Motivation Comes in All Shapes and Sizes

In the Army, they have something called ‘going on profile.’ It generally refers to a Soldier who sustains an injury of some sort and has to be put on specific orders to take medication and limit physical exertion based on the nature of the damage. The time I’ve spent in the gym on jiu-jitsu and hand-to-hand combat took its toll. Fighting bigger people is good for your technique, but has become really, really bad for my body. I’ve been sidelined for about a month from running, jumping, climbing trees and any serious activity. I kind of hid from it solely because I don’t want to fall behind…but I sure as hell got out of shape and got lazy.

Now that I have PLENTY of motivation to get back in the gym and get back into, well, um, decent shape (aka 185-190), I plan on skipping out on work more and more often to get in the gym and push myself these last 60 days to at least build a solid foundation for when I come back to the States (PS If you know of any highly recommended gyms in CT, let me know…I’ll be looking almost immediately). I decided not to test my limits, but to just work hard, and see what came of it. I started at the track, where I put up a 14:50 2-mile. Impressive, since I haven’t run since before Christmas. I can probably break 14 within the next two months (when I have to take my last physical fitness test of the deployment), so I’m going to set 13:58 as a goal.

I’ve never been a lifter. But I’m trying to get on a regiment to just feel better about myself in general. Even with these scrawny little arms and this deceptively large frame, I can do push ups all day. Same with situps. Now, I want to SEE results on something other than a test!

If anything, spending hour after hour in the gym (and on the basketball courts, where I’m trying to get back into playing shape) is chewing up the time I have to spend here on this deployment. I’ve got the paper trail in the office handled and a pretty good system in place…now I’m just waiting to meet my replacement and start walking him/her through the process. Sigh…I remember the first time I stepped off the plane and realized, “Holy SHIT, I’m in the middle east.” It was about 2 AM, buses lined the TARMAC to take us to our home for the next year. It was pretty intimidating. It took a few hours to get everything rolling, and I definitely couldn’t sleep I was just trying to process everything at once.

Then we stepped into the area that now houses our offices and trucks, and I still couldn’t get a hold of myself. One of my buddies said that I kind of walked around with that glazed over look that was half-shock, half-exhausted. And I was. Trust me. I remember meeting my replacement, processing everything he was explaining to me, and having a couple weeks to pick his brain and learn the ropes. I recall being incredibly thankful that I had someone with a good head on their shoulders to take me thru, because once they turned everything over to us, we hit the ground running. That day, I promised myself I would leave things better than I got them, and make sure MY replacement was in good shape.

Speaking of good shape, I’m cutting out of work early to go to the gym. I need a new playlist for it…any suggestions??