Day 61: World PRW Day

In keeping with the rest of my fellow shredders, I would now like to post my PRW. I've thought about this a lot, in fact, I don't think anybody can go through a Physique Transformation and without having to stop and ask "Why am I doing this?", on the most arduous or frustrating of days.
We (shredders) all know this isn't a walk in the park. The discipline, courage, will power, positive attitude, and energy needed for a transformation is immense. In my life, nothing has demanded more of me than this journey on which I have set upon. So, I better have some good reasons for doing this correct?

I could write essays on my motivation for this and I might even go ahead and do that some day, but for now I will only condense my reasons for going through and following through with my transformation. I believe and I am sure other shredders will agree, that a lot of PRWs change as we go along and make progress in our journeys. Sometimes because me meet achieve a goal and in doing so maybe reach the end of a PRW, but other times, because we learn about ourselves and we learn about a different style of life. Not just a healthier life style, but one with a different outlook on life, which in turn changes what matters to us, or what we put at the top of our priorities.

When I started, my PRWs were:
1. A Bet | I bet a friend my Xbox360 that I could lose 20lbs in two months.
2. Health | At age 21 5'7 and 202lbs, eating fast food on a daily basis (twice sometimes), I was starting to get random and severe pains in my heart.
3. Shame | I was ashamed of my body.

PRWs I gained in these past 60 days:
1. Inspiration to others | I have inspired others close to me to want to make a change in their lives. Perhaps not as drastic or sudden, but a change nonetheless!
2. Attain my dream body (YES! 6 Pack included)| Look at top picture.
3. Live life differently, through the discipline the last 60 days of training have taught me.

I think I can say that my starting PRWs aren't really there anymore. I won the bet, I am healthier than I have ever been in my life, and well, I am definitely not ashamed of my body anymore. But we all need to start somewhere right? My new PRWs inspire me and have made me a different person. What I have learned about myself throughout these grueling 60 days, is that I have what it takes to make any change that I might want in my life. That there are no barriers except those we set up for ourselves, and that by living a life with a positive attitude and "superfit" body, even the most tragic of accidents can not hold us back (Check out Dougal's Blog if you don't believe me).

There are many other PRWs, some that we might not even know or understand. When I am on that treadmill, going for those extra 5-10 seconds, when my body feels like its tearing itself apart and I am afraid my legs will give out and I will end up slamming face first against the machine, a myriad of memories, thoughts, images, sounds, go through my head. So many, so fast, that I cant recall almost any of them, yet they are there in the back of my head, at all times, pushing me and making me want to go beyond that threshold.

It is always important to know why it is that we do this.

---Update--- I wrote this a while back, but felt it was pertinent to PRW Day.

WHY I FIGHT


What I have been doing over the past 50 days has been nothing short of a fight. A fight against what you might ask? A fight against a person with more than six years of low self-esteem, a life without risks, against a person that I grew to despise. My old self, which you can see to the left.

Someone that succumbed to a lifestyle filled with "I don't care" and "Oh well"s. That same person was fine with sitting at home playing video games and eating a large bag of potato chips all by himself. A person that at work had no qualms about eating fast food maybe twice a day.

He became sluggish, had no energy, and there came a day when he realized he had gone too far and it was time for a change.

As I mentioned in my first post, that change came around the time of my 22nd birthday. I was sitting at home, preparing for the 20lbs challenger/bet my friend and I set upon, and I was wondering how I would pull it off. That is when I stumbled on Adam Waters and his amazing transformation.

Wow! What an inspiration.

Watching Adam's "84 Days In 48 Seconds" video on Youtube filled me with an unparalleled excitement and a sense of urgency. If he could do it, I could do it too. I was filled with admiration and then more than ever I was sure I would be able to not only achieve my goal, but surpass it.

I can honestly say that I had not stopped to think about why, for who, or for what, I was going to do this. In fact, I think I didn't actually stop to ask myself that question until a couple of weeks into my transformation. The change was so rapid, the effects on my body so sudden, that I was simply propelled by the momentum. It was not until I hit my first weight loss plateau, after having shredded about 23lbs, that I began to think about my "Personal Reason Why".

The answer: I was tired. I was tired of feeling uncomfortable in my clothes. I was tired of hiding from old acquaintances because of my weight. I was tired of having a low self-esteem. I was tired of being overlooked because of how I looked. I was tired of not taking risks. I was tired of not living life to its full potential. I was tired of being ashamed of who I was.

I WAS TIRED.

Like I mentioned before, I have had everything a person could ask for, for a good while. What was missing, was confidence. A lack of which, stemmed from me being ashamed of my body. That shame shackled me in so many ways, yet it took me six years to decide to do something about it, instead of being content with being the way I was.

So I fought. I still fight. I will keep fighting. Against that person I grew to detest. The good news? This new Daniel is stronger, smarter, faster, and better, in every single way possible. My change, my fight, just like Adam's, has shown me to live life differently. I fight because when the earthquakes hit, I want to know I went down fighting, not laying in my bed eating some potato chips, playing video games, knowing that I missed many opportunities in life.

Look at the picture from my Day 1. Do you recognize that look? If you have looked at Adam's Day 1 picture, I am sure you recognize it. If YOU have a day 1 picture, I am sure you recognize it. Its the pain, shame, tears, suffering... all hiding behind those eyes.

I will never go back to that.