Lessons Learned

Yesterday I struggled early with a headache but still managed to hold steady and complete my fast.  I really felt like it was a great big success and I was mentally celebrating the win.

After I got to my evening job an issue was brought to my attention that there was some product needed for an install which, for various preventable reasons, was not present but was desperately needed for our installers to complete the job.  All solutions backfired and now we were left with one super fun solution for the fat man; a trip across town in triple digit heat and bad traffic to pick up this product and then bring it back to our store so the installer could finish the job tomorrow (which is now today) and the customer remains happy.  And, just who is the right man for the job?  I don't know but he wasn't available so I ended up taking one for the team and volunteering to make the trek.

Let's start with the positives:

1 - I got to be out of the store for a couple of hours and didn't have to deal with any issues.

2 - I technically got paid to listen to podcasts and catch up on my backlog.

3 - It gave me something to write about today.

Now, on with the show.

I'm a self saboteur and as I was preparing for my trip my first thoughts turned to this is going to be a long ride and i'm going to need some caffeine to make the trip.  I had to shake my head like Bill Goldberg shaking off a Hulk Hogan punch and come to my senses.  I did not need an energy drink to make this trip, I just needed my trusty bottle of water.

While I was driving across town it occurred to me that today was going to have at least one positive outcome even though I knew that there was going to be at least one negative outcome (foreshadowing?)  

The positive is.... oh, screw that, let's skip to the negative and ignore that I tried to foreshadow for the paragraph I was going to type later.

The negative is based on the time I knew this trip was going to take I would not be in a position to make a better eating choice for my dinner.  I knew that the start of my fast would be rapidly approaching and I was going to have to pile some food in my mouth beforehand so that I could rigidly stick to my fasting schedule.  So, after I picked up the needed product and before getting back on the highway I stopped at Burger King and picked up a couple of spicy chicken sandwiches and a drink.

I was out of water at this point so I ordered a Coke Zero for the whole zero calorie thing and for the minor dose of caffeine in order to complete my journey.

Now, for real, the positive aspects from this journey.

The first positive is that, after the fact, I came to the realization that I had already completed my fast for the day and I had this weird mental block about forcing myself to start the next fast at 6pm instead of allowing myself to start it at 7pm and either just do a 15 hour fast or wait an extra hour before eating the next day. This thought did not occur to me because I was solely focused on starting my fast at a particular time instead of allowing myself to be flexible.

The second positive is that I have learned that I need to have some sort of emergency travel pack of healthier snacks available to help me maintain what I want to eat and be less likely to veer off into the dangerous lands of bad grub.

Sometimes it is the unexpected that opens your eyes to new ways of thinking and looking at things and I feel better off today than I did yesterday in the middle of it all.  I can be flexible.  I have to open my eyes to more positive opportunities instead of immediately thinking about the negative aspects and pre-planning my own demise for the day.

And, to top it all off, after chowing down on some really crappy spicy chicken sandwiches from BK I felt like crap afterwards and somehow the traffic opened up and I made it back to work in time to eat something that would have been better for me.  It was a blown opportunity because I was not focused on the positive and it is a life lesson learned.

 Have you all learned valuable lessons in your own personal journeys recently? Please share with me below in the comment section.

Thank you all for coming along on this journey with me

 -FatManinVegas