"Time to get your shit together" moments in life.

[Lufia Erim]

Positive thread time! I'm looking for sucess stories. Stories of encouragement. Basically, i want to hear about times in your life where you basically decided it's time to clean up your act and start getting your shit together.

The reason I'm asking about this is because i finally motivated to start moving foward.I'm 26 and recently set 3 goals for myself as a starter.

A) Get my drivers liscence
B) Quit smoking
C) Start getting in shape.

And then I'll probably start setting new life goals and try to achieve them.

Also any advice for me would be highly appreciated. Especially point B and C.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I have been taking drivers ed recently myself. I don't know if it would constitute as getting my shit together, but atleast I'll be a bit more mobile (should I actually pass).

 

[Scarim Coral]

It hasn't happened to me just yet. Just give me a couple more years.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I've started trying to get in shape myself, I've managed to keep up the enthusiasm a lot better in the past year than in my previous attempts.

I started by changing my diet, I wanted something fast and easy to eat for work so I got things like fruit (bananas, peaches, apples, oranges specifically), pre-made salads and my grocery store also offers "snackers" which come with things like raw vegetables, humus, crackers, almonds, ext, that usually makes up my lunch.

My breakfast is one of those fruits above, plus some yogurt (the brand I can find with the lowest added sugar) mixed with fruit. I also sometimes eat cottage cheese, something with calcium in it so my doctor would stop complaining. I also sometimes have a smoothie for any given meal.

For drinks, I drink water, coconut water and sometimes tea or juice.

Also it's plus if I can find brands that are mostly real food and don't have sugar as three different names[footnote]stevia, evaporated cane juice, agave nectar, dextran, glucose, fructose, cane sugar[/footnote]

Since most of my time is spent at work, that's two meals I don't have to worry about five days a week, so I don't have to think much about what I'm going to eat and as long as I don't go overboard on snacks and dinner it works for me.



I also try to go to the gym, at first I didn't like the gym but it turns out, I was just going to a shitty gym. My sister showed me the one she goes to and another friend showed me how to use the equipment. I really like it and I try to go three times a week (or my doctor will yell at me).

(Gym routine is 15 minutes cardio, 45 minutes strength training, alternating between muscle groups[footnote]for example, one day back, chest and shoulders, next day core, butt, legs, it gives time for muscles to rest.[/footnote])


So I guess my advice would be... get a doctor to yell at you, or alternatively, find something that is healthy and works with your schedule.

Though if I were you, I'd focus on doing those things one at a time, if you didn't already plan. I don't think I could personally keep up with something like trying to quit smoking and getting into shape at the same time, that would take a lot of willpower.

 

[Dizchu]

When I became a vegetarian. Back when I ate meat I always felt a sense of regret, but I always thought "well this chicken was gonna be slaughtered anyway, there was nothing I could have done about it". That was an excuse, and not a great one either. So I decided one day to just ditch it. "Cold turkey" would be a funny way to describe it.

It's been about six months and while my diet hasn't improved or even changed all that much, I do feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Sure, I'm not gonna stop the entire meat industry by abstaining from chicken burgers and pepperoni pizza, but at least I'm not actively a part of it anymore. Now of course, veganism is the "ideal", but I'm not sure if I'll ever make THAT step. Veganism is an order of magnitude more difficult than vegetarianism and requires a certain level of dietary expertise that's far beyond my capabilities, at least currently.

I'm not someone that likes patting myself on the back. People often tell me that I undersell my achievements. But on this occasion I'll make an exception. Well done, me.

 

[lechat]

Positive thread time! I'm looking for sucess stories. Stories of encouragement. Basically, i want to hear about times in your life where you basically decided it's time to clean up your act and start getting your shit together.

The reason I'm asking about this is because i finally motivated to start moving forward.I'm 26 and recently set 3 goals for myself as a starter.

A) Get my drivers liscence
B) Quit smoking
C) Start getting in shape.

And then I'll probably start setting new life goals and try to achieve them.

