Category: Robert’s Deliberate Discomfort Challenge

A little time to reflect on how we are doing?  With today nearly over, we are officially half way through the Challenge.  When I first signed up for Deliberate Discomfort a couple of years ago, I enjoyed the idea of how much the Challenge could change me.  There are so many aspects that this challenge tackles, the 6-prong model they use, that it’s bound to change something right?  There Mental, Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Professional, and Social.  Where has it changed me really?

I think it has changed me already, and it is only getting started.  I’ve found myself being more resourceful in getting things done and taken care of, whether for the challenge or not.  I still have days and moments where I’m not getting enough done in my mind, but I’m working towards fixing those things as well.  I’ve found that listening to audio books is better than music some days, and have found that I have quite enjoyed some of the classics in literature over the last few weeks (Mental).  I’ve found that I have a LOT to be thankful for when writing in my Gratitude Journal (Emotional).  I’m feeling stronger, healthier from eating well, losing weight and the cardio has gotten considerably easier as well as the weight and bodyweight workouts (Physical).  These three domains are the three that I feel the most amount of change in, and I’m ready for more as well.

I’ve found that some mornings I’m challenged with getting the workout done because I have to look up all the new exercises lately, and they’ve started getting a little more challenging as well.  Part of my challenge is the modifications to the exercises because I’m unable to do any high impact exercises like running and jumping due to my bad knees, but thankfully I’m pretty fluent in search engines and can usually find a suitable replacement relatively quickly.

All in all, I’ve really enjoyed the challenge.  If there were any places that I’d like to see it improved, it would be the Mindfulness (Spiritual) domain, but I may have a biased opinion on this one.  I’ve done deeper and more intense versions of this before, so Deliberate Discomfort’s version seems a little basic to me and in some cases boring.  Everything else in the program is great though!

I’m really looking forward to seeing what the second half of the Challenge brings my way!  I’ve seen some of the results that previous graduates have achieved through the program and I feel like I’m definitely headed in that direction too.  We’ll have to see what they bring my way after the initial 60 days to see what sort of maintenance I’ll need to do, and I know there are some that have gone through it multiple times.  I don’t know if that will be me, but it’s something to think about…that’s for sure.

At least it’s comforting to know that We’re Half Way There!

You know those days where everything works out OK, even if it isn’t in it’s usual way?  There’s this other perfect rhythm going on that is out of your hands, working and flowing around you to get everything done on your list.  You are in a state of flow with it, making sure you get all your checkmarks, making sure your tasks are complete.  You know those days?  Today was one of them. 

I’ve long had the opinion that God is the most amazing conductor, with how he orchestrates everything in perfect timing, over, around, and through each other, in ways that we humans can’t even begin to comprehend how He does it.  It’s way too complex to understand how it all worked out that the light bulbs you were looking for were out at the store you went to, however they happen to be in a store just down the street from where your wife is (50 miles away).  Things like this don’t make sense to us, because it’s God’s work, orchestrating our lives. 

We had a pastor back in Nevada describe God’s work as being like time.  We can look at a grandfather clock and see how time works by watching the hands go round and round, by winding the clock we can even help in that process.  We can start to orchestrate little things based on that time.  But do we know how time REALLY works, like behind the clock face where all the gears and pulleys are working together in some amazing system that seems like if it got knocked out of the clock we’d be lost forever trying to pick it all up?  That’s God’s side of time, He is the clock maker.  He made time, he manages time, and he orchestrates everything in every one of our lives in His time.

Today was one of those days.  Everything worked out well, everything got done.  I got my walk in for cardio, completing 2.4 miles in 54 minutes (was upped to 45 minutes instead of 35).  My Chest Workout was done this morning, with an increase in weight amounts, which felt good.  Had a wonderful talk with a friend and found that we have a LOT in common in one certain area, and we may have to compare notes on occasion!  Everything just worked out today!  I think that’s because God Is A Great Conductor!

Today was another hard day in some ways, but it ended well!  Things just went sideways in the morning.  You ever have that happen to you?  Well, today was my day!  Didn’t get my morning workout done in time before church, so it got pushed off until later in the day. 

We did step forward at church today to join, so that was exciting!  It’s a new church in our new community after moving, and we are fitting in well with the other adults, kids are all blending well in their Youth and Kids groups, and it’s a church that just preaches out of the Bible, so what’s not to like, right?  What we didn’t know is that when that happens we are put out in the Narthex and get to stand there and shake everyone’s hands from the whole congregation on their way out.  That took us by surprise, but in a good way!  It made us feel very welcome!

