You Only Do What You Want to Do

Today, I took a break.  Didn't do anything.  Just a little sauna, but other than that, I just stayed home and chilled.  Today was another beautiful day... I wanted to run so bad... but I didn't.

People work in places they don't like working in.  Students do homework they would rather not do.  Toddlers are forced to eat their vegetables when they dislike the taste... It seems as if people do things they don't want to do.  However, it's far from true.  The reason people work in places they don't like could be because of the amount of money they receive from that job.  Their want of money outweighs the want of an easy job.  The difference is priority, and what wins is the one that has more priority.  If the individual wants more money rather than an easy job, they would choose the one that pays more.  However, if the individual wanted an easier job than the money, they would choose the easy job.  Why do students do their homework?  It's because they want to pass the class or get a certain grade.  Toddlers eat their vegetables because given the choice, eating vegetables is better than arguing with their parents.

All in all, people only do what they want to do.  However, we should understand that because none of us are perfect, we have no way to understand every possible situation we could choose from.  We can only make decisions based off of what we know.  One good example I'd like to talk about would be food consumption.  I have a friend that didn't eat right, that didn't know what was good, what was bad.  I don't claim to know everything about food, but I know that what and how much you eat makes a difference in your performance.  With the little knowledge that I had, I was able to advise my friend on different things they could do.  However, the only person that could make him eat was the person himself.  All I could do is to give him information or advice.  He would be the one that would make the final decision.

I try to keep things simple.  As for me and my diet, I like to cut what I eat in half and two quarters.  Half of my meal would be vegetables.  A quarter would be carbohydrates.  The final quarter would be protein and fats.  Simply put, a possible meal choice for me is a salad, chicken, and rice.  Vegetables are important to me because not only do they give the body water, but it also helps out with the metabolism (because hey, the fibers helps take out the trash as it goes through your body because it doesn't get digested).  It also takes up space, making me feel full.  For carbs, I like eating rice, because I was born and raised in Japan.  I eat rice practically all the time, and it's been a great source for energy to me.  As a long distance runner, I would need to eat more carbs due to the fact that I use a lot of the energy the carbs give me.  As for protein and fat, I would eat meat, mostly chicken, because of the balance of protein and fat seems to be good, so that my muscle would heal using that protein.  I also make it a rule to not eat any fried foods, snacks, or sweets.  As for drinks, I drink water, unsweet tea (barley tea from Japan is my favorite) and 100% juice.  I would drink milk but due to some problems with milk and my stomach, I'm not fully able to function, but if I could, I would drink it.  Carbonated drinks are not good for multiple reasons.  The carbonation fills up the stomach, expanding it, allowing more food to be consumed... more food that the body needs.  Carbonated drinks also have a lot of chemicals and sugars that is harmful to the body, and so I like staying away from that.

Discipline is important, and since you only do what you want to do, sometimes you have to bite the bullet and not eat the things you want to build a strong body.  If you truly want something, then your eye's won't stray from the goal, and your feet won't stray from the path.  Whatever obstacle you may face, whether it's choosing to eat right, winning a heart of a girl, or becoming the president of the United States, you only do what you want, taking the steps towards where you truly want to go.

Although I had wanted to go out and run, I didn't do that because I wanted to efficiently train my body to improve and forge it into becoming the runner I wanted to be.  I looked at my goal, and decided that in order to reach my goal, I needed to rest and recover, and I did just that.