30-Day-Challenges

It has been that sort of month since I was last here, the sort where the only possible response once the worst of it has passed is one of navel gazing self congratulation, at having survived without too much out of kilter, like a slight limp instead of a compound fracture…Between two trips offshore, a sore foot which required a pitstop at A&E and busyness multiplied exponentially, the past three weeks have sped by like a blur. My continuum? 12 hour work days, deadlines coming thick and fast, and weekends spent trying to catch up on the week’s backlog in time for a fresh load of things to chase for the new week. ...

Day 27 - Start a Book: Currently ten books into my thirty book plan for the year. Have two on the go at the moment - Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World and Zadie Smith’s On Beauty. Hopefully I manage to complete them by the end of next month. Day 28 - Write a Love Letter: Very much work in progress. I suspect this is one I will have come back to again and again. What is clear is that it wasn’t love at first sight by any account - I am far too rational for that - but over time I find a bond building, and increasing joy in the simple things. ...

when i first saw you it was not love at first sight - but somehow i sensed it was the start of something momentous. for the first few weeks my mind was elsewhere - stuck in a pain induced haze from the last one i thought could be thd one - against my better judgement. truth was i was stuck in an infinite loop, a bullet train headed to no where but ...

Day 26 of the Better Man in 30 days challenge - Take the Marine Corp Fitness Test --- Managed the 3 mile in 29.5 minutes (includes the very leisurely 3 minute warm up), 46 crunches in 2 minutes and a barely there 4 pull ups for a total of 95 from a maximum 300 points possible. Not great but better than I thought given how a certain HIIT youtube video kicked my ass on Day 24. ...

Took day 24 a tad too far - no thanks to this video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNZe01hqMW8).. Knackered! No debts of any description so will pass on Day 25… Home stretch!

Day 22 - Improve your posture and Day 23 - Learn a manual skill --- I didn’t need the prompt to tell me I had terrible posture. Managed to set up my chair at work as intended - to provide better support to my lower back and at the right height. Hopefully I begin to reap the dividends of improved posture, not least a less prominent keg. On manual skills; I installed ceiling fans for fun in my undergraduate days and still know my way with a soldering iron, a legacy of my previous pastime - tinkering with the innards of dead radios. I happen to also be the go to guy when my buddy O needs to set up a new bed or move stuff around in his house… Could use a few more automobile related skills as I haven’t changed a flat tire in nearly six years. Have to but that Z4 roadster first (and win the lottery before that or something).

Day 21 of the Better Man in 30 days challenge - Write Your Own Eulogy --- Born in the late seventies in the shadows of the Somorika mountain range in the then Bendel State of Nigeria, the few months he spent there before high tailing it across the country to Ife where his mother was studying for a degree set the tone for the rest of his life - pretty much not bound to any physical location but an aspiring global citizen. Seven or so months in Ife were followed by a couple of years in Imeri, then Igueben and then Benin where his academician father was studying for a PhD. The back end of the eighties saw a move to the adjoining town of Ekpoma where he would spend the bulk of his childhood. ...

Day 20 of the Better Man in 30 days challenge - Perform Service --- Falls on the day when I volunteer with the Tech team at church… Obviously from behind :)

Day 19 of the Better Man in 30 Days Challenge - Schedule a Physical Exam --- I am required to get an offshore medical every two years which covers quite a few of the items specifically referenced on the challenge viz blood pressure, weight/BMI, vision, lung function and audiometry. ECGs, bloods and urinalysis get taken six monthly for other reasons hence I consider the challenge covered between both. The main exclusion is the probing and probing of the man parts for potential prostrate problems. ...

Day 18 of the Better Man in 30 days challenge - Find Your N.U.T.s --- Your Non-negotiable, Unalterable Terms that is. For me these are inextricably linked to the Core Values from Day 1- Faith, Family, Continuous Improvement, Mentoring and Health. Soooo, here goes:order: Living out a real world faith - continuously seeking ways to translate the undergirding principles of love and consideration for others, and social justice - will be the single most important thing that will guide my relationships with others; I will honour my daily spiritual practice and journaling; My family, and adequately fulfilling the various roles I play in it - Son,Brother, (future) Husband and Father - will always take precedence over other considerations; I will schedule regular (monthly at least) time to go through plan-do-review cycles for each of my core connections and the roles I play in them - friends and family, professional and within the wider civil/social context; I will take care of my body - eating well and exercising.