Seems like everyone I know tried and failed. Motivation? I need help, and wanna hear success stories.
Seems like everyone I know tried and failed. Motivation? I need help, and wanna hear success stories.
I was a decent high school runner, with good grades but very little motivation. Went to a crappy college to be a teacher, quit running, quit school, drank a lot (not alcoholic level, but also way outside of socially acceptable) and got fat. On a whim I changed careers and started making decent money. Still fat. At about age 29 I began training again. Over 2 years I lost 50lbs and began "racing" again. I also finished my degree, got promoted, and married a beautiful woman barely drink and love life.
Running probably saved me from being miserable.
I'm in your situation, except I was never a teacher. Thanks for the story. I will look at this as a way to change my life as well.
Whatever is holding you back (alcohol?), go after it & get well.
Alcohol and Marijuana. I'm gonna go full cold turkey.
timeismula wrote:
Seems like everyone I know tried and failed. Motivation? I need help, and wanna hear success stories.
It's the weed itself that destroys motivation. Getting sober is one part of the equation, but you better have something to fill the place of the chemical bubble.
Running was always very important to me. I was planning on running again, instead of just 30 minutes ii do every other day.
timeismula wrote:
Alcohol and Marijuana. I'm gonna go full cold turkey.
Giving Aa a try is a good idea. It doesn't work for everyone, but it's worth a shot.
I have a very addictive personality in that i easily latch on to things and go almost OCD with them. I drank moderately in college and heavily on the weekends post college. Heavily meaning i would be hungover until Tuesday. Not a productive way of life. I got back into running as my excuse to not drink since i was concerned about what other people thought at that time in life and felt the need to come up with excuses. I'm now OCD with running and justify it with my wife by saying i could be drinking/partying instead. I have a new group of friends that allow me to thrive.
In HS, I was a smart kid and a decent runner (16:25 XC). For college, I went to a conservative D3 school about 2 hours from home. Semester 1 of college, I partied hard, quit the XC team and eventually dropped out. I then moved into a nearby trailer with one of my buddies who actually had his s*it together. While he worked hard, attended school, paid my bills, and provided me with food, I did drugs and had a string of unhealthy relationships. I worked the midnight shift at the local Burger King, but got fired from that for getting drunk and skipping work a couple of times. Then, I got an MIP and instead of agreeing to drug tests every month, I CHOSE to sit in jail for 25 days so that I could avoid probation.
Eventually, my buddy put his foot down and said that he was not putting up with my crap anymore and he begged me to understand that I needed help. I moved back home, started waiting tables and making $20/hr. I decided that I did not need college. For the next 2 years, I snorted coke on weekends, smoked weed nonstop, and went to the bar every night of the week. Lots of good looking girls sprinkled in too, but it wasn't really all that glamorous. I was "happy", but also extremely unhealthy and never even thought about running.
Then, I met my future wife. She thought I was fun at first, but eventually realized what a joke I was. After about 9 months, I asked her why I hadn't met her parents yet (they lived reasonably close) and she said, "Because you're a total f*cking loser. I love you, but you aren't exactly a prize. Maybe if you could get it together."
Shortly after that, I got fired from waiting tables for being drunk on the job. That was my "rock bottom". I signed up for community college classes the very next day. I started running shortly thereafter (~2 miles in 16 minutes if I recall correctly, I puked afterwards). After a few months, I had received my first ever college credits (at the age of 21), and I finished my first 5k since HS. I ran it in 18:24.
Fast forward 8 years and I am now happily married, have a job that I LOVE (math teacher and track/XC coach), and rarely even think about drugs and cigarettes. I run every single day and have gotten way better than I ever was in HS. Life is truly fantastic and has been for the last 5+ years. If it can happen for me, it really can happen for anyone.
Good luck, OP.
No long story, just the key. Want to do the better thing more than you want to do the thing that got you down. Whatever it is, the positive goal has to become paramount.
