Build A Shed!!!

It's not easy.

None of it ever is.

Life.

Work.

Food.

Exercise.

Family.

It's just not easy.

There are times in life where we really have a handle on everything, we feel in complete control and things go well. Then there are times where it feels a bit like life is controlling us and that's how I feel this week. Most of last week too, if I'm honest. The weekend after the New Year, a time where we mentally 'wipe the slate clean' and a rare time that we focus on the future, I picked up a message from my boss. The furlough call. We were back in lockdown and it really wasn't safe for me to be travelling the length and breadth of the country meeting people. It would be fair to say that even if it was, the likelihood of people wanting to see me was slim too. Having spent most of 2020 wishing for 2021, it would appear that 2021 would, in fact, be much of the same.

I think most people are hard wired for two important things. The first is to be productive. It's part of our identity. Sure, we have days where we leap out of bed ready to tackle the world. Then we have days where we feel like doing the abosule bare minimum to get by (today is the latter, actually, which is why I've picked up the laptop, in the hope I might get inspired, or at least motivated). But when we do nothing, we rarely feel better for it, quite the opposite. When we aren't productive, it's like a little bit of our self-worth is gone. That's how I feel anyway. I know guys who were chuffed to bits with being on furlough. To them it was all marathon box sets and not a care in the world. I respect everyone is different I don't judge that, but not me. Not once the novelty had worn off anyway, which was about the end of April last year.

The second thing I think we need is a sense of control. We like to think the decisions we make shape us, shape our families, maybe even shape the world, if you're a big enough thinker. But are we really in control? The phone could go tomorrow with all manner of unimaginable scenarios that might change our futures, for better or worse. In reality we are just all very small visitors on a very big planet. This doesn't stop us wanting to feel like we have control though, in all walks of life.

Faced with my opportunity to be productive gone, at least on a professional level, and with seemingly little control over that fact, I had to find a way to cope. Before Keto, I'd have likely used a combination of alcohol, self-pity and apathy to solve the problem. Drunk more, stayed up later (doing nothing productive) following the late nights by coffee and ibuprofen fueled mornings, until mornings became afternoons and evenings became mornings. Slowly becoming more deached from my family routine. Now that makes me sound like a brown-bag alcoholic, bumbling around the house, whisky for breakfast, ignoring the family. That's not the case. But to say I'd just not have been my 'best self' would be fair. Head firmly insterted up arse, let's put it that way.

Control What You Can. It Helps. A Lot.

Around the first lockdown, I decided one thing. I had to come out of the other side a better person. Im my earlier blogs I talk about my personality and I've illuded above to the path I could have taken. But there are things we can still control.

I'll never forget an old colleague welcoming me into a high paced and large business that I worked for a while ago. 'It's like a steamroller here', he said, 'you can be sat up top, steering the thing, or....', he went on, '...or you will eventially get run over'. That stuck with me. The business was one of the biggest in the world at the time and it certainly felt like a steamroller, but he'd made the decision he was going to have some control anyway. I think life is a lot like that.

The point is this. I can't control many things at the moment,  but I can control what I eat, which is what I'm doing. I make that sound easy when we all know it isn't. But cake will no more help your plight than steak and brocolli will. So when you reach for the cake, it's another thing you're not controlling. But you can and you'll feel better for it. I promise.

Build A Shed!!

If you've managed to get this far (I'm still not convinced anyone actually reads these blogs, drop me a comment if you do) then it was only a matter of time before you arrived here, brow furrowed, wondering what on earth the headline title 'Build A Shed' was on about. It's simple really. Find something to do. All the time. It'll change your life. I've been on and off furlough for three quarters of a year, so it needed to be a big project. But maybe you're one of the few working tirelessly to keep the country, your business and your family afloat. Your project might be much smaller. The principle is the same though, you need a release. Right now, a coffee, or beer with a mate isn't an option. It's about having a hobby. Something to take the focus away from the daily grind. It'll make you feel better, I promise. I seem to promise many things here, but this promise I'm sure of.

My release? I built a shed. Nine months it took. From digging a hole in the ground through to painstakingly nailing on ever every individual lat of cladding. I've never done anything skilled with my hands, I'm a pen-pusher really, rarely doing much more than putting up a shelf. But it's got me through a couple of lockdowns. I dare say clearing up the mess it's created in the rest of your garden will get me through the latest lockdown as well.

I know this started as a Keto blog, and I still intend it to be. But without the motivation, without the 'Why?' how can we expect to change anything? This is my 'Why?'. Putting it on 'paper' serves to give me renewed motivation to kick on with the journey. Helps clear my head.

What plans do you have to help you cope? I'd love to hear from you on what you might change, why you're on a Keto journey and how you're working hard to make things different.

Good luck everyone!!!

Karl