Today's the fourth day since the man-trip officially ended. I'm still not 100% right. A little cloudy...a bit achey...not interested in eating any chili or ingesting any food grease or drinking any alcohol of any sort at all.
This is more than likely the main week during the entire year that I think about "balance" more than I generally do. And that's quite a bit. Balance, I believe, is the key to good livin'. The man-trip is very good livin', but perhaps a tad too much crammed into two and a half days--especially when the fishing sucks. I've written about the man-trip before, but I'll refresh you with the cliff notes. Thursday afternoon through Saturday night, sometime in the fall, when the fishing used to be good before the river went to shit, six or seven or eight of us gentlemen convene on a particular river in a particular river house and eat and drink the most delicious things we can think of. It's pure gluttony. We fish, we bullshit, we cook and eat, we play poker, we listen to fantastic music, and we drink cheap clear liquor and expensive brown. It's wonderful. But I'm old now, and my body does not recover as well as It used to--even though I'd like to think I know my limitations at this stage in my life (I don't). My brain stays fuzzy, my motor skills are laughable, and body wants to do absolutely nothing. And that is when this story circles back around to "balance". I just got back from the gym. In the last three days I've eaten two salads (that is generally my quota for the year), and I still am done drinking for a while--which is totally relative. This example of balance is just that--an example. I need to reboot before I sample delectable, decadent, delicious ingestibles again. Just like someone might need a weekend at a winery instead of working non-stop to make dollars...relax that brain. Or someone who works out vigorously 2-3 times a day everyday may want to take a week off and just go for lovely walks outdoors...let your body heal. You know who you are. The pendulum will normally swing pretty heavily in one direction over the other, at least in my case. That's just how I've always been. Not saying I can't change that, and maybe I will someday. But for now, trying to balance health and fun, body and brain, creative and analytical, is something that need to happen in life. There's a 98.6% chance that I'll never be that guy that exercises more than anyone you know. And I don't want to be that guy. He's fairly unlikable. But I'll go to the gym and do my old man exercises, walk a mile or two, stretch that horrid spinal cord out. I owe it to my two little kids to have a dad that can play, and wrestle, and give piggyback rides, and hike, and fish with them. Not just drink three glasses of whisky after 4:45pm because I've had a long day. "Not just" being key in that sentence. Do what you wanna do--who am I to preach health and wellness? Unlikable, remember? For me, though, balance allows me to do a little bit of everything. Everything I want to do, at least. Not like meth, or anything. -earl
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AuthorI am Earl. Archives
May 2024
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