I remember a time long ago when I would say certain words and one of two things would happen. I would just feel guilty and know I was not to say them or my mouth would end up tasting like soap very quickly. Eventually I moved away from the soap dispensers and with no repercussions around the bathroom door these words slowly slid into my vocabulary. It's not really that I'm against the usage of curse words, in fact I believe that they can be used quite elegantly at times. If you don't think so listen to Neil Hilborn below, he might change your mind. In the end they are just words, but it is more the over use of them that bugs me. Ninety nine percent of the time they are not being used in a manner such as Neil's. I am as guilty as anyone with this.
The reason I incorporated this goal was to make better use of my words. We have only a few ways to represent ourselves as individuals. First and foremost are our actions. As the old saying goes, they speak the loudest. Second are our words, which we then try to follow up and support by our actions. Lastly and least important is our image which in the end is so outweighed by the others that it is left relatively insignificant.
Good speakers and storytellers capture our attention through use of their words. You won't find them cursing up a storm. You find their words flowing and they are easy to listen to. They might throw in a curse here and there for emphasis or to grab attention but they are not replacing adjectives and nouns with them left and right. There are plenty of other good words out there.
So I've realized that with this goal it is going to make it next to impossible to play golf. Unless of course I want to be doing pushups or crunches 8 to 9 times per hole. I also might have some trouble singing along with any old Dr. Dre or 2pac songs or pursuing my rapping career. I chose the pushups and crunches as my penalty because they are something I can't stand, sort of like the soap. Hold me to it friends, if you hear it I owe you 20 on the spot. I've already done 40 on the honor system before I finished this blog entry. I suppose at the end of the year I'll either have a clean mouth or be quite a bit more muscular. Both positive outcomes.
The reason I incorporated this goal was to make better use of my words. We have only a few ways to represent ourselves as individuals. First and foremost are our actions. As the old saying goes, they speak the loudest. Second are our words, which we then try to follow up and support by our actions. Lastly and least important is our image which in the end is so outweighed by the others that it is left relatively insignificant.
Good speakers and storytellers capture our attention through use of their words. You won't find them cursing up a storm. You find their words flowing and they are easy to listen to. They might throw in a curse here and there for emphasis or to grab attention but they are not replacing adjectives and nouns with them left and right. There are plenty of other good words out there.
So I've realized that with this goal it is going to make it next to impossible to play golf. Unless of course I want to be doing pushups or crunches 8 to 9 times per hole. I also might have some trouble singing along with any old Dr. Dre or 2pac songs or pursuing my rapping career. I chose the pushups and crunches as my penalty because they are something I can't stand, sort of like the soap. Hold me to it friends, if you hear it I owe you 20 on the spot. I've already done 40 on the honor system before I finished this blog entry. I suppose at the end of the year I'll either have a clean mouth or be quite a bit more muscular. Both positive outcomes.
End of Week 9 Update
It was a rough week. I did not foresee this goal as being the challenge that it would become. Then I got bit on my right hand by a Pit bull. The poor thing was running right down Prices Fork Rd and was terrified so I tried to help him. He did not want help. I guess next time I will have to use my left hand.
Despite having 52 planned out changes for every week of the year I still couldn't plan for the unexpected. I kicked off Wednesday swearing like a sailor and pumped out 200 pushups by the end of the day. Thursday at 10 AM I tried to sign on the new healthcare.gov site for the third time which ended up in another slew of obscenity's bringing me to 180 pushups and 60 crunches that day. Friday at 10 AM the dog jaw snapped my hand with about 250 pounds of pressure. I'm still not really sure what came out of my mouth during the next 30 minutes but I estimated and tallied 260 crunches by the end of the day.
The nice part about planning for a change every week is that it gives you a certain level of preparedness for events like these. After the dog bite I had to wait tables with one hand Friday night and I ended up seeing it as more of a fun challenge than a hindrance. Although I would also love to say that I was still doing one handed, left hand pushups, unfortunately you don't obtain muscles like that after doing pushups for two days. That left me to crunches for the next few days until my hand started healing. There is nothing worse than crunches. Perhaps if someone replaced the icing on your birthday cake with deodorant, it would be worse than crunches. That is still a stretch.
So I'm closing out the week with a sore tailbone, shoulder muscles, chest, arms, hand, and stomach, butt it worked. Monday I had my first zero day. Somehow I suppose my muscles constantly controlled my brain all day. I even caught myself a few times mid sentence this week. As great as it felt not to have to do any work for my words Monday, the best part was that I didn't let any small things bug me. Throughout the week I had noticed that most times I would curse would be when I got frustrated at times that there was just no reason to be frustrated at all, it was all the small things, so I started letting them go. Gam zeh ya'avor.
Week 8 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 30.61 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 84 cups
Trips to unhappy places - 0
$ to support neighbors = 78.19
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 14
Pushups - 420 Crunches - 600
The nice part about planning for a change every week is that it gives you a certain level of preparedness for events like these. After the dog bite I had to wait tables with one hand Friday night and I ended up seeing it as more of a fun challenge than a hindrance. Although I would also love to say that I was still doing one handed, left hand pushups, unfortunately you don't obtain muscles like that after doing pushups for two days. That left me to crunches for the next few days until my hand started healing. There is nothing worse than crunches. Perhaps if someone replaced the icing on your birthday cake with deodorant, it would be worse than crunches. That is still a stretch.
So I'm closing out the week with a sore tailbone, shoulder muscles, chest, arms, hand, and stomach, butt it worked. Monday I had my first zero day. Somehow I suppose my muscles constantly controlled my brain all day. I even caught myself a few times mid sentence this week. As great as it felt not to have to do any work for my words Monday, the best part was that I didn't let any small things bug me. Throughout the week I had noticed that most times I would curse would be when I got frustrated at times that there was just no reason to be frustrated at all, it was all the small things, so I started letting them go. Gam zeh ya'avor.
Week 8 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 30.61 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 84 cups
Trips to unhappy places - 0
$ to support neighbors = 78.19
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 14
Pushups - 420 Crunches - 600