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Yesterday I completed another 75 Hard.
I am very grateful to have finished and run the race. Did I accomplish all my goals… that’s a big NO! Do I wish I had accomplished all my goals? Of couse!
I did accomplish my biggest goal. I feel and think I’ve become a better person. I read three books, worked out every day and pushed more weight than the month before, and went faster than the month before.
I wanted to lose some weight and a couple of inches on the gut and chest while I was at it. No such luck.
In the last couple of days of challenge, I was feeling like a failure because I had worked for 75 days straight and felt like I sacrificed a lot to get some weight to drop off. I felt like life was kicking me in the face again and felt depression setting in.
It’s really easy to go down a dark path when you let your self-talk tell you about all your failures and again and again. I wouldn’t let anyone in the world talk to me in that way, but I let myself tell me how worthless I was.
I was able to turn it around with a little thankfulness. At the beginning of last week, we finally had the first day of fall here in South Texas. We know fall is coming when we finally have a cool feeling moring.
If you don’t live here, it’s hard to explain. During the summer it never cools down. It’s always hot. Even right before down and in the middle of the night, it still feels hot. It just doesn’t feel as hot. We all look forward to that first morning when you walk outside and feels cool. We normally wait for three to for months, but sometimes it is as long as six months.
This first morning doesn’t mean the heat is gone for the year, it just means that it will start getting better.
That first morning, feeling like shit, a failure, and idiot, I walked outside to go to work and felt the cool morning. It was glorious.
I walked out into the middle of my street and stood there for about five minutes just enjoying the morning cool breeze. Just thankful for everything. I posted it on Instagram (@BenBranam) and looked at some of my pictures. I have a great life. No, I don’t have everything I want, but I have everything I need. And I get to do some pretty amazing things with some awesome people!
From this 75 Hard I learned one thing. I struggled for 75 days of not missing a workout, not eating one sweat thing, reading every day 10 pages, and drinking a gallon of water.
I did it to learn one painfully obvious less:
BE THANKFUL FOR WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU HAVE!
One of the most simple things ever.
I am probably just dense as it takes me learning the hard way to truly get life lessons. Are you like that?
I’m determined to remember this one and to practice every day.
I have a great job. I have great friends. I have a great family. I am a good person. I have a great life!
Most of the time I forget this. I ignore my good friends and let those that are “friends” be vampires and suck away my time and energy.
I complain and focus on the bad parts of my job. No job is perfect, but I love most of it, like 90% of it, and like 90% of the people I work with. I sometimes focus on what I wish my family would do for me or with me, and that sucks the joy away from everything family.
Sometimes, I let myself go down a dark path and remind myself over and over again about all my failures, misses, and mistakes in life. Forgetting that I reached three out of five goals I set for myself.
And then, worst of all, I look at other peoples’ lives and how great it looks and judge their best days against my worst days and think about how crappy my life is. Not true at all. No matter how good or bad other peoples’ lives are, mine is still good or bad regardless of what they are doing.
I am thankful for you reading this. The world is a dumpster fire of uncertainty right now. We need everyone that can to become better. If you are reading this, I know that you want to be better. And you will.
My advice, be thankful for what you have, what you have achieved, and continue getting better and achieving more.
Ben Branam