As a way of constantly inspiring myself to make smart choices and live a healthier lifestyle, I follow numerous health blogs. One of the ones I'm particularly interested in is Mark's Daily Apple. Mark is an old dude with a chiseled body. He is a huge advocate of living what he terms the "Primal Blueprint" or "PB," which essentially means living, eating, and working out the way humans were designed to live. It's intriguing, and seems to follow many of the principles I myself have adopted.
Anyway, he updates his blog frequently, and today was a GREAT post about patience, perseverance, and promise. See--one month ago, Mark started a challenge to all the readers of his blog: Go thirty days on his rules for a primal blueprint. The Thirty Day Challenge (I ran into his blog about two weeks into it) has been an immense fiesta of healthy living! He asks for loads of reader input, hands out great prizes, gives amazing, smart, logical advice for his participants. His Challenge ends tomorrow--but here, and posted below, are his words about patience, perseverance, and promise. I like being reminded of what I'm doing for my life. He sums it all up well.
And yes...these are all photos of him. Chiseled is not an understatement.
Patience... Persistence... Promise
Believe it or not, we’re rounding the corner on our 30 Day Primal Challenge! It’s been an unbelievable few weeks of stories, support, and success. (If you think we’ve motivated you along the way, just know you’ve done the same for us in our work. This is why we love what we do!) Tomorrow Mark will offer the official congrats and message for moving forward. Today, however, we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on the past month – your past month to be exact. Once you were here, on board, what got you through (e.g. a good friend, faith, fear, humor)? What did you find in yourself along the way? Are you looking forward yet? Every reader, as we saw in last week’s incredible posts, has a unique story, but we thought we’d tease out a few common threads. Let us know what you think.
Patience
We’re used to having it our way and having it now. Our culture is increasingly about expediency. Too many of us want the “easy button,” the quick fix, the simple pill prescription, the “after” shot when we’ve barely begun to see the “before” for what it really is. Patience is an endangered virtue these days, and our collective health suffers for it. We’d argue, however, that the Challenge – and healthy living overall – requires and fosters genuine patience.
We mean, particularly, patience with yourself and the process. It takes time and consideration to bring real change into your life. It takes patience and fortitude to direct your life through a new vision, to put into practice new revelations and routines. And that’s what the Challenge has been about: rewriting the script of your daily life – not just making some casual substitutions but patiently plotting out a whole new trajectory.
Persistence
In those tracks you’ve set a pattern of persistence. Your efforts toward consistency have been physical, mental and logistical. Sure, the 30 Day Challenge is just the beginning when you compare it to the span of a lifetime, but it’s nothing to shake a stick at either. Whether you began the Challenge with a decidedly resolute or nonchalant attitude, you’ve ended up practicing diligence, found staying power throughout these few weeks. You started the month perhaps taking up a 30 Day “trial,” but in the meantime you’ve laid down a foundation for something much bigger, more lasting.
Whether you know it or not, you’ve been through the most difficult part. As you imagine beyond the 30 day horizon, keep in mind that for most people it only gets easier from here on out. Maybe you’ve experienced some setbacks along the way, but make no mistake: you’ve worn in the grooves of a new lifestyle. Have you thought about the natural ease of staying in those grooves, the opportunity your current momentum provides? An object in motion tends to stay in motion. How about persisting? How about keepin’ on keepin’ on? Our advice: don’t backtrack and have to start all over again.
Promise
Perhaps you committed to the Challenge with enthusiasm for the finite span, the hoopla, the prizes, the extra support. But as you find yourself at the end now, consider where it’s taken you. The Challenge has, ultimately, been your journey, and you’ve likely seen a few ups and downs – but more than likely a lightening of the load over time. You’ve put in the time, the patience, the persistence, but have you noticed along the way that it’s taken less of those along the way? The ultimate promise of the PB is, of course, the health and vitality it offers. However, as many PBers can attest to, it doesn’t take long before the PB just feels like normal life. The promise also encompasses this: the patience and perseverance you pay upfront constitute an investment with continual return. Know this: there comes a time when you will find yourself just living the Blueprint instead of planning and thinking about it all the time, but you’ll be benefiting each step of the way.
Can we say it now? Thirty days is just the beginning. Maybe this challenge was the kick start you needed to create real change for your life. Don’t let up now. If you’ve seen real change in thirty days, think for a moment what you could do in sixty days, in ninety days, in a whole year. Recall the stories of other readers last week and imagine what you might have to say with a few more months under your belt.
Think of how far you’ve come in these weeks. Where do you find yourself now? Where do you see yourself down the road from your new vantage point?
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