Stop. Look. Listen.
This is standard advice one sees when approaching a railroad crossing or dangerous intersection.
Stopping seems easy enough although it rarely happens. Take some time. Truly stop.
Now here is the tough part:
Look. I mean really look.
Business guy, father, husband, habitual dabbler and hobbyist (running, exercise, golf, hunting, fishing, Texas hold ‘em,), drinker.
What to do when you are becoming a cliche? You make a modest amount of money, you drink every day, you eat poorly, you accomplish…not much. The mid section and face grow. Decisions become worse. Your impact is less. Self help thoughts go so far but nothing sticks. You have talent of some sort but your window is closing. You’ve accomplished some things but the memories are fading. What is it you want? What are you trying to do? The kids are about grown. The relationships you have center around what kind of beer was tried, how drunk did you get, what event did you drink your way through, how silly did you act?
Habits to change. Drinking. Eating. Being in places where poor decisions are pretty much the only option. Allowing workdays, weekends to pass by with the only thing to show for them being the flipping of the calendar. Can anything make a difference? Where does one start?
Find a website. Read articles. Look at the state of your own Union. Change your Twitter feed. Clear out your friends on Facebook. What is the by-product of poor decisions? Get rid of it. Listen to different voices. Have a friends mom pass and read her obituary and realize all that a minority women born in India was able to accomplish. What will your obituary say?
Listen.
Every day is a choice. Choose to put something down on paper that says I was here on this date and I did this. Choose to make progress. To where? Somewhere other than the road you see laid out before the chunky, lazy you. The inevitable march to the grave of an over weight, loved by his family because they chose to see the version of him that did things and to remember when he was the fully present version of himself, missed for a few minutes by his drinking buddies because hey he was fun to get drunk with, sort of well off guy who seemed successful but just never quite got quite where they thought he would.
Ok. Now go.
