Your blade is as sharp as ever. Your goal is something something you desperately crave, so you attack it with fevor. You hack and slash at it relentlessly, but after a while fatigue sets in. Sweat is running your brow. In your mind you have built yourself up and are a finely tuned warrior but the reality paints a different picture. Your limbs tremble at the thought of another swing. Attempting to raise your blade, it finally settles in; you are utterly drained of energy. Your body screams for oxygen and relief. You want to draw strength from the reserves of your mind, but can't. Mentally aware of your short comings, and your inability to push yourself further. You've been defeated. Not by a rival or a fierce enemy. No, you've been defeated by your own body.
A lot of the time we writers concentrate on the things that are important to our success. We sit at our computers, or in our beds, we consume a lot of drinks meant to keep us awake so we can type longer. Mostly we sit and we sit a lot. Whether at a PC, in a Starbucks, in a park, or any place. We sit and the only exercise we see is our fingers tap-tap-tapping at a keyboard. Our goal is success so we attack it with a fervor that few would ever understand. In the process we neglect the one thing that will always bring us success; our health.
About two months ago, I decided that I was going to make a change. It started out slow, like a trickle from a faucet. I started doing research on how to best reach an obtainable goal; that goal was weight loss. I was tired of looking down and seeing my large gut. If I was going to get in shape, I had to start out slowly.
I took the time to find my weights and just start out with basics, kind of pushing my limits. I knew I couldn't do too much, or my body would let me know just how out of shape I was. That very first day, I was sore all over. I knew I had much to do.
The next obstacle to overcome was something I had always hated. The dreaded sit-up. Since most of my problem areas revolves around my core doing sit-ups was naturally something that makes sense. I have long since hated doing any sort of real core/abdominal work. Don't know why, but if I was going to whip this gut into shape, I had to overcome it. I started off with small numbers, because I was so out of shape, trying to do a Military style routine would have killed me. Every day I did them I was sore, but I would always vow to do a little more next time. As I did them, the numbers kept getting higher, though the soreness remained. It took two months, but now I have beaten my initial hatred of sit-ups. I still don't like them, but I will do them when I need to, because it helps.
I had to remain steady in my pursuit, and not let things like being too busy or too tired interfere with my goal. My goal has wavered slightly at times, but I remain relenting in my pursuit.
As a writer it's easy to get caught up in a routine where you are so busy with it, that you neglect your body. That is a dangerous mistake. Your body is one of the three foundations (body, mind, spirit) of your existence and without it, you cannot write. You could not write if your mind was atrophied could you? Of course not.
Take the time from sitting on your ass and go take a walk, do some situps, jumping jacks, anything, as long you take your health as seriously as you do your writing.
If you don't it's something you will regret.
My goals to lose weight may be aesthetic in motivation, but they are grounded in the fact that if I don't improve my health at thirty-five, I will have a much harder time at forty, or fifty.
The title of this blog is To wield the blade you must ready the body. What it means is, in order to chase success and pursue it relentlessly you must have physical fortitude to match your mental fortitude.
I'll talk more about my physical pursuits and provide tips and ways for you to help you pursue yours.
KB
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