New Years Resolutions

Gerry Seymour

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Finished all but the short run...way too cold by the time I got out for that, and the heavy bag since I don't have one. I need to inform Sam I Am that I do not like Judo pushups.
Nobody likes Judo pushups. My favorite part about them is the groans from students when I announce them.
 

dvcochran

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That seems a bit early. I think I can make it back to the 3-point line at that end of the court...if I'm allowed to stretch my arms out, like going for a touchdown.
My son and I played a pickup game early this morning. After playing basketball for an hour we did three suicides. My son did three before I could finish two, but I did finish. What was I thinking?
 

Gerry Seymour

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My son and I played a pickup game early this morning. After playing basketball for an hour we did three suicides. My son did three before I could finish two, but I did finish. What was I thinking?
Are we back to that pride thing??
 
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PhotonGuy

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That’s not patience at all. That’s procrastination.

Knowing something you should do that’s beneficial to you, and you can start at any time, but you put it off until some arbitrary date (like New Year’s Day) isn’t the definition of patience in any way.
Good point.

Now if it’s something you truly want/need to do but absolutely can’t until a future time, then yes, one must exercise patience.
I agree but only if its something that, as you put it, you can't do sooner no matter what. For instance you're at an amusement park and you want to get on a ride with a long line. The only way to get on the ride is to get in line and be patient. Line cutting will most likely get you kicked out of the park, and you certainly won't get on the ride then.

But another concern is this, lets say you need to get something done and you've got a deadline in which to get it done, how does patience come into play then?
 
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PhotonGuy

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I’m not sure whether people will keep on posting exercises on a regular basis for me after today.

If you want to join me for today’s workout, so far I’ve done 50 squats, 50 regular pushups, 20 Judo pushups, and a short run. I still owe 15 jump squats, which I will be doing once the cat who is snuggled on my chest lets me up and 6 rounds on the heavy bag, which I will do whenever I get in to the gym.

Feel free to do those and then give me another exercise set to do.

If the challenges don’t keep coming, I do have a couple of workout programs in mind for the new year. I’d be happy to pick one if you wanted to be my online exercise partner so we could keep each other motivated.
You might want to check out the youtube channel Athlean-X, the host Jeff has some really good exercise tips and instructions.
 

Gerry Seymour

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But another concern is this, lets say you need to get something done and you've got a deadline in which to get it done, how does patience come into play then?
It might come into play if there is something you have to wait for, before you can complete your task. Otherwise, not much.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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That’s not patience at all. That’s procrastination.

Knowing something you should do that’s beneficial to you, and you can start at any time, but you put it off until some arbitrary date (like New Year’s Day) isn’t the definition of patience in any way.

Now if it’s something you truly want/need to do but absolutely can’t until a future time, then yes, one must exercise patience.

Warning: Long semi-related rant post. The gist is: Don't wait to quit cigarettes. Don't make it a new years resolution, or an 'after the holidays' thing. Just quit.

This reminds me of one of the most frustrating conversations I have with people. When I talk to patients about quitting cigarettes, some of them feel that they need a 'quit date'. So they can't stop today, they will stop on 1/X/19, 2-3 weeks from now. And if you read any 'smoking cessation' guides, most of them suggest this...when you make the decision, choose a date 2-3 weeks in the future, so you have a set date. That way you have time to mentally prepare, but not enough time to change your mind. They all say this, so there must be some data behind it, right? But I haven't been able to find one good study on having a 'quit date', and success on quitting smoking. The closest I've found is one study that tells us if someone has a quit date, and smokes on that date, there less likely to no longer be smoking 6 months from the date than someone who does not smoke on that date (big surprise there). And there are a couple issues I have with the idea of a quit date:

1. If I talk to an alcoholic, I'm not telling them to quit drinking in two weeks...I'm trying to get them into detox, rehab or meetings today. Same with someone using heroin, cocaine, even weed if they want to stop smoking. Why are cigarettes suddenly different?

2. 2-3 weeks is plenty of time to talk yourself out of something. I've talked myself out of stopping bad habits if I delay it for even a day...you're just giving yourself more time to change your mind.

3. Similar, when you've made a choice, you have that motivation NOW. Use it.

4. What are you preparing? Most of the advice is 'mentally preparing', but nothing about how to do that. Are you kissing your cigarettes goodbye? Having a viking funeral ceremony? (Side note, if you have a viking funeral ceremony for a pack of cigs, as long as you take a video for me to see, I withdraw all my suggestions)

There are a few very specific reasons I can see delaying it. If you smoke like a chimney and ordered the patch or gum or medication, waiting for that to come in makes sense. But the quit day doesn't become 1/20/19, it becomes 3 days from now when your patch gets in. Or if you got your inlaws visiting or some other stressful thing that's going to be going away soon, that makes sense. But that's you waiting for something specific that will further your goal. Don't just delay for no reason.
 

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Warning: Long semi-related rant post. The gist is: Don't wait to quit cigarettes. Don't make it a new years resolution, or an 'after the holidays' thing. Just quit.

