Day 19: Your Best Teacher is Your Last Mistake.... Accepting the Truth of Your Own Stupidity...

Why can we never admit when we are wrong? That’s a pretty bad move on our part…. Now counterintuitive to the thought processes of the majority, accepting that you are wrong and admitting it to others makes you appear intelligent rather than stupid. Continuance of your self-charade makes you look fairly dim witted…  The events of the last few months on the political landscape have given us a pretty good example of being wrong, not admitting it and then standing your ground when it is obvious that you are incorrect or mistaken. Chances are you’re going to look pretty stupid. Conversely, when you exclaim your opinion or “fact” and then new information appears that contradicts you, you see it, assimilate the information, apply it to your belief, negate your belief and then say “Oh, well I was wrong…” Your intelligence shines through like the sun coming up on a spherical (not flat) earth… The funny thing is that in 2021, in the age of the Hubble Telescope, in the face of obvious data, science, examples and information there are still humans walking amongst us that believe that the earth is flat… Luckily many on them are seventh graders who are just being antagonistic because they can but there are quite a few adults who refuse to believe that they live on an orb… Their proof? Well, they get a plate and fill it with water and then tilt it so the water runs off and obviously, only a flat, slightly concave object can hold water…  Yeah, seriously…  Just go to the NOT SATIRICAL The Flat Earth Society where you can find “a comprehensive collection of Flat Earth literature, consolidated in one place for everyone’s benefit…”

So why am I talking about this? As anyone who has been reading my ramblings for the last few weeks, I recently stopped a 43 year journey of loving to drink… Just to summarize, I made excuses for the last two decades in the face of mounting evidence that I was developing a serious problem… 

Then, about five years ago, I fell in love with Tony Horton… He really kicked my ass and put me on a track to make an attempt at getting some abs at age 55 and for that, I’m pretty grateful. Tony is an avid health nut and even got the Jack LaLanne Lifetime Achievement Award for fitness. If you don’t know who LaLanne is, he was on television every morning in the sixties and seventies at like 0500 working out. He is the first fitness instructor for America and pretty much the inventor of isometrics and body weight exercises… 

Anyway… Horton has some amazing exercise routines… 

So during the 13 week course of P90X3 Tony makes several  disparaging comments about drinking and clearly expounds the philosophy that drinking is not something that fitness freaks do…  Well, instead of accepting that, I set about proving Mr. Horton to be unenlightened to the concept that you can drink and be super fit… Yeah, I knew I was wrong but hear me out… I also didn’t have to have a clean diet, workout daily or be get enough sleep either… I wanted what everyone wants, I wanted to be fit, fabulous and fucked up on drugs all at the same time… Hey, as rule it doesn’t work but I managed to be kinda fit, kinda fabulous and super fucked up on drugs for a really long time… 

Then along came those Junes and Decembers… You know, those “dry months” where I “got control” of my drinking and drugs… You know those months… The ones where I would clean up and stop drinking and cut myself off from the partying… I noticed that with alarming rapidity that I would lose five pounds in a week, start sleeping better, and then my abs would start showing right around the time that it would come to the end of my sobriety… I like to call these periods my “almost abs” and as soon as the drinking started, what Tony Horton called “the goo that covers your abs” would erase all my progress and I would go back to the kinda fit, kinda fabulous and really fucked up party guy… Woo Hoo! But every time I did it, the data in my head was compiling and the question became, “How far does this go if I stop being stupid?”

Now listen… I’m stubborn as anyone you know… I won’t quit until I need surgery most of the time. But obviously, Tony Horton was quite right and I knew it. I just didn’t want to stop… That is the definition of a problem… You know the truth and the truth is irrelevant as long as you can continue to appear that you are correct… You know, like when you lose an election and refuse to concede… Of course, I’m talking about Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin in the 2019 election…  

Now sitting here 18 days in, I have lost seven pounds, I sleep like a baby, I wake up pretty well rested two out of three tries and I have six pack abs that just continue to get more and more pronounced… My musculature is that of someone far younger. I am stronger than I have been in decades and there is a clarity that I did not expect.

I was wrong about my drinking and I knew that Tony Horton was correct… I knew it… Of course stopping poisoning myself every day was going to expedite my wellness… No fucking shit… I wanted to drink and therefore, Tony Horton was wrong. It was possible to be healthy and a drunk. 

So today’s lesson is pretty easy… 

Ask yourself what you are being stubborn about in the face of obvious evidence. How many studies do you have to see, read and hear on the dangers of fast food before you stop? How many times do you have to hear that bottled water is a danger to the planet, is highly contaminated and almost completely unregulated before you buy a refillable bottle to top off from a filtered tap? You know, the same tap without a filter on it that fills a plastic bottle that ends up in a dolphin’s ass because recycling it is bad for the environment? Sorry… Pet peeve of mine… I will stick to the health thing… Less pushback… But if you’re going to continue with the bottled water, do your research on which water is safest and please recycle responsibly…  Dolphins are sexual creatures and some sexual creatures like things “in there” but it is not all dolphins… Be kind to them…

If you continue to claim you are correct it can lead to some pretty shitty consequences… Cause and Effect can be a real bastard sometimes…  Just saying…  Ignore what you know to be true about your eating habits long enough and you will be crying about your heart disease…  Hide behind your excuses and sooner or later, it will catch up to you… 

Anyway, Tony Horton told me what I did not want to hear. That right there was my excuse and that is a serious problem folks. It is childish to throw a tantrum or refuse to cooperate when the obvious facts show you to be wrong. I tried relentlessly to make it his problem, but all along, it was mine. 

When the truth piles up and you don’t change, do the world a favor, tell them yes, the data does not suggest my choices are correct. Tell everyone that you are wrong and no one will think less of you because it was obvious that you were wrong the entire time anyway…  Plus, you won’t hinder someone else in their progress by being their excuse. If we all bowed to the truth, sooner or later, the world would be a little better place… Don’t you think it’s refreshing to see someone take responsibility for their own misery? Smoking isn’t the cigarette manufacturer’s problem; it’s the smoker’s problem. The blame for the epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and a myriad of other health issues does not lie in the lap of Colonel Sanders, Ronald McDonald or Wendy… The responsibility is in the choices of the people lined up at every fast food drive thru at lunchtimes all across the country. They are making the choice to rush through their lives avoiding the sad truth that they are committing slow suicide. 

Wake up, the ride is over and it’s time to own up to your dishonesty with yourself and accept your mistakes. It’s never too late to start over… 

Have a wonderful day…

Love all of you… Mean it…

Oh, yeah… I overslept an hour… Fuck… That’s twice this week… Maybe I should put down the damn phone and get to bed earlier…  No, wait… Damn you Apple! This is your products fault!!! Stupid iPhone made me stay up late again… 

Not really… It was me… 

Exercises done… Gonna be good day regardless…