Also any advice for me would be highly appreciated. Especially point B and C.

Try not to do B and C together or as i always like to say "you know whats great for losing weight? Cancer."
Best advice i can give for quitting smoking is to see a doctor. Me and a couple of people i know used champix but if you can go cold turkey do it, If you can't do either than ask your doctor what else he recommends.

As far as goal setting goes the single most important tip I have is to write your goals down, even go as far as drawing pictures of where you want to be in a years time or 3. I don't want to sound like a tony robbins infomercial but i recently found a notebook with my goals written in it and every single one had been accomplished without me even consciously working towards them, something about clearly defining what you want in life and having a conversation with yourself about what is important sets a chain of events into motion.

If you want you can grab an app to keep you honest, I use "recall" for android, It's nothing too flash but it gives you notifications on when your goals will expire, tracks your completed goals and has a countdown of your life expectancy to add a little reality to the fact that most of us (the non hindiis and Buddhists) only have one life and we shouldn't waste it.

Above all else be honest with yourself about what you want, you might say you want to get in shape but if you sit around all day eating pizza and playing video games and don't cry yourself to sleep at night than what you really want in life is to eat pizza and relax not have rock hard abs. I've already cancelled 2 goals this year because what seemed important or smart 6 months ago suddenly doesn't seem like a wise choice or a priority.

 

[vallorn]

I went through a pretty bloody stressful period of my life in my mid-late teens, A Levels, parental divorce, rocky relationships, the whole bunch and then a kitchen sink... I kind of started drinking, way too much. It ended up where I would have to get drunk just to sleep.

Eventually I decided to kick that part of my life into the back of the closet and start over to some degree, I moved to the USA, went dry for about 6 months to get it out of my system (I can drink again without going overboard now) and started going to College.

I've gone from:
Depression.
No life.
Borderline alcoholism.
D-C grades.

To:
Stable and happy.
I have a boyfriend and a social life of my own.
Healthy consumption of caffine and ethanol (Some, but not drinking like 4 cups of coffee per day or getting drunk more than once a month with friends).
3.81+ GPA with honours and A+ grades in some classes.

Kicking everything that was pulling me down and starting over fresh has been amazing for me. Now I just need to shed some weight (Not too much, I'm not really fat per se but I could do with losing a few pounds) and that's going to be achieved by cycling rather than driving (Although American roads are bloody terrifying to cycle on compared to English roads. How do people not just get turned into jam when they cross the roads here!?)

Oh and if you want a tip for replacing caffine or sugary drinks. Take glass bottles like the half liter glass bottles for fizzy pop that you can get from some places, add shaved ginger and a stick of Ceylon cinnamon to each one and pour in freshly boiled water, you can usually reseal them with a spare bottlecap (so long as it's not a twist off or bent too much) and then leave them to cool and brew for a few days, then chill them in the fridge to drink. It's got some heat to it and both ginger and cinnamon are really good for the body.

WARNING: Remember, Ceylon cinnamon. DO NOT USE SAIGON CINNAMON. See, cinnamon contains trace amounts of a chemical that can cause liver damage, and the different varieties contain different amounts of it. Ceylon cinnamon contains the least out of any variety but Saigon contains nearly 10X as much. It won't kill you unless you try to eat spoonfulls of the stuff (FDA guidelines say a milligram of cinnamon per kilo of body mass is a safe limit) but still, it pays to be aware and use the safest option.

 

[Rylot]

Recently I started repaying some of the serious debts that I have. Set a budget of $25 a month for miscellaneous stuff and the rest goes to rent, food, or repayments. Been really tough, and not a lot of fun.

Part of the upside of being so damn poor is that I've started biking to work to save money and I pretty much never eat out anymore. I also recently got a gallon and a half mason jar with a spigot that I can make sun tea in. That's helped a bit with my crippling addiction to Mountain Dew.

My Hockey team has also been practicing over the summer which is really cool but I did drop basketball so hopefully riding to work with help me lose some weight.