Once we got home and got lunch handled, I was able to just take laps of our property for an hour and get my cardio in.  Completed 2.5 miles of walking in 61 minutes, which was pretty good, especially while talking to my eldest daughter the whole time.

From there we had to get ready for evening church for the kids and our Bible study group.  Once we got kids dropped off, got our Bible study group done, it was off to the gym for me to get my weights workout completed.  Another Circuit Day, with exercises for the back and glutes in there…including one of my least favorite exercises…Hamstring Hell.  Got it done though, so I can get home, get my other Challenge tasks done, and get to bed!

Two highlights of this week were the Master Class videos, which focused on the Physical, Sanitation, and Nutrition Base Layers.  These are three very important aspects of your “self” that everyone needs to learn.  You need to take care of yourself physically by exercising, getting cardio in regularly, making sure that you are in good health in a general sense so that you can complete your dreams, follow your heart and be there for your loved ones in the future.  You need to take care of yourself in the Sanitation department, because no one wants to be the stinky guy/gal and it is part of how you present yourself, where people don’t take you seriously if this isn’t taken care of. And you need to take care of yourself with Nutrition, by eating well, healthy foods, taking any needed medications, vitamins/minerals, or supplements to ensure you are in optimal health.  This will help you reach optimal results with everything you do!  Put these three together and you will accomplish great things if you put your mind to it, because people will remember you, be impressed by your first impression, listen up, etc.

Second is the book I’ve been reading last few days, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  This is an amazing book, and I actually recommend it for any reader, which already Christian or not!  It is a logical analysis and presentation of Christianity from someone who used to be an Atheist, but isn’t one any longer.  He’s got some amazing quotes in this book that get blunt, to the point, and sometimes even a little in your face.  He presents everything very matter-of-factly in every way.  All I can say is What A Great Book!

Honestly, today was a good day!  Morning workout was Circuit Training again, and again it was my least favorite, 100 Mr. Spectaculars, but even though I do a modified version of the exercise, I had an easier time getting through it.  Time was 31:42, which cut a couple minutes off of last week.  But on the overall the only thing that has been preventing me from getting my morning workout done in under an hour has been my allergies.  If it weren’t for that I would be coming in at about an hour most mornings.

Afternoon workout was a 60 minute Ruck with a 25 lb. pack.  Got 2.13 miles in on the nature trails of the park I go to.  Pack started to feel heavy this time around, but I actually did well on that too!  Had a great time seeing sides of the Nature Preserve park that I don’t usually get to see, so that was fun!

My Social domain went very well, catching up with an old friend for an hour on the phone today, making sure we handled prayer requests and got updated on all the latest happenings on both sides!  Good call!  Everything else for the challenge got done quickly and easily today.  Haven’t finished my current book, but should finish it over the weekend for sure!

Rest of my errands went well and took most of the day, but paperwork got done, people got taken care of, lots of progress on lots of tasks, that’s for sure.  Only frustration of late has been the road closures.  For the last couple of days the exit I use on the highway was closed.  This morning, pleasantly, I found that it was open, but then further along on my route found another sign, Road Closed!  Are you kidding me?  No detour on this one either…so my Google Maps took me on the scenic route through a neighborhood to get to my destination.  I did make it, and still on time, but man is it frustrating!  Hopefully tomorrow I don’t find another sign that says, “Road Closed!”

Morning workout was Shoulders Day, so lots of dumbbell work and barbell work after the warm up.  Is going pretty well so I had to up the weight a little for this to make sure the “Hard But Doable” portions are just that.

All of my errands and tasks today went off well without a hitch, which is a welcome change to how the last couple of days have gone.  I’ve been surprised at my reading level lately, which I think I mentioned briefly once already this week, but I started my third book this morning and have decided to read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  This is a fascinating book thus far, lots of scientific style observations and logic-style thought through some of the most base level aspects of Christianity and why you should have a hard time believing anything else.  A very interesting and unique perspective!  I haven’t finished it yet, so look forward to continuing it tomorrow!

Master Class was also interesting as they get into the hormones and physical aspects of stress from a scientific perspective and how sometimes just changing your thoughts and attitudes about certain things could change the chemicals released by your body, which may reduce stress if done well, or exacerbate stress if not, or make it harder to make right decisions.

I don’t know if we have, but we may have mentioned in other places on the blog that we recently moved across the country last year.  We were in Nevada and now we are on the Eastern Seaboard.  One of the biggest differences between the two areas, obviously is the plant life.  In Nevada most of the family was allergic to sage brush, so allergies were everywhere in our house.  Thankfully that is not as much the case.  Our littlest one, and I, seem to have it the worst!  Congestion, chest congestion, and lots and lots of coughing, all the time, trying to just get it all out of our bodies so we can breathe.  It’s rough!  The pollen in this area is second to none right now.  While at the park for my cardio workout, I stopped at the Events Center they have to look at the special events memos they put up in the window, and could only see the cloud of pollen in the air that I just stood in.  Had to exit quickly…could feel that I was breathing it in completely.  That visible, that bad!  Keep your meds handy, it was Sooo Much Pollen! 

Today was not what I expected.  First half of the day was just hard.  I won’t go into details, but after my morning workout everything kind of went to pot.  Most of it is my fault, but that’s as far as I’ll go here.  Because of that the rest of the day didn’t work out the way I was originally planning.  Had to cancel some errands altogether because of it, and just sort through it all for our sanity’s sake.

Afternoon workout had some major successes at least.  Not only did I go further on my Sprints at 9.69 miles in 35 minutes, but I was also able to keep my sprints at over 100 rpm on the bike, which is a HUGE first.  Most of the time my sprints may start out there, but by I get to sprint 10 I’m only doing 85-90 rpm or so, let alone when I have 15 of them.  By the end I am definitely closer to the 85 range in the past, but NOT TODAY!  Today they were all consistently over 100 rpm, all 15 sprints (10 at 0.4 miles each and 5 at 0.2 miles each) with 1 minute breaks in between!  Pretty hot and sweaty afterwards, but feel pretty good with that going so well!

Rest of my tasks are also done.  I finished my book for this week yesterday, and started another, The Art of War by Sun Tzu.  Lucky for me, I finished The Art of War today too!  I don’t know what I’m going to read tomorrow?  I’m thinking of starting next weeks book (The Art of War wasn’t even on my list originally).  I think I had the book Blink by Malcom Gladwell scheduled for next week, and with it not having audio available like some books (at least not without paying for it), starting the actual reading might be good to get ahead of it for next week. 

All my other tasks have been completed and I’m already writing this at 5 pm, a new record for me.  I don’t think this will happen often, as we don’t usually need to cancel errands completely like this.  Either way it Wasn’t What I Was Expecting.  Hope you have a better day!

Today was the hardest day I’ve had in a long time! 

My morning workout was the easiest part of my day, honestly…and it wasn’t easy…mostly because my gym is not set up for these exercises to be done on the same floor of the gym, so I have to make some concessions as far as grouping them goes.  Floor exercises and dumbbell exercises are best done upstairs where there is room, floor mats and padding, etc.  Downstairs is all hardwood floors, but that is where the equipment is, such as the pull up bar and pull up machine.  This makes the Main Set a little difficult for me with having to go up and down stairs in between each round.  Instead I’ve mixed the pull-ups in with my squats for my warm up and the step ups (replacement for box jumps).  Then I go back upstairs and do my Renegade Rows with my floor exercises like sit-ups and push-ups.  Second Set is another with As Many Rounds As Possible in 15 minutes, but at least all exercises here and for Third Set can be done on one floor.  No matter how I mix them, I do at least make sure that I do as many as requested in the workout plan.

Then, had to run my daily errands, for which my usual exit on the highway is closed for some sort of construction project, added 20 minutes to the trip, unexpectedly which made me 10 minutes late for the first appointment.  From there made a realization that I’d have to go back home through the traffic, and come back out, because we forgot something, which was totally frustrating.  At least I was on time for the second appointment at noon, but everything continued to go downhill from there.  Due to some not so great choices of my own, and continued traffic issues due to the closed exit on the highway I completely missed Kat’s appointment that I really wanted to be there for…but I made my bed, and now have to lay in it!

I did finish my book today, didn’t realize that it was only going to take two days to read it, so started another, but it may only take two days as well, so might have to read a third book this week, or maybe after that I’ll start next weeks book early?  We’ll see and settle that one tomorrow, k?  What I will say is that Animal Farm by George Orwell is an easy but entertaining read, definitely on the political satire level and largely a political Fairy Tale, honestly.  Worth reading at least once if you haven’t already.  Same goes for his other book 1984 which I read last week!  I believe both books are listed on my Most Recommended Reads Compilation List that I created.  I may have to post that some day for you all!  That’s for another day…back to today…

I was altogether ready to quit the Deliberate Discomfort Challenge today, it was just going to be too hard to get it all done with the day I had.  Kat convinced me otherwise, and I’m glad I did push through…but it was definitely a hard one today.  With all the other stressors I had going today, I just quit caring about any of it!  Didn’t care, so therefore didn’t want to do it all.  Felt like it was even getting in the way of some of the things I did want to do, even.  I wasn’t going to quit working out at all, or quit my appointments, but was completely ready to give up the commitment to the challenge and doing all the other little tasks.  That’s REALLY what I wanted, to just QUIT!  Sometimes you have to do what is needed, and because of that, You Don’t Always Get What You Want! 

