Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Some of you are flat-out killing it (and I didn't realize how much I cared)

I pretty consistently run with this mantra on here that goes something like: "I really don't care what you do with your life." Hell, I am mostly a punk-rock/libertarian guy. I think you should run your own life and be skeptical about most things. Paleo? No paleo? Your call. If you have a question, I am glad to try to answer it. If you find something here to like, awesome; if not, your decision to move on and excise me from your personal blogosphere isn't going to crush me. Whatever, dude. Enjoy your time here. Or don't....

Easy, right?

But then, somehow, a few things converged recently to put a crimp in my "whatever" style. First, a gym friend asked me to check her daily food logs and make suggestions regarding some dietary tweaks toward some very specific goals. Yeah, I said I would do that. I was not at all sure I was up to the "job," but yeah, I said I'd try and help. My friend is nearly perfect paleo anyway, so it's not like I have to explain to her why she shouldn't eat gluten. She is *so* far past that stage that I doubt my helpfulness, but yeah; let's go, I said.

And then the couple that runs our CrossFit gym asked me if I would be someone off whom 30-day paleo challengers could bounce questions. Sure. I love that stuff. Let's do that too.

And then there is the most unexpected development of all: becoming some sort of paleo/ancestral spokesperson/dude promoting the value of meditation toward stress reduction. I mean, yeah, that's been a point I have stressed a lot the last couple years here, but I didn't know anyone was actually paying attention, and I certainly didn't expect to get invited to be on a podcast about it. And then, thanks to Kendall's Born Primal podcast, we started this 30-day meditation challenge.

Honestly, I thought the loudest sound I would hear in reaction to *that* idea was crickets. It's not that I don't know that you are all stressed. I just wasn't convinced *any* of you actually wanted to do something about it.

So.... It's like two to three *months* since my friend asked me to review her food for a *week*, and, while I am still not convinced she couldn't be getting all the same results on her own, she wants me to keep helping her. And I like doing it. And the gym thing.... That was great fun. No, everyone who did the challenge is not a paleo superstar, but I think a bunch of people learned a lot from me and others, and I got huge satisfaction out of helping them. Felt like I made a difference and all that....

And the meditation thing.... Yeah, I know.... Most of you couldn't give a fuck. And I'm really totally good with that. What is surprising the hell out of me -- actually "surprising" isn't the right word.... I think I mean "thrilling" the hell out of me -- is that there are a number of you doing this meditation challenge and actually digging the results. There are some people sleeping a lot better and generally feeling less whacked-out, and that is very very cool. The modern world is a cauldron of stressed-out crazy people. It feels really good to help even one person get a little farther back from the ledge.

So what's the point of all this? I don't know. I still don't care what you do. But I think here's the thing I didn't know: I really like it when you do the right thing and get good results, and I get *huge* satisfaction out of any help I give you toward getting to whatever your goal is.

My "whatever" has really taken a bit of a hit over the last couple months.

Worst (best?) of all, I kinda like it that way.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

3 comments:

  1. I love this! It's funny how sometimes we don't realize our emotions or feelings about things until we're in the thick of it. And ditto on that whole meditation situation. I try to advocate that shit HARD, and I'm not really sure anyone listens, but the peace of mind and the life change it has brought for me has been PROFOUND, like I found a huge missing part of this whole health equation. Keep on rockin' drummer man.

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  2. Thanks! I just checked out yr blog. Nice work. I'll try and stop by often.

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  3. Dude - you're a HUGE help - to me - to a TON of folks at the gym. Jamie just told me the other day I need to be on the Steve plan :) I'm working to get as good as you...and with your help, maybe one day:)

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