 

[geK0]

After failing to find a *good* office job after coming out of college (quit one for ethical reasons and was let go for another) I realized that I needed to fix some personal issues before I could ever excel in my career. I've been focusing on self betterment in several areas. I have been working on my social skills, I've been visiting the gym, I've lowered my usage of recreational herbal substances, I'll be starting to work toward a bachelors in commerce in the fall and I started to seek help for the depression I've had since I can remember; I really could never excel in my career or romantic life without confronting those issues.

If you are experiencing depression yourself, I'd be happy to share my personal experiences and advice via private messages. I'm actually very happy with where my life is going these days.

 

[Fappy]

I gained 15 pounds while between jobs these past six months. I didn't realize it until just last week thanks to a healthcare blood test thingy at my new job (it's part of a fitness program). I am in the midst of a move, and once that's over with my girlfriend and I are getting gym memberships. I am still a healthy BMI, but want to get ahead of this thing before my metabolism crashes and burns. I already started making alterations to my diet, but not quiet enough yet.

Hope I can keep at it and make progress soon >.>

 

[Hero of Lime]

Well my biggest success story was getting into shape around the age of 19/20 after having been overweight from the ages of 14-19. Being fit has become a huge deal for me, even now I still exercise everyday, and eat healthier than I used to. I can say for sure, that if I could do it, anyone can. I was very heavy, and I still consider it a miracle that I just got up, and started going on the treadmill, and eating less. It was super spontaneous.

As of right now, I also am working on getting my driver's license. I'm 22, almost 23, and I know I've been dodging this for way too long. Especially living in California, driving is way too essential for anyone who does not live in a big city.

 

[FPLOON]

After getting my semester suspension from failing courses that I later found out I didn't even have to take in the first place, I really started to hone in on my core courses and in two semester's time, I would have changed my accumulative GPA from 1.2 to 3.3 repeating!

Other than that, for the past few months, I have been taking up both yoga and cardio... It feels so good and amazing that I question why I didn't start (or continue) after finishing high school!

 

[Simskiller]

I've hit pretty much every major goal that was attainable that I set myself like, 4 years ago.

I have now run out of goals and it frightens me. Seriously scares me that I have no goals.

The only goal my mind can come up with is "earn enough money to go to college with out getting a student loan" and the *LAST* time I tried to get myself to earn X amount of money, I got bored and quit my job when I hit that because I didn't particularly like that job.

Goals I've set and met.

Get drivers license (19 or so I think when I hit this)
Get a new job (was 20/21 when I started?)
Get my *OWN* car (just happened last October, I was 23, I love my car to bits but it frustrates me when it needs to go to the mechanic because it is my lifeline to the outside world), this was fueled by the repercussions of trashing someone elses car and thus being banned from driving it, and having to be driven everywhere. It just was not working out because of the hours I was working at my job.)
Become a citizen (goal was set, in 2013 or 2014 I think, and I just became a full official citizen this year.)
Get a passport (was much easier to become a citizen and get a canadian passport than mailing back and forth and renewing my british passport).

Now, I just have super frivolous goals that don't really mean anything?

Things like:
Go to the gym (it cost me ~$400 for a year pass, and by god I will get my moneys worth even if it kills me, also being a narcissistic helps immensely because I can't help but like the results I've been getting from going to the gym.)
Go to the chiropractor to fix my super fucked up back.
Buy a 23&me thing when I have the money
Get a tattoo of a phoenix
Get my tooth looked at because it has a fucking dent in it, but I have to wait till I get health benefits at my new job. Dentist will charge $300 just to LOOK at it.

See? those are all just really dumb, pointless meaningless goals.

The only tangible goal that is quasi decent is probably to go back to career counseling to see if I still want to go into business.

I maybe want to move away? But the problem with that, its super affordable to live here even though its shitty. Education is super cheap in comparison to other places.


I just feel I've entered a point in my life where I'm just lost and floundering around and things are meaningless. It's like I'm reacting to the world instead of taking charge.