April 10th, 2018 Each Brand New Day

April 10th, 2018 Each Brand New Day

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, and I stayed well connected with good support.

It was a good day today--a busy one, but structured and nice. I enjoyed some wonderful support calls tonight and rather than cooking late after my calls, Cindy kindly treated me to dinner.

Doing a DDWL flashback tonight from over two years ago-- written in February 2016:

I try my best to learn from everything I can along this road. I found some interesting parallels between what happened yesterday and maintaining my recovery each day. It was about the dangers of over-confidence.

Confidence is a great thing. Over-confidence can derail quickly because it encourages a loosened grip on even the most basic elements needed for continued success.

My relapse/regain period really taught me some valuable lessons. That's why, in relation to my continued recovery and weight loss maintenance, you'll never again hear me say "I got this" or any variation of the phrase.

I've learned the hard way, as soon as an over-confidence is embraced, it immediately starts chipping away at important foundation elements. My continued recovery and maintenance are never guaranteed. I don't have it down. What I do have is a daily practice of elements, disciplines--that I make important each brand new day. If I become loose with these, it's the beginning of the end. 

And they're specifically designed to suit me well. I enjoy these elements. I enjoy the structure they provide. And I enjoy the continued recovery and maintenance they encourage.

You'll find many examples of this anti over-confidence philosophy in the world of sports. Some of the best athletes are often the ones who always show up early for practice and stay late. Why would Kobe do so much practice on his own time? Why would Pete Rose, back in his day, take extra batting practice after team practice? 

In my high school days, I remember Todd Wright, one of the best high school kickers in the state of Oklahoma, out there--after practice, every day--kicking field goals over and over and over. 40 and even 50 yard-plus attempts happened throughout his senior season and he almost always got the points. Todd went on to kick on scholarship for Arkansas.

I'm not comparing myself to these athletes, don't get me wrong--I'm just drawing a parallel. If any of the above-mentioned athletes had started embracing an "I got this" style of over-confidence, their game would have suffered. Their success was due in large part, to the daily practices they continued to embrace.

Some of the most successful comedians make it look so easy, right? But what you don't see are all the guest sets and special "workout" shows they're doing in preparation. Chris Rock just hosted the Oscars. You may have laughed, cringed or a little of both, but what you may not know is, he was at The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard opening for Louis CK the night before. He was working on his material for the Oscars telecast. And he was there the night before that. And the night before that. 

I'm not good at losing weight and maintaining weight loss because I'm some kind of exception. I'm NOT. I'm as human, flawed and fallible as can be, most days. 

I'm currently experiencing exceptional recovery and maintenance because I've been good at embracing, practicing, and maintaining the fundamental elements of my recovery, each brand new day. 
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Hitting the pillow a touch later than I wanted to tonight, but still, it's an improvement. Progress not perfection, right? Thank goodness!

Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean