Have you ever heard of the 75 hard challenge? It is a great quest to lose weight and get more mindful and in general healthier.
It involves a few things to be done consistently for 75 days…
1 Drinking a gallon of water a day
2 2 x45 min workouts a day one being outside
3 reading 10 pages of a non fictional book a day
4 no alcohol and following a healthy diet of your choice, no cheating.
5 Taking a progress picture.
There is tremendous value in doing this challenge. My friends and I decided to do this right after my recent chowdah challenge running race. I know many who have done this and it is not for the faint hearted. SO obviously I jumped at the opportunity to do something with them again.
But I ran into a snag. So day 3 after about 90 of the 128 ounces of drinking from my trusty gun slinging water bottle and in less than 7 hours I visited the restroom no less than 14 times. Even while driving, it was a desperate effort to reach my destination to relieve my already remarkably distended bladder. My mind was constantly searching for bathrooms on the highway, and my sight reached for any tree that would do ! This lifestyle for 73 more days would not be sustainable, especially with the tremendous time wastage of visiting the loo.
I usually am very well hydrated, and given my body size and type, over hydration would be detrimental especially if I depleted all my much needed electrolytes, salts and minerals while still actively training daily. The stress on my body to find a bathroom, and then spending the time was more than I needed in my life at the moment.
As for the other items.. well I am still doing 2 workouts a day regardless and I read 4 to 5 books a week anyway so why limit myself to 10 pages. I do not drink alcohol, and I can definitely make a challenge to eat ultra clean for the next few months, given my rowdy inhalation of the vast number of calories each day during training season. As for weight loss I definitely did not need that, in fact just the reverse, I need to increase my weight.
So what would I gain from this challenge I wondered, and WHY am I doing it. That is what it finally boiled down to.
I leapt onto this without thinking it through. What was my why. Then I realized, I had no why. I was borrowing my friends’ whys and was having the fear of missing out ( FOMO). That was not fair of me to do this to myself nor to my friends who probably would hear me complain about my daily “pee counter”.
I do not need the added stress when I am already doing very hard things in my life in various forms. Yet the challenge has merits and will foster better habits and develop more grit and discipline for which I see value for any of us, not just for myself, at this very moment.
So I am making my own challenge
1 staying well hydrated and eating ultra healthy which means no sugars and processed foods.
2 still keep training as I am.
3 keep reading
4 and add in other habits that I know would serve me well to cultivate into my practice and would be sustainable going forward not just for 73 more days but into the new year. Start now.
The lesson I learned in this short lived challenge is to do things for myself and not because others are doing it, by finding my WHY. If something is not feeling coherent with my soul, then avoid doing it.
I have a high value on health so I know I will succeed in doing the above, and it will manifest and shape into its own level of intensity over the next few months.
I will Let my intuition be my guide, which is the way to maintain the path of authenticity. So I bowed out gracefully and wish my friends the best on their endeavors for weight loss, exploring determination and perseverance. The universe will find other ways to keep me polished and carve out hard challenges and obstacles for me to accept and conquer. Each experience is an opportunity to become sharper. To be molded and shaped by a beautiful universe through pressures and being chipped away to shine better.
Always be yourself and not someone else, because you are unique just like everyone else 😉
……………..
I love you
