In use...

While I am in the mindset of self/life improvement... I suppose I will put my thoughts down on paper, so to speak. I find it useful to look back and see where my mind was at the time. Besides, facebook and other microblogging tools are too limiting for my taste. I figure, there might be one or two people that I can count on reading. (most likely just my wife and mother in law) Thats okay by me.
I have been doing well at the gym. I am not going crazy, but I am certainly trying to make it a habit. I have also quit drinking energy drinks by and large. I am not taking a stance, or anything. I am just trying to drink water, and generally make better choices. As I age, I am very conscious of the changes to my health. When I was just 5 or 10 years younger, I feel as thought I was more resilient. Getting enough sleep was not a high priority, and I could always get out of a rut by having a cup of coffee. Well, those days are gone. I feel like crap if I don't get sleep or go too long without exercise. For me, quality of life is very important. I am not willing to trudge along feeling mentally, physically, or emotionally drained. To that end, I am attempting to turn my detail obsessed, over analyzing mind inward. I am trying to self monitor, and reflect.

Exercise, diet, sleep, and many other things are factors. I also recognize that my social health is also a large factor in my over all happiness. I don't want to use loaded terms, but it is difficult not to. I am trying diligently to remove toxic influences from my life. It may seem abrupt, but I think that cold turkey is the best method for quitting bad people. Some people have trouble dropping a "friend", but I am not one of those people. It saddens me that I have people near me that I don't actually respect, while having lost touch with people I genuinely loved at one time or another. Nostalgia colors thoughts of old friends. It is important to move forward, but that does not mean a complete lack of old friends. I heard an analogy relating life to a backpack, I think it was in a movie. Some things you want to leave in the bag, because you cannot imagine going anywhere without them. Other things are simply in the bag because you haven't taken them out yet. Its is time to repack.

This is a rambling beginning, but that is alright. Stream of consciousness is how I work best.