Where Do I Live?

 In years past I felt like my fellow citizens were all a cohesive set of Americans. Increasingly, let's say since Y2K, we have become two America's. I used to have differences with my friends on the nuances of certain policies or politicians. Now it seems the differences are on the very foundation of America and our way of life. It's as if an infection has spread throughout the country. An infection of socialist thought.

I would directly blame our educational institutions for this infection. Initially, I would say there is low-level subversion (or at least lower) in the elementary, middle, and high schools. Colleges and Universities are the metastasizing force behind this cancer. Children's minds are prepped for this infection in their early education and then fully indoctrinated at the upper levels. These institutions have instilled a foundation of cynical denial of the truth as it has been rewritten to conform to the socialist's version of events. There is no longer any objective truth. What disturbs me is when I hear someone utter the catchphrase, "my truth". Truth has now become relative. Men and women are not necessarily what they appear to be. We all can be "gender-fluid", or non-binary, or whatever we want to call ourselves because truth is no longer objective. Historical truths have been twisted to be something else. 

Secondarily, the media is the most in-your-face conspirator in today's world. The days of old where news outlets provided information so the people could come to their own conclusions are long gone. Corporate media is now actively distributing false information as well as lying by omission. One of the most harmful lies of omission recently has been the misrepresentation of Donald Trump's words after the ill-fated Charlottesville, VA rally where a person was killed. This misrepresentation has been regurgitated so many times by dishonest media outlets that a casual political media viewer (ie: the vast majority of Americans) believe it to be factual. In 1943 the Communist Party issued a book of directives to Communist Party members in the United States. One directive was the use of misinformation. This is where the phrase "a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth" is derived from. The media has taken that advice and run with it. They erroneously tout themselves as "speaking truth to power". A laughable notion if you see what they are actually doing. Most of the public is still somehow lulled into believing that news organizations are presenting factual truths. There is nothing farther from the truth. The only way to find the actual truth of a "news" story is to spend inordinate amounts of time hunting for the actual truth. It IS out there but it is getting more difficult to find as both sides of the political spectrum are injecting themselves with desperation into media. Both sides vying for eyeballs and clicks and the almighty dollar.

Lifestyle Changes!

 The end of October 2019 my wife decided to go on Weight Watchers (now called WW). After about a week and a half, she asked me if I would join as well. Admittedly, I wasn't totally on board with the idea. It was, however, difficult for her to do the program with me NOT being on it. I decided that I would compromise with her. She had a huge Starbucks habit. I figured if I could offset the cost of going to Starbucks nearly every day with paying a monthly plan fee for WW, I would come out ahead. Never would I have believed that I would become a huge WW proponent.

I initially didn't think I would be thrilled to be doing the program with her. We attended the in-person meetings (pre-COVID). My first weigh-in I was down 2.4 pounds! I started November 1st and was thinking that the upcoming holidays would be a bust. Well, at the November 22nd weigh-in I was down 5.6 pounds! I was floored. I wasn't working out, or walking, or doing cardio. All I had done the previous three weeks was change what I ate.

By this point I was wholly on-board with what we were doing. I wasn't going overboard and probably "cheated" more than I should have on the weekends. Yet, I was still losing weight. I was pretty amazed at that point. After the holidays I began doing some workouts. I did ten minutes or so on the elliptical every day for a while. That kind of trailed off as I began to start using dumbbells for an upper body workout. I would alternate dumbbells one day and bodyweight exercises the next.

Fast forward nine months. I'm down forty three pounds! I've been at somewhat of a plateau for a couple of months. I'm hovering around the 180 pound mark. Having started off at 221 pounds, I am still in awe at the progress I achieved. I never could have imagined that I would have lost this much weight in this amount of time. Having someone to share the journey with definitely helps! I think trying to do it alone would have been much more difficult. 

I'm ten pounds from what WW says is my goal weight. I think I can make it. I may need to focus on some cardio. Not my favorite thought but I am certainly willing to try. This has been a life changing experience and I am very grateful that I chose to participate with my wife!