The hard boundary at work is “no chips”. I have extended it to home. Twice this afternoon I have approached the bag of tortilla chips beside the fridge and reversed course when my mind said “hard boundaries”.
I wrote this to remember two victories today.
To take action.
Today.
I have been faltering because I wanted to know what I was going to do before I began. What am I going to write about before I write? Figure out what I think before I start. Am I really committed to this? What if it fails? What is the opportunity cost of this activity instead of all of the other possibilities arrayed before me?
I know the goal. I know the people who will (God willing) find my offering useful. I know that people who follow the path I will lay out will be stronger, happier people, and their communities and families will be better off because people followed that path.
I know that these actions will help me, whether ultimately successful, unsuccessful, or (the worst outcome) somewhere in the middle. I will learn something and make myself more resilient, win, lose, or draw.
No. I start today.
Learn what to speak about by saying the wrong thing, or being inarticulate.
Learn what to do by doing the wrong things.
It has been decided.
Every day at lunch my brain tells me to walk to Yogurtland and get a treat. I deserve it, or just this once, or it’s ok there isn’t much sugar or calories. I tell myself a story and I believe it.
Every day my brain says “hard boundaries”.
It happened again today. I had reflexively started walking south and started with the familiar dialog. After 50 yards of walking and talking to myself, I turned around and headed back north, toward work. Got a black coffee instead.
Win.
Hard boundaries.
Listen to this one again, from The Warrior Poet.
He takes the concept of skinny-fat physical fitness and moves it to life. Is your life a skinny-fat life?
Hard life choices are required. Or, rather, choices that have hard results. The choice itself is not hard. Relishing the pain takes some work.
Llorca, The Novel Sound. Pain is part of the process of revelation.