A Man Reborn

All of last week I had Halloween on the brain – I know what you’re thinking – what else is new?  But there was something about the week that really got me in the spirit: some combination of the temperature cooling down, Halloween events starting to come into being and all kinds of ideas swimming through my head.

It seems that I wasn’t the only one – I’ve built up a big circle of friends that are also Halloween fans and it looks like everyone was really starting to get into it and ramp up their plans last week.  I’ve had some ideas in my head for Halloween and the Zombie Walk so earlier this week I started sketching them out and then I set aside Sunday to start making them real.

I was joking around online with some friends  about how Sunday should be a new holiday devoted to the start of Halloween activities.  One thing lead to another and the seventh Sunday before Halloween became known as Misgivings Day.  (named by Ghoul Friday – check out her awesome blog)

I love the name and think it fits in many ways:

1. It is somewhat dark and mischievous sounding
2. Misgiving means a sense of doubt about the outcome of something (like the way I see everyone worrying about getting all their props done in time for Halloween)
3. The name is a play on Thanksgiving Day – and we are thankful for the fun of Halloween!

I spent my Misgivings Day drinking Pumpkin Ale, working on paper mache pumpkins, making latex intestines for my Zombie Walk costume and starting a big painting – all while watching a ton of horror movies.

Latex Intestines - waiting for paint

First layer of paperclay on the pumpkin

Also, unrelated, but I had really great weight training sessions on Thursday and Saturday.  My squat and deadlift strength keep going up and I’m confident that I’ll hit my goals for them before the end of the year.  I think I need to dig up my lifting gloves though – deadlifts are at the point where they feel like they’re going to rip the callouses right off my hands.

Had a fun weekend!  Stayed in on Friday night and started work on my Halloween props – it’s been a while since I’ve worked with paper mache and I forgot how fun it could be.  It’s very satisfying to build up an armature in a creative way and watch something take shape out of nothing.

On Saturday I went to the CNE and had a really good time full of good company, rides, games and lots of guilty pleasures in the food department.  Can you say deep-fried? Tried the deep-fried mac-n-cheese, mars bar, corn dog and of course, the butter!  Mmm, deep-fried goodness.  I know this is in stark contrast to some of my goals, but hey – you gotta live.  I’m all for balance over absolutes and I know I’ll make progress towards my goals over the month – long term!

Sunday I took a trip to the ROM with a couple of friends.  I haven’t been there since they had the Two Towers exhibit for Lord of the Rings so it was nice to wander around and gawk at history.  I developed a fascination with patterns in the artwork from different cultures and time periods and took a lot of pictures for future additions to the sleeve on my left arm.  I’d been thinking I would keep that arm all black ink, but I might throw some colour in there … lots of sketching to be done!  I was going to come back into the city later on that night, but I ended up doing some reading and passing out (sorry guys!).

Monday I did some website work and visited my family.  My little bro cooked up a sweet meal like always and we discussed our plans to conquer the Turducken.

Also decided on a few more habits to change / try in the next 3 weeks – I like this approach… going to keep changing little things a few at a time -

1. Ride my bike to work twice a week.

So many benefits to this one: saves wear on my car, saves gas, pollutes less, gets me off my ass and improves my leg muscle stamina for the upcoming snowboarding season.  Plus I’ve got the Ride to Conquer Cancer next year so it’s time to start logging some serious distance on the bike.

2. Do yoga twice a week for 30 minutes.

I am actually quite flexible for a bigger dude from years of martial arts, but I could definitely use more flexibility.  I also enjoy the calming aspect of it.

3. Plan my meals.

Easier to shop, easier to stick to a plan and easier to monitor.  Plus there’s less of a chance of wasting any food… something I hate to do but it happens when I don’t plan and go crazy in the produce section.

So I was thinking about the whole 21 days thing and how well it worked out for me.  Of the habits I changed, the most interesting one was the 21 day no complaining experiment.  I loved this change and the results it brought me and I’m going to stick with it for life.

Now, I’m definitely not much of a complainer – I see it as pointless wheel spinning and a waste of energy.  I was reading old articles on The Four Hour Workweek blog and came across this:

Real Mind Control: The 21-Day No-Complaint Experiment

Using a physical reminder (bracelet, elastic, etc.) – don’t complain about anything for 21 days without coming up with a solution.  Anyway – I’ve written about it here before – so I won’t get into the details.  So I got a blue elastic, slapped it on my wrist and went on my merry no complaining way.

I put extra effort into being aware of my thoughts and my reactions and when my instinct was to react negatively to something I forced myself to stop and think it through.  I probably picked the worst possible time to try this – as it was right in the heart of all the craziness at work – but at the same time, that probably made it the best time.  With that said – there were a LOT of opportunities to complain – I was in a high-stress situation and was working pretty intense hours.  At the same time I was making sure I was on top of my best man duties for my buddies wedding.

The thing I found amazing about the entire experience was that when I look back at it, I can’t really remember feeling stressed or feeling any negativity about it.  It was hard work and long hours and the hardest I’ve worked on something in a while – but my no complaining mindset kept me focused on all the good things that could potentially come out of the project.  I really think that the mindset spread into the rest of my life because even with the crazy hours, I had a super fun month filled with a lot of good times and a lot of good things happened to me – an almost eerie amount of things actually.

What I really like about it is that it’s not just blind optimism.  You don’t just have this attitude that everything is going to be awesome and then expect it to happen.  The habit requires you to think about a situation you felt negatively about enough to complain and then forces you to come up with steps to resolve it.  So rather than just building negative emotion, you channel that energy into actually resolving the problem.  Logically, it’s the best way to approach negativity I think – is there ever any benefit to just venting over taking action?

Anyway – I’m going to pick a few things that I want to change each month – will set aside 21 days of the month to do the change and the rest of the month to think about how it went / what I’m going to do next.  There’s always going to be some habit of mine I can improve or change for the better, so I’m sure I’ll never run out of things to try.  I’ll be thinking about what I want to change this month – I have a feeling getting more sleep will be one of them!