Week 2 in review
What a week! It was filled with thankfulness, laughs, illness, running, self-examination, a (Lord willing) singular failure, and the wonder that is life in this world.
Bible
For my personal Bible study (in case you couldn’t tell) I was still in James. But, my wanderings through James lead me to survey a ton of scripture, from Isaiah 55, Romans 6, 8 (every study leads me there), 12, Hebrews 12, Colossians 3 (every study seems to lead here as well), Proverbs, the Gospels, of course, Philippians 2 (another chapter that shines out in my recent studies), and many more. It has been most edifying.
Exercise
Like the once a week stat recording days, I am going to use these weekly updates to keep myself accountable for exercise, miles run per week, etc. So, here are the workouts and runs we did over the last week
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Ran 6 miles | Ran 6 miles | Ran 6 miles | Ran 7 miles | Ran 5 miles | ||
| Core Routine | Core Routine | Core Routine | Core Routine | Core Routine | ||
| Body Weight W/O | Body Weight W/O | |||||
| Stretch | Stretch |
That got us 30 miles total for the week! And, we are 40 for the month. Remember the first week had a few runs from the end of November. Why would I lie to you? (Why would I lie?)
Abstaining from alcohol
This one was no problemo. If you worried that the singular failure I mentioned above was in this arena, rest assured, it was not.
Reading with kids
This week we finished Joshua and moved on to Judges. We have also read most of The Magician’s Nephew. However, this is where I totally fell on my face this week.
First Failure
“There is nothing in the world so easy to explain as failure – it is, after all, what everybody does all the time.”
Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Only two weeks in, and already you’ve slipped up? I know, I know. I was very unhappy with myself. However, the situation opened my eyes, and I think I learned a valuable lesson from it.
What had happened was…
Here’s what happened. Friday I got up, did my Bible study, wrote prodigiously, and went to work. After work, for some reason, I was so tired. I sort of meandered around the house. My daughter had a speech and debate tournament in a town 45 minutes away. I knew I would be picking her up really late. I was sluggish in doing my workout. I was pretty lazy. I tried looking up tutorials on website design, I tried doing some math on an ad-free math game I found. The whole time, I just kept wondering whether I should take a nap, or power through, afraid if I fell asleep, I would not want to, or be able to wake up to drive to get my daughter. I was in a sort of fog all afternoon and evening.
When it was finally time to go pick her up, I headed out. I was listening to some book, when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I had never read with John that day. I called my wife twice, but got no answer. I called my oldest son, Malachi. No answer. Finally, just as I was walking into the school 45 minutes away where I was picking up my girl, Malachi called me back. “You called?” he said. “Yes,” said I. “Please make sure John doesn’t go to sleep. I still need to read to him.”
Malachi assured me John was still awake. He was playing a video game. I gave a sigh of relief.
Do unto others
I got home more than an hour later. John was asleep. I did not want to face failure! I wanted to wake him up to make him listen to me read. But, then I felt ridiculous. Why punish him because I had forgotten? If I am going to do unto others as I would have them do unto me, I am certainly not going to wake him up at 11:50 p.m. I know I would not be happy if someone did so to me. I certainly wouldn’t be all in on hearing them try to read in an English accent after being jolted from my just-beginning dreams. I was still going to wake him, though. But, Malachi stopped me.
But, with defeat came victory
Not incidentally, but having nothing to do with myself or my goals. My daughter did win 1st Place in her tournament. Here’s a very short, but exciting video below!
Active vs passive
So what happened? I think the failure lies in my being totally passive Friday afternoon and evening. Part of this can be explained by fatigue. This was the end of only my second week of waking each weekday at 3:45 or 4:00 a.m. It hasn’t been exactly easy to get the new sleep schedule down. It was also the second week of consistent exercise. I think all together, they culminated in the sort of fog I felt after work on Friday.
The net result was the sort of passive, zombie like way I misspent my time. I should have remembered the goals, the parameters of the quest. I should have awakened from my stupor and grabbed the books. The fact is, the thought never even entered my head. Now that’s failure!
The next morning my wife said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s normal to take a day off here and there. You don’t need to be a psycho about it.” I told her she was right. Of course it is okay to take a day off every once in a while, if that is what you are determined to do. Some days I will literally be unable to read to John because he might be in another state, visiting family, or I might be at a trade show, etc. But, that is not the point.
“If I had determined to take a day off, it would be one thing,” I said. “That would be me actively making a decision. I’m frustrated with myself because I never made any decision. I was completely passive and let yesterday just happen. I never even thought about reading to John till I was on the road to pick up Sis.”
Never Miss Twice – James Clear
In his book, Atomic Habits, James clear says this about the inevitable mistakes we will make on our road toward establishing good habits:
The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.
James Clear, Atomic Habits
So, how does an inconsistent rascal keep the focus so that he doesn’t slip up a second time? I have to recognize the need to stay mentally active and engaged. My plan is that the next time I feel so tired and zombified, I will either: take a nap, setting an alarm which says READ TO JOHN NOW; or I will immediately go grab the books and the boy and get to reading. The benefit of this first failure is that I think I will now be wary and mistrust any hint of lassitude or weariness.
Creativity
I didn’t write near as many articles and studies this week, but I did still write every day. I also cooked a delicious meal on Tuesday. I need to start taking photographs of this sort of thing so you believe it really happened. I made some killer steaks that turned out incredible. I usually grill, but it was raining and cold, so I used the olde cast iron skillet for the first time in a few years. I did the thing where you have garlic cloves simmering in butter on one side of the skillet, and while the steak is searing, you scoop up the butter and spread it over the beef. It was so good. The best part was my wife made mashed potatoes and some veggies, then turned the leavings of my steak searing into a brown gravy. Nothing better.
That takes me back!
Dr. Hibbert: “Well, your cholesterol level is lethally high, Homer, but I’m more concerned about your gravy level.”
Homer Simpson: “Now, wait a second. You doctors have been telling us to drink eight glasses of gravy a day!”
Dr. Hibbert: “[laughs] Well, you’re a little confused.”
Homer Simpson: “Oh, confused, would we?”