This reminds me of one of the most frustrating conversations I have with people. When I talk to patients about quitting cigarettes, some of them feel that they need a 'quit date'. So they can't stop today, they will stop on 1/X/19, 2-3 weeks from now. And if you read any 'smoking cessation' guides, most of them suggest this...when you make the decision, choose a date 2-3 weeks in the future, so you have a set date. That way you have time to mentally prepare, but not enough time to change your mind. They all say this, so there must be some data behind it, right? But I haven't been able to find one good study on having a 'quit date', and success on quitting smoking. The closest I've found is one study that tells us if someone has a quit date, and smokes on that date, there less likely to no longer be smoking 6 months from the date than someone who does not smoke on that date (big surprise there). And there are a couple issues I have with the idea of a quit date:

1. If I talk to an alcoholic, I'm not telling them to quit drinking in two weeks...I'm trying to get them into detox, rehab or meetings today. Same with someone using heroin, cocaine, even weed if they want to stop smoking. Why are cigarettes suddenly different?

2. 2-3 weeks is plenty of time to talk yourself out of something. I've talked myself out of stopping bad habits if I delay it for even a day...you're just giving yourself more time to change your mind.

3. Similar, when you've made a choice, you have that motivation NOW. Use it.

4. What are you preparing? Most of the advice is 'mentally preparing', but nothing about how to do that. Are you kissing your cigarettes goodbye? Having a viking funeral ceremony? (Side note, if you have a viking funeral ceremony for a pack of cigs, as long as you take a video for me to see, I withdraw all my suggestions)

There are a few very specific reasons I can see delaying it. If you smoke like a chimney and ordered the patch or gum or medication, waiting for that to come in makes sense. But the quit day doesn't become 1/20/19, it becomes 3 days from now when your patch gets in. Or if you got your inlaws visiting or some other stressful thing that's going to be going away soon, that makes sense. But that's you waiting for something specific that will further your goal. Don't just delay for no reason.

There's really nothing to disagree with here, but maybe stuff to confirm, and add...

I've tried almost all of the available options to stop smoking.

For me, nicotine withdrawal is horrible - shakes, sweats, shortness of breath. All relatively minor but enough that I certainly wasn't man enough to power through... Apparently it doesn't affect everyone the same, and personal reactions vary. I was crap with it.

Just quitting without quit date - see symptoms, no fun, failed.

Just quitting with quit date - see above, but add in time to think about it (and finding an excuse not to, even once with only 2 days prep time). Failed.

Gum - I don't get on with normal gum (jaw joint issue) but gave it a go anyway. It's horrible stuff that mainly made me want a cigarette to take the taste away. Also, my jaw hurt. Failed.

Patches - made no difference at all to wanting a smoke. Weird dreams... Failed.

Inhalator - gave me a sore throat, no difference to wanting to smoke otherwise. Failed.

Vaping - decided on Thurs night to try it, bought stuff Fri, had cigarette at 2:30pm before kid's school assembly, haven't smoked since.

Ok, it's 'only' been 3 months, but no wanting a cigarette.


Now, I've seen many people who'll try say patches in January (they get in like November and save them for new year quit date...) and not succeed. So they then subconsciously (or consciously) wait until the following year to try something else.

If you want to quit, quit. If you need a cessation aid, use it. If the first one doesn't work, don't wait to try another...
 

_Simon_

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There's really nothing to disagree with here, but maybe stuff to confirm, and add...

I've tried almost all of the available options to stop smoking.

For me, nicotine withdrawal is horrible - shakes, sweats, shortness of breath. All relatively minor but enough that I certainly wasn't man enough to power through... Apparently it doesn't affect everyone the same, and personal reactions vary. I was crap with it.

Just quitting without quit date - see symptoms, no fun, failed.

Just quitting with quit date - see above, but add in time to think about it (and finding an excuse not to, even once with only 2 days prep time). Failed.

Gum - I don't get on with normal gum (jaw joint issue) but gave it a go anyway. It's horrible stuff that mainly made me want a cigarette to take the taste away. Also, my jaw hurt. Failed.

Patches - made no difference at all to wanting a smoke. Weird dreams... Failed.

Inhalator - gave me a sore throat, no difference to wanting to smoke otherwise. Failed.

Vaping - decided on Thurs night to try it, bought stuff Fri, had cigarette at 2:30pm before kid's school assembly, haven't smoked since.

Ok, it's 'only' been 3 months, but no wanting a cigarette.


Now, I've seen many people who'll try say patches in January (they get in like November and save them for new year quit date...) and not succeed. So they then subconsciously (or consciously) wait until the following year to try something else.

If you want to quit, quit. If you need a cessation aid, use it. If the first one doesn't work, don't wait to try another...
Well said. It's no small feat you've done there!

Everyone deals with addictions in different ways, especially because of the complex or varied reasons they're there in the first place.

Some people have to reach an intolerable point (ie rock bottom) before real change can come. And that threshold seems different for everyone. The pain of staying there far outweighs the pain of leaving the addiction.

This goes with addictive thoughts/beliefs/attitudes too, I know I've had to reach a real low for some things before a real willingness to leave it behind can come. A 'nothing to lose' attitude.

Even the simple thought of "Being kind to oneself" can be completely foreign and unnatural to people who have always habitually been harsh, unkind and overly critical of themselves.
 

_Simon_

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Not exactly a resolution, but I've started my second run of doing the lessons in A Course in Miracles (not sure who's familiar with it). It's essentially a spiritual text with a Textbook and Workbook. The Workbook is 365 lessons and you read and apply one a day, and takes you through real honest evaluation of yourself, undoing of old perception and opening up to new understanding of yourself and the world.

Feels like the right time for sure... Have done it once through before, but feel now with all the trials of the last year and a half there'll be a much deeper understanding and application of it.

I resolve to do them so it's a resolution [emoji14]
 

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