A dramatic title, mostly just to get people to read this post. I’m now 27, or will be at some point today (I forget what time of day I was born, but I think it was around 8am…or pm, either way).
Today will be a jam packed day. I work until 8:00pm for the most part, then I will be lining up shortly after 9:00pm for The Dark Knight Rises for the midnight showing. It’s kind of a fun and interesting way to celebrate the birthday this year. My birthday always falls during UB, so I normally do not get a day off, but with being hall manager, at least I can go out and do something fun later in the night.
I spoke in my last post about how symbolic the day is for me. I am a lot healthier than I was when I turned 26, and I feel a lot better about a lot of things. A friend of mine keeps jabbing at me and saying happy 30th birthday (which is now only 3 short years away), which makes me feel like I could suffocate. Sorry to those older than I reading this now. I think when we are younger, birthdays are “just another day” ,but as I get older, it symbolizes a movement in life and being in your 30’s feels and means something different, despite being a completely fabricated and cultural mindset. So, that is why it feels like an impending doom, the advancement closer to having to know what you are doing with your life, closer to needing a career, a family, all these different things, but as noted “it’s not”.
Life is way to fluid to be dictated by some american dream of knowing how your life will turn out. Just one year ago I was on my way to cardiac disease, diabetes and 300 pounds. It only takes a moment or a day to change your whole life. The concept of age is completely superficial and the life milestones associated with them are even more superficial. I am loving life right now. I’m still in graduate school, loving it, I love having friends, despite the fact some are getting married and having kids. Life isn’t about measuring ourselves in relation to others, even if that is natural to do. It’s about being happy. For example, in the last year, I know I would not have focused on my health nearly as much as I did if I were in a relationship. I’ve seen so many people get into relationships, get comfortable, and then other aspects of their lives go wayward. It’s understandable, I get it, but I am glad that I focused on me and that I am where I am today and that I have goals for the next year of my life. Maybe something will interrupt that, but at this point, I feel like I have created a strong path for myself and will achieve those things.
Last night, I made some goals for my 2-year “Healthiversary” – as I noted in my post yesterday, it was kind of a mentally stressful day, so I thought recalibrating my goals and looking at some longer term goals might help. I usually advocate, short-term, obtainable goals, but being where I am, and where I was yesterday, seeing how far i’ve come in 6 months to a year was helpful, so I thought i’d do the same looking outwards.
January 23rd, 2013 Health-Related Goals
- Have run over 100 miles in races from 4/20/12
- Have run over 100 miles outside of races from 8/8/12
- Return to Big Bear to Little Bears
- Hiked Mt. Katahdin
- Be Awesome at Roller Skating
- Maintain a healthy weight of around 170
- Have lost 5” from waist/stomach from 7/7/12 (toning and flatten belly)
- Have gone to 13 : Zumba, Power Hour, Kettle Ball Kraze classes
- Be noticeably stronger
I think there is a good diversity of active based, health based, and physical based goals in there. A lot of people have been telling me, “you don’t have any more weight to lose”, but I think because I look so much smaller than I used to, people don’t understand that there is still progress to be made. By no means would I say that I am fat anymore, but I still have fat to lose and still am continuing to lead a healthy lifestyle.
I am excited at the prospect of the future for when I turn 28. Although I do feel a bit of that “doom” I mentioned earlier, remembering that it is artificial keeps me forward, and knowing that 27 is so much better than 26 was gives me a great hope and motivation about how 27 will be and where I will be when I turn 28. I have such an adventurous spirit. Next month I am going white water rafting again. Learning to roller skate has been a blast, and starting to learn to hula hoop. Maybe i’ll even get on a bike! With a clear and healthy mind, there are no limits. Here’s to another year of health, progress, and living life.
Random photo I just took here at work. Might as well have a little fun on my birthday in the fish bowl (the name of our office at the residence hall)
