Tapping the will power reserves

Sunday.

Yesterday, in the car, driving home from the gym, Matthew and I, had an endorphin fueled conversation about out workout. Mid-January we made it our goal to make it to the gym at least four times a week.  We exceeded our goal by one day! Holler!!!

Feel badass and riding the waves of awesomeness, we decided to tackle an even bigger challenge: Lent. Dun dun dun.

Matthew says very matter of factly- “you and I have not really tapped our will power reserve.” Challenge accepted.

Traffic lights by traffic light, we began to make a list of things we were determined to live without for the upcoming forty days. Matthew’s list- alcohol, sodas, and one other item that escapes my mind. My list: soda, fried foods and bread.  Oh and we also agreed to make it to church every Sunday during Lent.  Then came the list of threats. Wait…let me take us back to fee days ago.

Matthew attended a training for work in which he learned about SWOT analysis and using threats to achieve desired results. So we have been using this threat system to accomplish things. For example: making it to the gym five times this week was a direct result of us agreeing that if we didn’t, Matthew would not be able to play Halo 4 for a week and I would have zero Greg’s anatomy reruns.

This morning.

At the wee hours of 5:30 a.m as we prepared for our morning trek to the gym, as if we had both been struck by psychic abilities- we remembered the threats.

1. Consuming the crap we decided to give up. For this epic failure of the wills- The Threat: we will be forced to workout at the gym without our ipods.  Yes- we went there. Yes, shit just got real.  For nothing sucks more than not having music to tune out the heavy, sweaty breathers all around you.  Not to mention it makes an hour workout seem like two.

2. Skipping out on Church.  We are by no means holy rollers. In fact, I think we last stepped in to the house of God in November.  I have been feeling like I need more Jesus in my life and I figure if I’m working on my fitness-might as well hit the spiritual fitness as well. What happens if we sleep in and miss mass? Our threat: No Walking Dead for that week.  Yeah…I know, wtf are we thinking but threats are supposed to help us achieve our goals.  I hope this is true.

3.  A few blogs ago, in January, I wrote about trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.  I have decided I want to be a writer.  However, I lack discipline…sometimes. My commitment is to write everyday for the next forty days.   Sounds easy enough right? Lord, I hope so.  My threat: Deactivate Facebook for a week. Yes, we just went from sane straight into cray cray land.

As I write this, on the eve of Lent…er Fat Tuesday, I can not help but feel excited and terrified out of my mind all at once.  Yes, perhaps we are using this time of year to fuel are weight loss goals but the truth is there has to be something therapeutic, cathartic and cleansing in the process.  So invite you reader to follow along, hold me accountable (if you want-no pressure here, I am all about holding yourself responsible to you) and laugh.  Yes, laugh at my expense, I don’t mind.  It builds character.

Let’s do this.

The not ugly, just unflattering wedding dress.

I spent most of this afternoon rearranging our bedroom.  Matthew was sweet and helped for about five minutes till I made a snappy comment- he then found refuge in the kitchen among the dishes.  I organized our dresses, nightstands and closets.  Almost everything was complete except for Matthew’s dresser. I can not understand how someone can own so many t-shirts.  There are t-shirts from high school, 5Ks we completed, comic strip t-shirts- oh so many.  I even found the t-shirt with the sleeves cut off (seriously, why?). 

I was so excited to show Matthew everything I had accomplished (I was still annoyed by his playing of Halo 4 but that’s another story for another time).  When I opened his closet, I spotted a photo album on the very top and I thought perhaps now was the time to reveal the contents.

We are each others second marriage.  During our “courtship” we often shared stories about our past lives (although there was some overlap on my end-again for another time).  We discussed the people we were in those marriages and our expectations then and now.  It has been about nine months since we married- and fifteen months since we declared our love for each other. 

During this time I have mentioned on a few occasions that I hated the wedding dress I wore during my first wedding ceremony.  I’ve tried to describe it but was never quite able to conjure up enough adjectives to describe effectively.  That is until today, when I decided “why describe? why not show?” 

Matthew’s words, “It’s not ugly just not flattering.”  What a sweetheart.  The entire time I was cringing as we flipped the pages.  The photos were filled with lots of people that I no longer know and lots of actions.

Perhaps that is why the second time around, I chose to have a simple wedding.  Nothing fancy shmancy.  Just us at a park with our closest friends and family.  There was no reception. No first dance. No throwing of garters and bouquets.  Just lots of love and laughter. 

Where was I going with this?

Evidently there will need to be a follow up post.