We Are Small

So this is Earth. To paraphrase Carl Sagan, every one that has ever lived is in this picture. We are on a rock traveling through space around a burning ball of hydrogen that is traveling around the center of an ordinary Galaxy in a universe with billions of other galaxies. 

You are there.  

I can see why this scares people and why some choose to believe in a god. I don't, but it's cool if you do, just don't go killing anyone in his name.

Anyways, everything anyone has ever done, everything we think is important, our job, our friends, everything is on that little dot and will most likely never leave it.

Knowing that, why do we stress about things? Why do we worry about what another person thinks? Why do we spend even a second doing things that don't make us happy?

We're all going to be on our deathbed before we know it and we're not going to care about much of the things we spent our time doing. Make the most of it doing the things you love, take chances, and dream big. 

I Won the Lottery

I am 32 years old without a lot of money.  Some would call me broke.

Somewhere out there is a man with a lot of money.  More than he could ever spend, but he is unhappy.  He is running short on the one thing that I have a lot of......  and he can't buy it.  Even if I wanted to sell it to him I couldn't.  This man spent all of his earning a bunch of money and now he regrets it.

I'm not breaking any new ground here, but what I have that he doesn't is time, barring an unforseen accident, cancer, etc.  According to the Death Clock , I have 1,788, 699, 820 seconds left to live and those seconds are ticking away.  It says I will die on Septermber 15, 2070 at 88 years old.  I'm not sure how it calculates that number, but I assume it's based on statistics.

The good news is that seems like a long time.  I have 56 years and about 8 months left to live.  I don't really need to worry about getting things done right now because I have a lot of time.  Go talk to any older person and they will tell you that time goes by very quickly and they wish that they would have taken advantage of their youth, done more things, and experienced more places.  They would've said yes to more people, places, and things.

Now back to the old man with lots of money and little time.  Is he richer than I?  Is he more wealthy than I am?  Our most valuable asset in anything we want to do in life is time.  If you have it, you are wealthier than any billionaire could ever be.  If you don't have it, then all the money in the world isn't going to help you.

People play the lottery hoping to get lucky and win a bunch of money, but they don't realize that they are already luckier than they could ever imagine.  We're here, somehow, and we're living life with nothing in front of us but time to do whatever we want.  Now the question is, how will we spend our fortune?

My New Year's Revelation

I remember when I was younger, everyone always said to go to college and get a degree.  Get a good job with good benefits and you'll be happy.  I know they meant well and that was the way the world worked for them when they grew up.  There was no way for them to know how much the world would change in the next 30 years.  There's never a way for us to know.

When I was a kid people didn't have cell phones, they didn't use the internet, they wanted a good job with benefits, they wanted someone to take care of them.  They wanted to give up freedom for security.  They got jobs with big corporations, worked in cubicles, got their benefits, went home and watched tv, had 2-3 kids, and died at 30 while they lived to be 70.  If that makes a person happy, then good for them, but I think those people were fooling themselves.  Nobody wants to be near the end of their life and look back at a boring life. I know that's not what I want.

I want more.  I was told when I got those things that I would be happy.  I just needed to get there.  Well, where is "there?"  I'm supposed to get to a certain place in life and then just be content, happy, and quit improving?  I don't believe life is about getting somewhere and then stagnating.  To me, being happy means having something to work towards, having goals, learning new things, making changes, always trying to be better, doing new things, meeting new people.  I don't think I will ever "arrive."  To other people that, scary, weird, dumb, irresponsible, etc.  To me, that's exciting, that's life.

I'm not sure what is coming next for me or where I'm headed, but I do know that it's going to be fun and I'm going to have a blast.  The only things I truly need in life are friends, family, a place to live, and food.  If I've got that then I can be happy.  I don't need a TV, pictures on the wall, curtains over the windows, a nice lawnmower, a super nice car, or anything else that people slave away at their job for.  I'd rather have none of those things if it means I can have great experiences with family and friends.

If I were to buy those things that I don't need, I would be trading away those hours I spent working to buy it for a thing that I really don't need in my life.  I'd rather trade my time earning money for awesome experiences.  Or better yet, trade away less time because I don't need as much money to enjoy life.  In a perfect world, I wouldn't need any money for anything and I could just spend my whole life enjoying the things and people I love.  We're not here on this planet living this life just to achieve some arbitrary goal that society sets out for us that makes us think we've "made it."  I don't need to own a house to be happy, I don't need two cars, a garage, or any of that stuff.

It's time for me to continue on the path I've been on.  I will continue to remove things from my life that I don't need instead of adding things to my life and making life more complicated.  Less is more.

What Would Happen If We Were The Highest Version of Ourselves?

Live the highest version of yourself.  I have always liked the saying "Do what you can, when you can, the best you can."  This still applies because it is not possible do something you can't do or to do something when you can't do it because if you ARE able to do it, then you just proved yourself wrong. 

