Unheeded Lectures

Happy Happy Monday!!! Here we go again…with a new Reclaiming Me story.  This week, I am so happy to have Jack of The Jack B as a guest this week, to share his Reclaiming Me journey.   I  “met” Jack recently through twitter and The Red Dress Club. His writing makes me giggle, nod my head in agreement, makes me think…and on some days it makes me want to hug him.  (oops, I have not told him that).  His writing show that he just “gets” it–whatever “it” is.  And I am so excited and honored that he was willing to share his very own Reclaiming Me story here.

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Twenty years ago I wandered around the gym locker room listening to a group “old men” complaining about how hard life had become for them. They were fat, balding, married whiners who didn’t take responsibility for their lives.

I was none of those things. I had a full head of jet black hair and a body the reflected the two hours a day that I spent at the gym. But I did more than just work out. I carried a full load of classes and worked 25 hours a week at a part time job.

So when I heard these men complaining I rolled my eyes and promised myself that I wouldn’t end up looking like them. Truth was that it seemed inconceivable to me that I would ever have to worry about it.

I suppose that you could say that I was young, dumb and stupid. Or maybe naïve and arrogant is a better term because when I look in the mirror now I don’t like what I see.

What I see is a 42 year old man whose hairline has retreated while his belly has advanced. We have had meetings about this. I have sat down and lectured the hair about how inconsiderate and unprofessional it is to leave without giving notice. I ever offered to give it a raise and more benefits but it has refused to listen.

And the belly is just insubordinate. He laughs at me and says that I need to go talk to the metabolism. To be clear, I have done that. I have met with them both individually and collectively to discuss the situation.

They problem is that they just don’t care. Neither threats nor pleas have been heeded and so I have found myself working hard on alternative measures.

Since the mental and physical health are part and parcel of the same package I have taken appropriate steps. The blogging serves to meet the requirements of the mental/emotional needs. Seven years of writing has helped to take the edge off of some of the frustration and made it clear that writing absolutely has to be a regular part of my life.

Without words I would be less of a man and it is probably fair to say that some of the belly’s growth comes from the time in which I didn’t write. Food replaced words and well…

The exercise isn’t limited to the mind either. It is joined by two nights of pick up basketball and regular visits to the gym to lift weights.

All I need to do now is find a way to sew my lips shut so that I cut down on the calories I consume.

But on a serious note I am working hard to try to make changes. I want to live my dreams and not dream my life.

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Do you have a Reclaiming Me story you would like to share?  Click here to find out more!

If you are visiting from the home of my dear sweet friend Nicole at By Word of Mouth Musings...welcome..and thank you for trekking all the way over here.  I have grown to adore Nicole over twitter and bloggy comments and am so excited to meet her in real life at not just one, but two conferences this summer!  And so her feature of little old me…well, SWOON.

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Tagged as: Guest Posts, Reclaiming me