When I was 38 years old, I collapsed at my house--a predictable consequence of years of heavy alcohol, drug, and tobacco abuse--and woke up in the ER, where the attending physician told me that unless I changed my lifestyle, I'd never live to see my then 6-year-old son graduate high school. I couldn't change everything that was wrong with my life. But I could pull a pair of old Nike's out of my closet and start the long, incremental journey back to health, sanity, and a productive life. I haven't become a huge success, and no one's asking me to give seminars on winning at life. But I did mange to adopt a healthy lifestyle, get a job that allowed me to pay the rent while doubling as a good father, and 12 years later I got to sit in the stands and watch my son graduate from high school. I now run a fitness program, write books about running (my latest, The Born Again Runner, addresses my own return to fitness and sanity through running, as well as offering a path for others seeking the same), coach runners of all ages, and continue to train and compete at 55 years old. Just this past week, an old drinking buddy--a great guy who was never able to escape the substance abuse lifestyle--died. There are different levels of success, so I can't really speak to that. But I did turn my life around, and the experience has been incredibly positive.
All these stories are great and all, but we have a winner. Congrats to all you guys! Good luck to the op as well.
Late 30s
Smoking a pack a day
Drinking heavy everyday
Desperate to quite
Started running.
Clean and Sover for over 20 years.
Running replaced the unhealthy highs with healthy highs.
No I am not rich or successful but I am very happy and thankful.
I had a childhood dream to live in a ski/mountain town. I'm doing that today. It's not easy. The work is monotonous, the pay is small, the cost of living is high, and it is very stressful from a number of angles. But I am doing what I set out to do. I ski backcountry that few will ever get to see and feel. I run almost everyday and I qualified for the Boston Marathon this year. There was never a turning point, it was always me staying strong and having an open mind to put myself in a position to go for the experiences that I initially felt would be fulfilling. Nothing was fulfilling in the way I expected -stress free, easy going, turning leisure into work. Instead, feeling, managing, and appreciating the stress and hardship that it takes to get out there and live an unconventional and authentic life is the real reward.
timeismula wrote:
Seems like everyone I know tried and failed. Motivation? I need help, and wanna hear success stories.
I hit a very very low bottom and lost EVERYTHING. Job, all my money, relationships, etc. I went to rehab and got sober. Thanks to screwing up so bad it was easy for me to listen and take advice from others and simply just did what they said. AA worked for me as I had an open mind. Slowly, I started getting the important things in my life back (Family relationships, health, happiness, etc) I would suggest going to a meeting and talking to some people there with alot of years of sobriety. I usually tell people to try and quit for just a month and see what happens. If you cant you might have a problem but that's not for me to decide. Good luck and hit me up if you ever want to talk.
I was an A student, went to a great college...and then fell apart in my 20s. Worked dead end retail, fired from several attempts to upgrade, gave up running, was pretty much settled in to a low end life.
Got the courage to get an MBA, and now I have my own thriving business and am supporting myseld and my family.
It's all about trying. You won't succeed every time but eventually one try will work.
RejectRunner wrote:
All these stories are great and all, but we have a winner. Congrats to all you guys! Good luck to the op as well.
RejectRunner, eat, kid.
Running is as or more addictive than both of those things. I have found that it is really hard to quit something addictive without replacing it with something else that is addictive. Quit drinking and smoking cold turkey, and start training like a mad man instead. Train so hard that you don't have enough energy to do anything else, at least in the beginning. I think you will find that you wont really miss the booze. And once you successfully substitute running for weed and alcohol, you will suddenly feel motivated to pursue success in other areas of life.
Was a decent H.S runner, making provincial (OFSAA) and national cross country races. Lost myself in depression. Became extremely down, and lost myself in a sea of woman, drugs and self abuse! Got into psych treatments and prescription anti depressants but nothing helped.
A guy I worked with was a christian and he prayed for me. I ended up going to jail for crimes I committed. That was a really hard experience. Had a lot of sleepless tear filled nights. Kind of nights that just don't seem to end.
Then I began to feel God calling at me. I had a bible and I read how Jesus comes after the one lost sheep and rejoices when he finds it, and how there is great joy in heaven when one sinner turns from his old life and embraces Christ. I knew that one was me and I accepted Christ and what He alone has done for us at the cross.
My Whole life changed!!! It was awesome!!! I had joy and happiness and a knowledge that I was not alone or abandoned. For years I felt like that, some of you reading this feel like that. I felt God's love and I have never been what I used to be again.
I am now married, have a young son and a job that is good. Glory to God, I am a miracle.
6 years ago= addiction, womanizing, poverty, Jail.