In every self improvement journey, there’s a distinct period of time when you will be all alone. When you choose to follow a different path, you’ll find it harder to be around the same friends and your relationships may fall apart. There’s no telling how long it will last, but on the other side, there’s something greater.
I heard about this Lonely Arc on some podcast the other day, but I can’t recall who said it. The message, however, stuck with me.
After just a couple months of doing 75 Hard, my whole mindset on my fitness journey has changed. Now having seen what consistent effort can do for me in such a short time, I’m excited to keep it going even after this challenge ends. I have no clear vision of what my life will look like after November 7th (that’s for future me to figure out), but I know it won’t look like it did before all this.
I’ve barely been out to bars in the past 2 months. I haven’t gone to parties, eaten out, or really even seen all the people I was seeing before. With the little time I have to myself each day, I’m realizing I may not want to go back to that life. As of writing this, I really have no interest in going to bars until 2 AM, crammed parties with a bunch of strangers, or drink in excess then feel like shit the next morning. None of my old habits feel appealing anymore.
I know I will go back to enjoying beer come November, but my relationship to it will look utterly different. I don’t want drinking to be the norm or a consistent activity to do with friends. I’d be happy to just go play pool and have 2 beers then go home by 9 and be fine the next morning. That sounds much more fun to me than what I was doing.
As I begin a new stage of my fitness journey, I’m going to be prioritizing my diet and exercise more than before. I want to be tracking my food and progress in much more detail and striving to achieve my desired results. My focus will be completely different than what it was before.
With this change in mindset and priorities, I anticipate a drastic change in my relationships. I don’t know if it’ll go as far as this Lonely Arc, but I have a strong feeling I won’t be seeing a lot of the same people anymore. If that’s the case, it may suck for a time, but I have faith new friends and relationships will come that fit into my new lifestyle.
I’m not super worried about this potential change – there’s no reason to worry about it now anyway. I’m ready to put more focus and energy into my own improvement, health, and fitness then see where my life goes. I know that as long as I’m focused on the present and trying to be better, everything will work out, and sometimes that’s all we can do.
October 21, 2024