Workouts were pretty same as usual, Chest Day at the gym in the morning, 35 minutes of cardio at the park with a few warm-up exercises, netting me 1.67 miles.

Had to go through a little training for an hour, but it was easy and mostly stuff Kat and I already knew, but the refresher and formality of it is nice for a check mark!  Most of my other tasks went well and were without incident.  Learned about the Locus of Control today in the Master Class video, which is the area of your life that you can actually control, so you can be aware of what you can control and what you can’t control in any situation.  Each of us should familiarize ourselves with our true Locus of Control, so we know what is out of our hands, and what we can actually do something about.  I actually struggled with part of this as it was attempting to put full control of everything in your hands, which excludes God.  I think there are plenty of things that we can have free will about and can maintain without our Locus of Control, but we also need to be ready for those things outside of our Locus of Control to change our path if it is in line with God’s will and our prayers to Him.  His will can always re-route us at any moment to work through something for Him.  We have to be ready for His calling, don’t we?  I think so!

Got talking with a  couple of people about something that we have initiated at our house, and got complimented on it today, and thought I’d share it with you too!  We have what we call a “Basket of Debauchery” at our house.  It is filled with all sorts of snacks: peanuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios, dried fruits of a dozen varieties (our favorites include pineapple, apple rings, cranberries, raisins, cherries, coconut fruit, and mangoes), and a few crunchy snacks like goldfish crackers, granola bars, yogurt covered pretzels, etc.  We try to keep them all relatively healthy snacks, but on occasion there is a little chocolate covered something, or a small chocolate bar that we can break a piece off of, etc.  This basket is used any time people in our family are hungry.  This includes just after a meal you can grab a crunchy and a fruity instead of getting seconds.  Snack times in between meals, same thing…grab a crunchy and a fruity.  What we try to do is get them all portioned ahead of time in little snack size zip-lock bags, but we don’t always make it that far.  What we do to begin with is put all the bulk bags into the basket so we can grab a serving any time we need one.  We do, however, stick to an actual serving as listed on the packaging, so we don’t over do it.

I received no less than two compliments on this just today!  So here it is for you and your Healthy Snacking!

Today, like most Sundays, are pretty busy due to church.  I think I’ve got my schedule down now that I’ve done it a few weeks in a row.  Early morning workout at 6 am, followed by breakfast and church at 9:45 am until Noon.  Go home for lunch, a touch of family time, then tuck everyone in for their after lunch naps and I’m back to the gym for my 60 minute cardio workout.  I get my Master Class video in, any reading I can do via audio book, listen to my Mindfulness tracks while driving or on breaks in between, etc.  I almost always end up in a meaningful conversation at church with someone and today was no exception.  After my afternoon cardio workout I’m back home for a few with the family before we are back to church for bible study and prayer night, then home for dinner, gratitude journal, and this blog post.  That is getting my 6 for the Deliberate Discomfort Challenge, in a nutshell.

Morning workout went relatively well for Back Day.  Hamstring Hell is up there on my least favorite exercises list, but I got through it!  Wore me out a little extra due to not sleeping well from having coughing fits half the night from the allergies (I literally have yellow patches of pollen on my driveway!)

Afternoon cardio went really well, and pretty much had the gym to myself.  Was able to clunk out 2.87 miles on the treadmill in 61 minutes.  With my cough and allergies, it is not recommended that I go outside here in Whiteville when it is cook and humid out, so I ended up at the gym on the treadmill instead of elsewhere.

Church was great, lots of talk about keeping your life God centered instead of self-centered, and helping maintain the close intimate relationship with God so that you can know His will for you and follow through with what He wants from you.  Bible study group also got some good spoilings by Kat and our oldest daughter, with some chocolate covered peanut butter balls.  Then we went into prayer night and learned about Paul’s 2nd Mission trip back into where he was stoned and left for dead.  How crazy is that?  Very, but Paul did it anyways!  Some Very Powerful Stuff!