The last part is what I have had a problem with and what I believe many others have had a problem with.  Doing things the best that we possibly can.  This applies to everything.  Most people will do the minimum amount to get by, not to get fired, not to get in trouble, etc.  The easiest way to be different and set yourself apart is to always be the best version of yourself.  Always go the extra mile and do something that people don't expect.  This is so rare in the world that you will be remembered and you will make an impression.  People will see you as someone that is different and someone that they want to associate with.

Everyone has a picture of who they are and what they believe in their mind.  What is your picture?  My picture of the highest version of myself is someone that helps others every chance he gets, he eats healthy, exercises, is a loving husband and parent, among many other things.  I won't list them all. 

I do not see the highest version of myself as someone that is out drinking every weekend, sitting on the couch watching TV all day, being rude to my friends or wife, or being undependable.  So why do I do some of those things sometimes?  I talk a good talk about how I want to be all of those good things, but then I sabotage myself, as I'm sure you and many other people do as well. 

I haven't figured out exactly why I do that, but I'm working on it.  I have ideas about it.  One theory of mine is that in my mind, I don't really think that I deserve all of the great things I would have in my life if I lived the highest version of myself.  I don't know if it's something in my past, the mistakes I have made, the people I have let down, or something else, that makes me feel like I don't deserve what would come if I was the highest version of myself. 

I really think this is one of the main purposes of life.  Fulfilling our potential and creating ourselves to be exactly what we want ourselves to be would lead to an immense amount of satisfaction and fulfillment.  This may seem selfish, all of this focus on ourselves, but think how much more of a difference we could make in the lives of others if we were fulfilled and in a good state of mind.  If we are having negative thoughts and unhappy, how much of a difference can we ever make in someone else's life?  It's much harder because we are so preoccupied with our own dilemmas and feelings of hopelessness.  I think we can only make a real difference after we have our own house in order. 

I don't know if any of this is actually true, but like I wrote in my last post about experiencing our own lives, I am going to try to figure it out for myself and see if it's true for me.  I'm not just going to go off of what other people say.  I think we should all do the same. 

Make Up Your OWN Mind

I just got started reading a book called "Conversations With God" and it has been very interesting so far.  Yes, I'm an atheist so you're probably wondering why I'm reading this book.  That would be the expected question, but it also reveals that you probably don't have a very open mind.  I firmly believe that if a person thinks that they know everything and aren't always questioning what they think or believe, that they will become stagnant and life will become pretty boring.  It's always a good thing to learn and read about things that might take you out of your comfort zone.

So far, I can say that this book isn't really a "religious" book.  It makes claims that all of the religions of the world are a myth so I can jump on board with that assessment.  It also claims that all there really is in the world is love, we just haven't been able to master that yet.  I can also agree with that.

This brings me to the paragraph in the book that made me want to sit down and write a little bit. 

"Very few of the value judgments you have incorporated into your truth are judgments you, yourself, have made based on your own experience.  Yet experience is what you came here for-- and out of your experience were you to create yourself.  You have created yourself out of the experience of others.  If there were such a thing as sin, this would be it:  to allow yourself to become what you are because of the experience of others."

This is an awesome way to look at things.  If you look at the statistics, a person is always very likely to believe in the religion of their parents.  They also usually support the same political party and have the same beliefs as their parents.  They are more likely to cheer for the team that resides in their city or state, because that's what others do. 

When parents force their beliefs on their children, they are robbing them of the process of discovering who they really are.  When kids are indoctrinated into a religion (or atheism), we take away the experience of letting them figure out who they are.  If they believe something just because we believe it, then they are not really their own person, they are just an extension of us. 

I know that getting out of our current belief system is very hard, but it can be done.  I went from being a believer in God to being an atheist based on the evidence that I found.  If I found sufficient evidence in the opposite manner, I would change my beliefs again.  I also know that it is very hard for us not to push our beliefs on others when we think we have the right answers, especially as parents, because we want our children to learn from our mistakes.  But again, this robs our children of experiencing life for themselves. 

This is something that I am always working on in my parenting, to let my children make their own mistakes and come to their own beliefs in their own way.  Now I have realized that I also need to do the same for other beliefs and with other people.  Everyone needs to discover their own beliefs for themselves and stop repeating what they have learned from parents and other people while growing up.  Step back from all of your beliefs and examine them from an outside perspective.  Do you really believe them or is just what you've always believed, so it's easier to just go with the flow?  If it's what you've always believed, devour every piece of information you can about that subject and see if you still believe that.  Read about things that disagree with your stance.  Challenge yourself, force yourself to grow.  Experience things for yourself instead of letting others experience them for you.

How to Squat 425lbs

I squatted 425lbs today and it feels fucking great.  I could've written freaking, but you're not stupid and that wouldn't fool you.  You know exactly what I mean.  A 425 lb squat at a body weight of 245 isn't really that amazing, but it's a new record for me and it is just the beginning. 

How Did I Get There?

I started lifting weights around the age of 15.  I don't think I ever did real free weight squats.  I mostly did the beach bro workout.  Chest, arms, shoulders, and back once in a while. I did a few clean and jerks for football, but that was it.  I only got up to about 205 in the bench and I'm sure my form sucked.

