A few months back I saw a blub about a book. I instantly put the book on my ‘to read
list’. I saw the book about a month or
two ago at the book store and vowed to
buy it for my kindle, it didn’t happen. A
few weeks ago I was in a book store with Todd and I saw the book. I bite the bullet and did it. The book?
“Do Life” By Ben Davis.
The premise of the book is a short synopsis of the authors journey
for being morbidly obese to living a happy, healthy lifestyle. The author was at his personal rock bottom
and found the fortitude to pick up the pieces.
He has since run and participated in everything from 5k’s to ironman
competitions. In the process of losing
the weight and becoming a runner/athlete he found happiness. His book is primarily about happiness…finding
what makes you happy and living life.
There were so many good points in this book. I’m only going to pull out 4 or 5 quotes for
the purposes of this blog.
Pg 17 “I definitely have an addictive personality. “If I enjoy something, I take it to the
maximum.” This hit me immediately. I have already figured out that I have a food
addiction. I've written blog post after blog post after blog post about addictions. That was nothing new. However, I never really put it into the realm
of the addictive personality. I am that
way. I have just said that I find
something fun and I immerse myself in that activity. Quilting, cross stitch, running, zumba, you
name it…… These immersions take on the
traits of addictions. So the trick is
just making sure that my ‘addictions’ are healthy in nature without losing
balance in my life.
Pg 32 “To improve the areas of life that you are unsatisfied
with, you must replace the bad with something positive that can fill the
void.” This goes hand in hand with the
addiction thing. The bad can’t just be
taken away. They have to be replaced
with something else.
Pg 36 “As we talked,
I realized that the difference between the way I felt on that morning and at
the beginning of every other failed attempt to lose the weight was that this
time it wasn’t just about the numbers on the scale or the size of my
clothes. Those things were symptoms of
the problem, not the real problem itself.
I knew that. I finally admitted
that. This time it was about finding
happiness.”
Oh yes, considering my epiphany from a while back where I decided that strict rules don't work for me, this section was utterly perfect for me!. Yes yes yes.
Happiness and Health is important!
Saying I tracked my food for 5 gazillion days straight doesn’t mean
diddly squat! Honestly, weighing in at
105 pounds means nothing if I’m not healthy!
(not that I will EVER be 105 pounds….just a number I arbitrarily picked out of the sky) Numbers mean nothing! The progression and happiness that comes from
my accomplishments is what matters.
(That said, I will still be weighing myself regularly…and the author
didn’t ignore the scales either)
Pg 87 “The reason
you’ve found yourself on this plateau is that your habits have taken a slide to
mediocrity because you’re exhausted or lacking enthusiasm”
Ohhh yeah, Plateaus…….I’ve
hit ‘plateaus’ but I’ve always admitted that it’s simply me slipping in
some way.