy. Robert Rodriguez, the director, seems to be choosing a comedic route with the show. Perhaps as the picture of the whole series comes into focus, this creative choice will make more sense.
The Book of Boba Fett airs on Disney+ and is released on Wednesdays
So to today…one week from today is the 5k, the first race of four of The Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World. This is my fourth time doing these races, but also proabably the least prepared I have been. I am hoping the hard press these last few weeks will be enough. I will taper this week, limited myself to walks on the treadmill, light pedaling on the bike and light paddles on the rower. I have to trust my body, with its right completed marathons, to know what to do.
Weight: 222.9 Yesterday’s workouts: 4k rower, 7.11 mi bike, 2.64 mi run
I have never successfully kept a diary. I have tried a couple of times to start one, but something has always derailed me.
Recently I have experienced an epiphone. It is time in my life for me to once again go through a transformation. I feel the calling of the Universe, if you will.
“Why?” you ask. It is because I am floundering. For the last couple of years, I have lived in the “Covid World.” The reality of that sent me spiralling down a rabbit hole of alcohol, food, pot, and less fitess. My weight has ballooned. My stress has increased. My life has gotten increasingly more complicated.
Professionally, I have been on a roller coaster. When Covid arrivd in March of 2020, my business was closed for three months due to the mandated closings by, then Governor, Cuomo. For those months, I was racked by stress. Stress of the unknown, money, my relationships, my staff, the future of my business.
When my business opened back up, everything was pretty good for a while. Yet I felt compelled to turn my life upside down again by running for local office in 2021. I also decided that a third marriage was a good idea. My oldest son tried his hardest in 2021 to fail at graduating high school. The culmination of these stressors was the news that the massage school in Syracuse was closing. Without a school, there is an uncertainty about future staffing.
The other thing that has been hard during these Covid years is all the death. Sadly, I am not talking about Covid death. My greater friend group has seen many losses to suicide, overdose, alcohol poisoning, etc. A few of these losses have been especially close ones. Two of them were former lovers.
So this brings me to the original point of today’s post. A new beginning. A Universal calling. An epiphone…
Here is what I have done so far:
I have begun my fitness recovery. For Christmas, I bought my wife (and me) an Ergatta rowing machine. I have used it a bunch since Christmas day, already logging over 17 kms of distance. I have also been utilizing my treadmill and Wahoo setup for my bike in Zwift. I recently became better familiarized with the workout options built into the software...and I like it.
I am starting Yoga Teacher Training in January. To begin this process, I have some required reading I have to accomplish before I begin. I will explain why I have chosen this new path.
I am signed up for the Berlin Marathon in September of 2022. I will find out on January 9th if I made it into the lottery. In preparation of the trip, I have begun learning German. I took several years of German in High School, but that was nearly 30 years ago, and I have forgotten a ton.
I have reengaged my meditative practice. It is a struggle each and every day to find the time, but I will get there one way or another.
I am reconnecting with business in new ways. I have a bunch of plans for the near and far future, and 2022 is the year I begin several of these. I will discuss this in a future post as well.
That is all for tonight. As I get more comfortable with this process (hopefully I stay on the wagon for a while), I will include photos, videos, and links.
Chris
ZeroOctane
P.S. I will be including some stats as a part of my daily posts. These will include my weight and a general list of my physical activity and food intake.
Weight: 222.1
Workout: Several activities on the rower. Approx 600 kcal
Food: TOO MUCH...two tacos, a burrito, a tossed salad and 3/4 of a bag of Sweettart Hearts (LOTS of calories)