When I was 19 and moved back home from my college failure I lifted weights pretty seriously for about 9 months.  I made the best gains ever and felt huge.  I was on some type of program that was an upper/lower split and worked everything based off 1RM%.  Looking back, it wasn't too bad of a program and I got my bench up to 255 if I remember correctly.  I don't remember what my squat got up to, but at least I was working lower body. 

Then I got away from the weights again, met my wife, got married, had kids, and got kind of fat.  I wasn't obese, but I went from about 210 in August of 2003 to 235 in March of 2009.  It was a slow weight gain and I worked out and dieted off and on during those years.

Reality Check

Life kind of sucked in the spring of 2009.  I was working a job I hated (then I got laid off) and I had too many bills and not enough money.  It was hard to find a new job and unemployment didn't pay enough so I attempted to join the Air Guard.  I was told that I was too fat (I had a waist circumference of 42 inches) so I started working out.  I knew that I needed to lift weights to maintain muscle, but at that point all I cared about was getting the number on the scale to get below a certain magical number that the military required. 

After doing tons of cardio (a lot of swimming, which was actually fun), I lost about 12 pounds and then it stopped.  I realized I needed to add weights in, started Rippetoe's Starting Strength, and dropped another 12 pounds pretty quickly. 

At this point I had moved on from the Air Guard and was going to join the Navy active duty to study nuclear power because I scored 99 out of 100 on the ASVAB, which is some kind of military aptitude test.  Long story short, I went to MEPS and was told that I was too old (27) for a job with a maximum age of 25.  Because of the bad economy, the Navy had many people trying to get in so they didn't need to give me a waiver.  In normal times I probably would have gotten in. 

Rippetoe's Starting Strength

This was the program that I followed starting in May of 2009 and I followed it for almost a year.  You can Google it for details, but it is a very structured program based around the main compound lifts.  I believe every new lifter should start with this program if their goal is to get stronger, gain muscle, and lose fat.  It worked great for me. 

When I started this program my 5RM squat was about 225.  I think I got up to 325 or so for 5 reps using this program.  Then I got a job at LA Fitness, discovered many other training programs and experimented for a while. 

I did a little bit of crossfit stuff, a lot of bodybuilding/high rep stuff, and a lot of dieting.  I don't know what I squatted during this time because I don't think I went below 8 reps for about 9 months.  I learned a lot and gained some decent size during this time, but my strength probably plateaued during this time. 

Doggcrapp and Bodybuilding Training

I quit LA Fitness in September of 2010 and started working for myself doing personal training.  I did this for about 9 months before becoming manager of Anytime Fitness.  I made my own schedule during this time and had a great training partner so I never missed a workout and made great gains. 

We did Doggcrap training for about 3 months and bodybuilding/high rep stuff for about 6 months.  I didn't do much low rep work, but really pushed the high rep stuff, which must have carried over into peak strength. 

Last July I was squatting with my training partner after a couple week layoff and was feeling great.  We just kept pushing the weight up (I had never had more than 335 on the bar in my life) and doing singles.  First it was 335, then 355, then 375, and I figured what the hell, I would go for 405.  It went up pretty easily and I was amazed.  That definitely shows that high volume does have a carryover to max weight if you are really pushing the high volume work. 

The Lazy Year

That happened in July of 2011 and I have pretty much coasted this last year.  I've gained too much weight (I'm at 245) and am going strong again.  I have signed up for a powerlifting contest in November and will be competing in the 220lb weight class so that's good motivation to cut a little bit of weight. 

Even with the nearly year-long plateau my squat has still gone up 20 pounds and I'm pretty sure I could have squeaked out another 25 (next month I will max again and will push for 440). 

Summary

It took me longer than it had to, but I got there.  The next 200 pound increase shouldn't take me 9 years if I'm doing things right, but who knows.  Nothing ever goes exactly as planned and that's the fun part.

After I do this I will be happy.....

How many times do you hear someone say this?  After I do this or after I do that, then I will be happy and everything will be great.  Then they accomplish that one thing (or more likely, they fail, and then pick a new thing that will magically make them happy) and they still aren't happy. 

Add them all together and eventually you're dead without ever being happy.  I do this sometimes, too.  After I finish school and get in my career things will be so much better.  After I get a raise I will have more money.  After the kids are in school I will have more time to do some things around the house. 

I am going to work on realizing when I say these things and stop.  The only time we ever have is now so whatever it is we want, it needs to be done now. 

Want to have more money?  Budget better, get another job, start a business. 

Want to have a happier marriage?  Read some books on marriage and psychology and apply them to your marriage. 

Want more time for an activity or for your family?  Put it first and MAKE time. 

Wherever you are right now is where you really wanted to be at one time.  When you were a kid you really wanted to be grown up and have a job so you could have more money.  When you were in high school, you really wanted to be in college.  When you were single, you couldn't wait to meet someone and get married.  You, I, have what we want right now let's start making it happen. 

Don't spend all your life waiting for things to be perfect because things are never perfect. Do it now.