[30 Day Challenge] Status so far
The ups:
It’s been a while since I’ve written about the progress of my 30-day fruit&nut challenge.
Originally, I thought Christmas would be the worst time in the challenge period due to all the food going around. And even though I had been occupied with the preparations for the Christmas dinner at my girlfriend’s parents I actually made it through perfectly!
I had brought a bag of nuts and some banana’s from home and I knew that there was always some other fruits lying around in the house I was going to. And indeed, I was fine; I drank fruit-smoothies and ate fruit for breakfast, followed by fruits & nuts (that I brought) for lunch. Not a single problem except for the fact I had to explain my “curious new habit” to the family and friends that were gathered that. But they took it okay and we’re pretty supportive on top of that.
The mids:
So the worst part was behind me, or so I thought. But then it turned out that we had tons of stuff to prepare for my girlfriend’s move to Brussels on December 31st. And instead of what I had planned, she preferred to stay longer at her parents’ house to pack and sort everything out.
I didn’t prepare for more days, so I actually didn’t bring enough nuts to eat the next day. Luckily there was enough fruit in the house, so I took that instead to try and stick to the “diet” as much as I could. It’s safe to say it went pretty much downhill from here.
We were running from one place to another to arrange things, not taking the time to shop decently. So we just ate either what we still had left in the house (which was bread & fruit-juice for breakfast), or whatever her parents had when we were there. December 31st was the day of the move as well as new-years’ eve! And again from early morning we were on the move. I did manage to get some bananas and mandarins for the road, but that was pretty much it. And at the end of the day we came back to her parents again to celebrate the new year with them…. Exhausted..
The downs:
And boy was I exhausted. I guess I really pushed myself to hard the days before. Three nights of really poor sleep due to the cold, working hard during the day and dealing with the obvious “stress” of my girl moving to a “strange” city abroad. Either way, after the move was completed and we had entered the new year all this kind of “fell off my shoulders” so to speak. I didn’t have to carry it anymore, I didn’t have to keep pushing myself because the “mission” was accomplished.
Off course there were the usual family affairs like visiting grandmothers and my uncle who’s birthday is on January 1st (which is actually our annual family-new year’s-celebration).
The waaaay downs:
And yes, I guess I did push myself too far. I was already blowing my nose a lot and feeling extremely tired while visiting family. But the next day I really fell ill while I was escorting my girlfriend home to Brussels. I wanted to stay with her the first night in her new home in the new city so she’d feel comfortable before starting work the next week. It turned out I had to spend some more nights there then expected 
And when I finally got home I spent 3 days inside, mostly tied to my bed. Resting, sneezing and resting some more. And indeed, there wasn’t a lot of eating involved during those days. So I guess those were indeed the “waaaay downs” of this process. I was without fruits or nuts and was too ill to go out and get some more. One could say it wasn’t the best start of the new year….
The getting-back-up-there’s:
Now don’t think I’m going to sign off with a negative note, haha! 
No you guys, I’m pretty much back to health and actually even more committed to eating healthy. Even though I haven’t been able to get a hold of nuts and fruits at the times I set myself as goals I did notice something else in my behavior. Over the past two weeks my relationship with fruits changed quite a bit from something you eat as a supplement to your normal food and/or snacks to food itself. Whenever I’m hungry and I walk into a store or a small kiosk I find myself looking at fruits instead of heading directly for the chocolate- or greasy stuff section. 
As I have described in earlier articles I have really noticed the positive effect of eating fruits (in the morning) on my energy levels, and I liked it. As such, I’m feeling I’m really making a change in habits by reaching for healthy “alternatives” without consciously having to make myself do it. I’m doing it by default which I think is great!
As I’m writing this I’m riding the train on my way back from Belgium where I had a great meeting with Daan Buckinx. We spent a great afternoon together discussing so much different things and probably tons more for next times! I’m going drop by the store on my way home and stock up again so I can pick up where I left off.
Until next post… Enjoy life, and share that joy with others!
Related posts:
[Day 3]: "No, you can't have that"
[Day 2]: Saying no to habits and temptations
[Day 1] Kicking off the challenge
New 30 day challenge coming up
Procastination: You vs Yourself
I expect this to be the most ironic article I'll be posting for a long time to come. I've been thinking about doing an article about procrastination for quite a while. But for all sorts of reasons I made up, I kept putting it off... and off... and.. well, you get the idea.
So, procrastination... We've all encountered it at a certain point in time. But what does it really mean? Webster defines it as "to put off intentionally and habitually".
Not only does this definition suggest that procrastination is done "intentionally", but also "habitually". The thing here is that once something becomes a habit, there's not so much thought involved anymore in the process of doing it. You do things a certain way because you always do. As with other habits like smoking, drinking, gambling, etc... these can prove hard to get rid of.
Beware of your thoughts, they become your words. Beware of your words, they become your actions. Beware of your actions, they become your habits. Beware of your habits, they become your character. Beware of your character, it becomes your destiny. - Unknown
If procrastinating is your habit, what would your destiny look like?
(Or... would you even have one if you just keep "putting it off"?!)
But no worries! I imagine that since you are reading this, you are already aware that any procrastination habits you may have are not helping you. Even though you once thought it was a "relaxing" and "hang loose" kind of lifestyle in the end you got frustrated with accomplishing very little.
I guess the trigger for most people to become bored with their procrastination habit is the fact that they start to develop new thoughts and interests which start to develop into ambition and maybe even lead up to a passion for something. Once you have a vision of something that would be great to do(or experience) and realize that you actually could make this a reality things start cooking. So you have a vision as well as the belief you could make that vision become a reality. But then one of the most common human reactions kick in,... Fear.
Yes, you read it correctly, F-E-A-R.
All sorts of doubt start creeping into your mind, originating from the fact that you are about to do something you are not yet familiar with. You know you want to, and you could do it, but "what if..." Those two words are actually the problem that feeds your procrastination.
You put off things till later because can't predict the exact outcome of your actions. Off course this is natural, since you are at least partially unfamiliar with your new venture. And because you can not predict the outcome you feel insecure about it.
Although there are tons of fears that could be underlying your procrastination, by far the most common is the Fear of Failure. We don't like to fail because it makes us think we are "failures". And if we're failures, our friends and family will look down on us making us feel even worse!
STOP.... right there!
This is where we break the cycle.
- The self-sabotage started the moment you started seeing the chance of failure as a certainty of failure! Did you think about the fact that, where there's a chance of failure, there is also a chance of success? And how awesome would you feel if you started seeing every chance of success as a certainty of success? That's quite a different way to look at it, isn't it?
- Secondly, the assumption that if you fail, you are a failure. This is also fundamentally wrong, and you can prove it to yourself quickly and easily. Remember the last time you failed at something, and then remember what you learned from that experience. Are you going to make the same mistake again? No! You can even help other people by teaching them about your experiences. See where I'm going with this? Having failed that time did not turn you into a failure, it actually gave you a valuable experience for life and turned you into a teacher for others!
- Finally, your friends and family will supposedly think you are a failure. Just read that sentence again and realize how weird that sounds. These are the people closest to you, that love & respect you either way. No failed try at something is going to change that. And what's more, they will probably look up to you! Not for failing at something, but for taking that chance of success!
So don't be afraid, don't put things off till later that you could be doing now. Realize that the real chance of success is in front of your nose and you only have to reach out and grab it.
I'd like to close with a quote from "KB" (Twitter) / (website)
Instead of thinking "what could go wrong", I prefer "how good can it get"!
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