Day 19-20: Be water, my friend!

Day 19:  03-20-2013
Day 20:  03-21-2013

Looks like another multi-post.  Earlier this week it was a three-for, tonight it is just a two-for.  This whole spring break business has got my schedule all out of whack.  Just as I was getting into a routine with my workouts and my food intake, this crazy week long "recess" goes and messes everything up.  And that's when it occurred to me.  Life is not a serious of schedules and routines.  Sure they are nice and they help us stay focused and get things done and such.  But it's the fact that life happens regardless of our schedules and plans that has messed me up in the past.  Life is what happens while stressing about schedules and routines.

The realization that in any given situation I am the only one I can change or control.  It is up to me to find or make the time to complete the things I need done for my family, my job, my health, etc.  This epiphany has been huge this week.  Maybe even bigger than the decision to become a vegan.  An even bigger realization is that there is no way I can do this alone.  This is only possible with the support of the people most closely effected by routines and there subsequent changes:  my family.   I am spoiled with a wife who has supported me throughout this process, kids who think its pretty cool, and extended family that hasn't called my crazy yet (this last one is huge).  

Mostly though, it has been my wife and her flexibility that has carried me this far.  She has muscled through my declaration of veganism with grace and poise.  You see, she is a fierce carnivore.  This has been more difficult than I could imagine.  More for her and my kids than for me.  Almost over night, she had to become the primary chef for dinners in the house.  That has been tough considering that she has also been sick this week. A few nights my family has ended up eating my vegan fair, which surprisingly hasn't gone terribly wrong with my kids.  Even under the weather, she has found a way to let me get out and move.  She has been amazing.

Flexibility is key.  Flexibility from and with my family.  Flexibility with my workout times.  Flexibility will make or break anyone trying to do anything.  If you are too flexible, you tie yourself into a metaphorical knot.  If you are constantly pushing aside your workouts or food requirements you will get nowhere fast.  If you become the "yes" man, you never get your own needs met.  It's one of the many ways we sabotage ourselves and our health.  On the flipside, if you become too rigid then end up alienating those around to the point where you just break.  And again, you end up sabotaging yourself and your health.  Being too rigid increases the stress load exponentially.  And when stressed, others feel it.  Flexibility is key.  Bend but do not break.  I leave tonight pondering the depths in this quote...

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
                                                                                                                   Bruce Lee 

In other news.  Covert flexibility is required with kids.  Turns out I just have to be clever if I want the kids to eat beans.  Like blending chickpeas into the tomato sauce (which made for a delightfully creamy "spaghetti" sauce).  I figured out that chickpeas also blend really well into garlic herb mashed potatoes.  I don't think they've realized that they have inadvertently eaten vegan meals for the last three nights.


Day 19 Stats:

Food:
Breakfast:  Smoothie (various fruits, flax, spinach, cinnamon, and a water base)
Lunch:  Broccoli Potato Soup
Dinner:  Multicolored Salad with a homemade dijon dressing
Snack:  An entire bag of corn chips (oops)

Movement:
Workout: Rest day



Day 20 Stats:

Food:
Breakfast:  Smoothie (various fruits, flax, spinach, cinnamon, and a water base)
Lunch:  Broccoli Potato Soup and Avacado Chickpea Dip with tortilla chips
Dinner:  Multicolored Salad with a homemade dijon dressing
Snack:  Lightly salted rice cake with mustard (oddly tasty)

Movement:
Workouit: Run
Type: Intervals for 1 mile, constant for 2 miles.
Time:  32:10
Distance: 3.11 miles