Choosing to Turn Up

Choices. It’s all about the choices.

Choose to be happy. Choose to be sad. Choose to feel sorry for yourself. Choose to eat your own bodyweight in cheese and crisps and crackers. Choose to turn up. Choose to be a good dad. Choose to go to the gym and come out feeling brilliant, like I did today.

Today was the first time I’ve chosen to go to the gym in a long time. I haven’t been at all this year.

Instead, I’ve been blaming other people. Blaming the New Year’s resolution crowd for “clogging up” the gym. Why am I so anti-them? They’re trying to make a change. I’ve been in their shoes, and not that long ago either. Twelve months ago, twenty-four months ago, I was them.

If anything, I should be in there alongside them. As someone who has been where they are, I could help if they needed it. Instead, I chose to use them as my excuse not to go.

I also chose to decide to be sad because of the time of year. It’s winter, Christmas is gone, the sun barely shows up, so I leaned into it. Chose the slump. Chose to sit on my hands.

What a choice, when there’s only one go at this life.

At some point you have to choose to live it. Choose to get off your arse and do something about it.

Today, I chose to go to the gym.

I’ve been rowing in the shed on my new rower, and I’m still delighted I’ve got it. But I’ve missed the contact with people. I’ve missed being in a place that’s full of like-minded folk, all there to put some effort in and feel better for it. The buzz. The energy.

So today I choose differently.

I choose to live. I choose to be the best version of me that I can be. And I choose to start doing that again today.

This is The Sub-7 Experiment.