In any economy, invest in…yourself
April 15, 2009
I’m sure the two or three people still reading this blog are wondering what I’ve been up to with all of this free time now that I’m not posting here anymore. Well, since December I’ve been investing heavily…in myself.
Really, it began back in June when I went vegan. I’d always considered switching to vegetarian for the health benefits, however Lisa and I had just finished watching the “Animal Rights” episode of 30 Days. After seeing the horrific conditions on factory farms, neither our stomachs nor our consciences would allow us to continue supporting such cruelty, disregard for common decency and a complete lack of regard for public health. Since then, we haven’t eaten any animal products (no meat, eggs, dairy, etc) and we’ve stopped purchasing other animal products, such as leather and wool. As a result, Lisa and I have significantly reduced our global footprints (more than one-third of all fossil fuels produced in the United States are used to raise animals for food). The food tastes great and I don’t miss a thing.
In December, during a long vacation, I decided it was time to work on my strength and conditioning. Not wanting the typical gym experience, I signed up for rock climbing lessons. Thirteen weeks later, I’m still going strong. I’ve been climbing 2-3 days each week, tackling harder and harder stuff. As a result, I dropped seven pounds since the start of the year (222lbs in January to 215lbs in early March) and significantly added to my upper body strength. More recently, I signed up for CrossFit classes in mid-March. CrossFit is an intense, full body workout utilizing aspects of Olympic weight lifting, gymnastics and all the sweat you’ve got. I’m just finishing up the last week of the fundamentals class and I’ve dropped an extra 3lbs over the last 5 weeks while improving strength through all muscle groups as well as my stamina. CrossFit and climbing combined have really woken up the dormant 170lb college kid in me. He wants out, he just has to finish chewing his way through the remaining 40lbs+ of fat.
With CrossFit coming to an end, I’m already looking for the next thing. I have ideas, but I haven’t decided on what to do, yet. More climbing classes. More CrossFit. Possibly pilot lessons. I’m leaning more towards pilot lessons since it’s new and I’m, evidently, all about new things this year. Whatever happens, I just wanted to share this with people. In a period where all of your investments seem to be losing value day after day, investing in yourself never loses value. Keep challenging yourself by learning and experiencing new things, a high rate of return is virtually guaranteed.
Entry Filed under: Health,Personal,Rock Climbing. .
1.
LP | April 15, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Try cycling – here are some success stories
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Carlton | December 3, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Are you also avoiding all medicine, products and technologies created with animal testing, including electricity, which was discovered through animal testing of dead frogs by Galvani?
3.
Ryan Kennedy | December 8, 2009 at 1:19 am
Carlton, I avoid things which, today, use animal testing. I’m quite healthy lately (something I attribute to changing my diet), so I haven’t needed much in the way of medication. I’ve stopped buying anything with leather (going to have a hard time when I need another softball glove). As for electricity, no…as you can plainly see (by my act of responding to your comment) I have not stopped using electricity. I do feel badly for the frogs, however.