a fresh start to take on life
What can you do in a year?
Well anything you want if you put your mind to it and want it bad enough!
As a family we learnt more than anyone could ever imagine !
Most of all we learnt that all you need is family to be happy , the rest is all clutter!
My new home!
So this is how it ended!
I had the privilege to spend just over a year on “sabaticle” with the family in the berg!
The most wonderful time of my life and an opportunity not many get .
So why?
At 43 I have done a lot of different things and have had positions of responsibility and management in various roles that have exposed me to the best and worst of business and people!
I was not loving where I was and needed to understand what I was going to do.
So first of all I was FAT and no matter what justification for that I made I had to do something about it. I was also upset that in the scheme of the world I was a “taker”(making a living off others efforts)
and not a “maker”(adding to the world through real effort). While this is hugely financially rewarding it leaves you with a incredible feeling of worthlessness!
When you wake up to that realization it is an eye opener of note!
A truly defining moment ……..
So after 25 years of every meal being a buffet it was time to diet …..Dukan diet ……. High protein low carbs. I weighed 125kg at 1,79 m tall. Severely Obese on all BMI scales
14 months later 25kg down on the back of lots of exercise mostly in the form of cycling and the diet with the support and watchful eye of the family who always made me aware when I was straying from the plan !
I also stopped drinking all alcohol ! Now it’s not that I don’t like alcohol, but in this time off I spent time with people who did not drink and I was amazed that the following where actually true-
-You just feel better…
-You can have fun without drinking…
-You miss out on soooooo many subtle messages and things when your drunk…
-You get another 3 hours a day which are not “hazed”…
-Mornings are truly beautiful…
-Weight loss is inhibited by alcohol…
-And most importantly you are in control of your actions …I shudder at the fact that I used to drive my family after a night out …
I wish I had learned this 25 years ago!!
While the ability to do this came as a result of having time ( a good ride takes 4 hours) and that the daily work related stress that I was living under had totally disappeared . I made this time work and when people say you did nothing for a year that statement is soooo not true.
-I spent time with my family at a period where “us” time was possible .
-I got fit.
-I lost 25kg .
-I know what I want to do with my life
A very productive year by my reckoning!
So back to the end I did what I never thought possible .
I rode the Old Mutual Joberg2c a 930km 9 day mountain bike stage race.The worlds longest mountain bike stage race.
AND I DID IT!
I now look forward with a clarity of mind to the next stage of my life knowing it is true that you can do ANYTHING and that you are never given a dream without also been given the ability to make it come true.
To my family and friends , thank you for EVERYTHING and know that I love you all.
Not long ago our family would have rather spent time on the weekend watching videos than do anything vaguely energetic !
This weekend Luke became the under 12 Boys Kzn Champ for both The Time Trial and the Road Race . Georgia took the under 10 Girls title for both Time Trial and the Road Race .
I managed a Bronze in the 30km Time Trial for 40 to 44 year olds!
One very proud family!
Would love to hear if you have other points for the list:
health and personal safety
material comforts
relationships with family
relationship with spouse or partner
having and raising children
having close friends
helping and encouraging others
work
learning
understanding oneself
expressing oneself in a creative manner
socializing with others
reading, listening to music, watching sports events, and other entertainment
participating in active recreation
participating in activities relating to dealing with bigger issues like local and national government
Each of these headings has many aspects to evaluate, decide what’s important in each one and how to priorities them in your life!
I have been amazed recently in that I have met a number of women of all ages that have expressed a wish to desperately change their current situations!
It seems that the real issue is not the concern of how they got into the current positions but rather how do they get out ?
Not easy to do alone and I do not have all the answers but I do have an idea for a solution and believe that there is a way and know that there are people that can help .
You are not alone and you have the ability to make the changes you need and want.
The idea of this is to empower you in a manner that ensures that money is not a hurdle and that a safe place for support and growth are possible.
Make contact,and remember no matter what you have been led to believe women are truly a gift to the world that needs nurturing and protecting!
Be strong and take control!
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on the plan”.. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for money – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you’ll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
