Remember that show 30 Days? It was created by Morgan Spurlock, the dude who made Supersize Me. Well, this is a blatant ripoff of that, minus the cameras, post production, any sort of notoriety, or the enlightenment of others. But yeah, pretty much exactly the same.
(I once saw Morgan Spurlock at SXSWi in Austin, Texas. It was nearly as fleeting as this comment.)
The premise is simple, I’m going to do (or not do) something for 30 consecutive days.
This year-long experiment started after the 30th anniversary of the much longer experiment I call life. I hadn’t planned on doing this; I was simply punishing myself for missing three months of the gym by forcing myself to go every day for the next 30 days. (See, I told you it was a blatant ripoff.)
Of course it sucked at first, my body became too adjusted to the low-level of activity that I had become accustomed. My muscles were sore, but I love that feeling…it reassures me that I’ve been doing something productive. More annoyingly though, my 30-year-old joints were sore. This getting old shit is for the birds.
Surprisingly the streak became a motivational factor in itself. As I began to approach day 30 (now going strong at day 38), I started wondering what else I could do for 30 days straight. Unfortunately, I’m not a smart man so I decided to try vegetarianism (meatless really)…again.
Halfway through already, and it’s not horrible. It’s not great, but it’s not horrible. However, I find myself eating out a lot more – specifically at Chipotle and Taco Bell – and I’m tired of both. In fact, I’m kind of tired of Mexican food and cheese…see what madness this has driven me to?
I haven’t completely mapped out the rest of the year. I know it will include 30 days of documentaries, reading, development, and perhaps no shaving and no alcohol. Baking and cooking might make their way in there as well, as long as I can find people to pawn the goods onto.
I don’t want to pick anything that I won’t or can’t continue. I really don’t want to set myself up to fail; I like succeeding, it’s pretty cool.
There will be times that I might have to stack days due to life happening. New Orleans and possibly New York City (Sass Conf!) are looming on the horizon, but I can do it. 30 days isn’t that long. Maybe I’ll learn something, or maybe I’ll just get gout.