Fit-to-Fat-to-Fit Blog: Day 10

Goal Weight: 195

Today’s weight: 228.

Fatigue is a thief who’ll pilfer your hopes and steal your dreams.

I hit a wall yesterday. And not with my car. My fatigue caught up with me and I broke down.  It wasn’t really physical fatigue — I’ve been physically tired for a long, long time. It was mental fatigue.  All the long hours and all the stress came crashing down at once.  And I paid for it this morning.

I’m in the same boat as a lot of Americans. The Great Recession has radically changed my life.  Now I’ll admit that I’m thankful; it has been mostly for the better. But the stress brought on by that change has caused lots of bad side effects. (Acid reflux being one of the worst.) Yesterday was a particularly stressful day for me.  I got moved up a group in my workout where I struggled.  My first job was particularly bleak.  At my second, I covered the State of the State (something I had never done before but went well.)  After a 15-hour day, I met my wife in a parking lot and took the kids home. She got a well-deserved night away and I got the boys fed and ready for bed.  By the time I sat down to watch a few minutes of the State of the Union, I was exhausted physically and mentally. I felt defeated.  Totally and completely defeated.  I hit the wall and melted down.

I woke up this morning still in my work clothes. The clock read ten minutes until my workout started.  I had not set the alarm.

Since I don’t own a Star Trek Transporter, I knew I’d miss the workout. So I laced up my running shoes and hit the hills of my neighborhood hard. I ran a strenuous (and at times painful thanks to my ankle) four miles.  I pretended I was on the treadmill and would do sprints.  I prayed as I ran and tried to get my mind right in the silence of predawn hours.

I made it to work at a little after six, ready to do it all after again. I’ll get home a little before seven tonight.  I’ll wake up at 3:45 tomorrow morning and do it all again.  Fatigue caused me to fall off the treadmill of life.  Now I’m crawling back on.

Fatigue is a thief who’ll pilfer your hopes and steal your dreams.  By becoming physically stronger, I’ll be able to keep the thief at bay.