Themeattics

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

I’m at a bit of a crossroads here, Dwellers. Maye you can help me out.

75 Hard has, of course, come to an end. I’ve been enjoying the extra time in my day, taking care of some house things, and doing a little bit extra with the family. It’s been nice. All well and good, nothing to see here, moving on.

This couple of weeks was to be, as the title of the post suggests, the time between that end and starting up Exodus 90. But, here I am a week out and most certainly getting cold feet.

There are a couple of pre-Exodus things to do in order to really participate. I haven’t done any. No fraternity to enter with being the main one, as it’s one of the cruxes of the whole experience. You need to join one so that you have the weekly brotherly get-together and daily check ins / accountability. Very important.

And, again, to be honest with you all, it’s not because I’ve been on the hunt and can’t find one. I haven’t tried. Every time I think about doing it, the only things that really jump out at me are the reasons not to. All the excuses. They sound like good excuses to me – and to some extent they are – but I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know if I toss those excuses out and run with this, or try my hand at modifying the plan to better fit my lifestyle (Which sort of defeats the point, no?), or just… not really bother.

For those that don’t remember, Exodus 90 has the following requirements:

• Set aside an hour a day for prayer.
• Take short, cold showers.
• Practice regular, intense exercise.
• Get a full night’s sleep (at least seven hours is recommended).
• Abstain from alcohol.
• Abstain from desserts and sweets.
• Abstain from eating between meals.
• Abstain from soda or sweet drinks (white milk, black coffee, and black tea are permissible).
• Abstain from television, movies, or televised sports.
• Abstain from video games.
• Abstain from non-essential material purchases.
• Only listen to music that lifts the soul to God.
• Only use the computer for work, school, or essential tasks (e.g., paying bills).
• Only use mobile devices for essential communications; cut out non-essential texting, app, and internet use.
• Take Wednesdays and Fridays as days of fasting. (Abstain from meat and only eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal).
• Attend Weekly Fraternity Meetings.
• Check-in with your Anchor daily.

“Dang, that’s quite the list” you might say. Yeah, it really is. And most of it, in the end, is fine. Taxing, yes. Difficult, sure. But, in the end, perfectly doable with some adjustments to life and it all goes toward a goal that I’m all about. Except.

There are three things on this list that were… let’s say prickly before, and I fear they’re worse this time around. So, I want to cover them with you and get your input. Am I being right minded in my wariness about this second Exodus run, or am I trying to make excuses just to get out of doing the hard things that will help refocus me?

First, the no tv/movies. Now, full disclosure, I pretty rarely watch anything on my own time. My personal time is shored up elsewhere – don’t worry, we’ll get to that soon enough – but this is one of the main things I do as just relaxed home time with the family. Stephanie and I have some things we’ll watch together, and I have some shows that I watch an episode of every evening with the kids around dinner. It’s not that this can’t be replaced – I know they’d like it if, say, I read to them instead – but hard stopping the thing that they look forward to for three months isn’t my favorite idea.

Second, only using mobile devices for essential communication. One of my… struggles with Exodus 90 is that, while the rules are pretty straight forward, there’s always room to wiggle and I’m not sure if I’m violating the spirit of the rules in doing so. What is “essential” communication? I basically ONLY talk to my friends via chats. Is that “essential?” I mean, technically not I guess? Is the writer’s Discord that I’m a part of “essential?” It’s how I’m getting my writing reviewed and how we’re figuring out what publications we’re submitting to, but most of the chat there is off-topic. So, what’s the line before I’m not really sticking to that at all?

Last, and likely worst, is the abstaining from video games. That IS my spare time. And, my personal time aside, it’s another thing I do with the kids that they really love. I’ve said before in several posts how much competition drives me and my newfound love of fighting games and the need / joy of continuing to improve there has been just generally a great time in my life. Hell, I’ve even started entering tournaments and such where I can sneak in the time. However, all that takes a back seat to one main issue. The friend I did 75 Hard alongside is my training partner on these, and he’s also VERY into this competition / improvement setup, and I’m not sure what just… disappearing for 3 months will do to that for him. Worse, he’s looking to move across the country sometime this year and, well, I’m not real keen on how the numbers shake out here.

I know that this discomfort and trouble is part of the design. It’s called Exodus, after all, that’s sort of the point. It’s a time of purification, of re-focusing, of orienting toward God and shedding reliance on a lot of these worldly things. I just… I dunno. I’ve got my qualms, I guess.

What do you think?

— — —

This here is cheating, but I’m allowing it. If the goal is to have a plan done a week so as to have all the plans fully accounted for, a new build counts too. Even if I didn’t do it. That’s my claim and I’m sticking to it. Fight me.