Faded Jeans Living

We must embrace our fears and stop clinging to the past. Every morning we have the opportunity to start anew!

In my last post, I touched upon how in the past I had let fear keep me in the shadows instead of shining out in the light. Many times I had all the information and even saw the big billboard with an arrow pointing this way —> but because of my fears I either didn’t move or actually backtracked. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired and that is my clue to start making some changes. My sobriety opened the doors to finally giving myself a chance and I’m determined here and now to make that happen. I’m ready to look at my fears head on clearly and deeply. I’m going to stop the judgement and acknowledge them instead of hiding from them.

What I’ve basically allowed to happen is I’ve listened to my ego, sat on the sidelines, and in many ways stop participating in life. And I can tell you one thing, that my friends is very boring! So what I’ve decided to do and committed to do is pick 4 areas of my life where fear/ego has held me back and start a journey for 52 weeks to start dancing with my fears. Just because in the past I may have “failed” in these areas by no means will I fail now. Most of the time I didn’t even completely fail, I just gave up prior to even failing. This time around I’m not giving up. So starting tomorrow March 22, 2021 I’ll start my Going For It – 52 Week Challenge! This is what I’ll be focussing on.

Even though I’m saying 52 weeks, my goal is that after that it will become so ingrained these will become part of my Lifestyle!!

Learn to play guitar

If you know me, you know I LOVE music! The problem was I kept telling myself I’m not musical inclined and feared committing and then realizing I suck at it. This is one where I never gave myself a chance. For 52 weeks I’m committing to practicing twice a week on playing my acoustic guitar. I’m going to research apps to help me learn and am even thinking of getting lessons.

Learn to cook

Again, I’ve made small attempts in this area and let’s just say they didn’t work out. So again, I’d say I’m just not a cook. When inviting family and friends over this turns into a problem. I’m ready now to commit to 52 weeks where I cook one meal a week where I’m actually using a recipe and learning new methods.

Learn to speak german

One of my retirement goals is to go back to Germany and immerse myself for one month in the small town of Bad Hersfeld where I was stationed in the Army. For years learning German has been a goal, but I just feared I wasn’t smart enough to grasp learning a new language. Not anymore. For 52 weeks, I will study German twice a week for 30 minutes each.

Working out

I’m adding this one in even though there wasn’t fear tied to it. I don’t know how many times I’ve committed to this in the past and eventually just quit. This is one where the ego always says just take a break you deserve it. Not this time. For 52 weeks I’m going to work out at a minimum 4 days a week. I’ve got plenty of ideas around this one and am excited to share them with you throughout the year.

As I mentioned above sobriety has opened new doors for me and definitely made me question many areas of my life. Sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option for me. It’s time for ACTIONS! Each week for 52 weeks I will provide a status update out here.

Going for it,

Dwight