No More Stress, 40 Pounds Down, and All the News Fit to Print

Sometimes I just need to get away from my current situation. Sometimes it is work, sometimes my family or house, and sometimes just my current life in general. For whatever various reasons, escaping is the right thing to do, the easy answer to short-term stress. I can not be allowed to experience stress - both my doctor and cardiologist have told me repeatedly that stress is very like the cause of my nerve-based heart condition. Zero stress = healthy Brandon, and I'm putting a lot on the line to reduce my stress - I'm making lots of changes in all aspects of my life.

I'm learning to deal with immediate stress. I cannot avoid all stress throughout my day, but what I can do is remove myself from a stressful situation to allow time to process my thoughts. Almost 100% of the time I find a combination of self-isolation and my favorite music to be a great way to get away. I have a long list of songs from my high school days that seem to effortlessly carry my mind away to another place, and I do not hesitate to revisit this music when necessary. Tantric, Saliva, Lostprophets, Creed, Alanis Morissette, Matchbox Twenty, and many others are at the top of my lists. It does work for me. What works for you?

Changing gears quickly, I will briefly introduce the 40 Pounds Down program that I will be starting on July 1st. My physical health has become a major focus for me in the past few months, and this program is designed to address this fact as well as address several upcoming needs relating to my goals for 2010. 40 Pounds Down (40PD) is a rigidly-defined diet and exercise program that I have spent nearly a month designing. After two weeks of silent testing, I am now in a position to follow my plan and without much hesitation, see success. I will be posting lots of information and stats about the program on Critically Correct, including my personal progress update. The eventual goal of the program is to lose 40 pounds of unnecessary body fat, build strength for both lifting and running, and increase my overall stamina, mainly in an effort to counter the fatigue brought on by my current heart medication.

Finally, a few tidbits.

• I accidentally busted the battery latch on my phone tonight, which I'm trying to set in place with glue. I will be out of a phone unless I manually hold my battery in or the glue holds. Convenient timing for this too, since it was my own rage and anger that threw my phone out my bedroom window in the first place. See what I mean about avoiding stress?
• I have a new event going up on Facebook soon, called "The March to Maumee." Keep an eye out for this open-invite event that should take place sometime in late July.

Time for bed. Hopefully a great Sunday is ahead of me. Today was halfway a bust.

B3 out.