Make A Change

We'll pay a brief, belated tribute to MJax today with the title and focus on the Man in the Mirror. The advice column is always an interesting challenge on Thursdays. Any type of writing requires some sort of motivation and point of view. Today we'll look at making a change in our lives. Often I find myself faced with looking myself in the mirror and saying that if you want a change in your life you have to make it happen. Basically, every so often you need to step back, evaluate, and call yourself out.

Some items that have required some personal reflection over the past year or two have been aspects of my life that were cause for unnecessary grief. Once I became an adult with my own money and decision-making power, I made it a point to explore all the sporting venues and events that I could. I travelled around Big Ten arenas, hit more Bears games, caught baseball on both sides of town, and continued supporting my alma mater. After many years of this, I realized that not only was this costly, but usually it made me a less enjoyable person to be around. When you drive 3.5 hours for a game, watch another crushing disappointment, then make the same return trip, you tend to be honery. That doesn't mean that my only sports disdain came from in-person events. My trusty HDTV allowed for just as many angry moments. What I realized is that I could get the same in-person rush from attending concerts without the risk of ruining other people's days. Like I've said before, when you go to a concert, no one ever loses. I also try to surround myself at home with other things to take my mind off those typical defeats (you have to have diversions as a Purdue fan). I take my sports pretty seriously, but there has to be limitations.

Another point of contention for me was unnecessary weight gain. I just was not comfortable in my clothes, sitting at my desk, or doing any sort of physical activity. Again I had to come to terms with the fact that only I could do something about it because I caused the problem in the first place. I had to find a medium for weight loss that didn't end up with eating a bunch of stuff I didn't like during the week only to "reward" myself with garbage on the weekends. I was able to find that plan, put healthy eating habits into motion, and then put myself into motion. Exercise was certainly a big part of accelerating that loss, but other big factors were keeping the house stocked with healthy options and learning to say no. Another big one there sports fans: MODERATE THE DRINKING. That factor alone will eliminate the swollen feeling that you have. Not only is it not healthy, but it is a huge factor in weight gain from the actual product to the reduced sense of healthy eating habits.

Now I have no idea if either of these things afflict any of you, but the morale of the story is that when you find yourself in an unhappy pattern, only you can stop it. These two items are just personal examples. Sometimes we can all benefit from pulling back and self evaluating our own situation. Are you someone that finds yourself in a constant jealous circle? What is it that you actually want? Are you missing someone special in your life? Why not try a new way of finding someone or hang out where you might find good people to meet? Do you wish you had something that other people have? Why not set up a spending plan that allows you to save for that certain item or items? Odds are you can make it happen for yourself, just like they did. Do you want to go out more with your friends or try that fancy restaurant? Then freaking do it. No one controls you except for you. You only get one chance at life, so if you're not satisfied then do something about it. If you're working on breaking distasteful habits, try to not make the reward be an appeasement of that habit. If you are going to try to lose weight and you hit a 5 lb target, don't reward yourself with a gallon of ice cream. Kind of defeats the purpose eh? Hopefully you found something in these paragraphs that you can utilize in your life. If not, thanks for making it to the end. Sorry, there are no additional prizes for that feat.

Ode to Nader

Let's start with a simple suggestion for a reward system that works for almost anyone: television channels. We all have some sort of basic programming package with our cable or satellite provider. We all also have a type of program that we enjoy whether it be music, movies, or sports. If you find yourself bored often or generally unhappy, why not reward yourself with some new channels. These packages typically cost anywhere from $4 to $12 per month depending on how many new channels you get. I personally endorse the sports entertainment plan on Comcast which provides access to the NFL Redzone Channel. That little guy provides 6.5 hours of prime NFL footage every Sunday. It is like having the NFL Sunday Ticket without having to change the channel every 30 seconds. I would also support adding HBO for their original programming such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hard Knocks, and whatever other popular shows that get discussed at the water cooler.