Day 12: challenging times.

Today I encountered some challenges. First I went running with my brothers. I haven’t been running for months, doing yoga instead, and I’m pleased to say my fitness is in good shape. We did run up a very steep hill though, and that was challenging for my poor little quadriceps, which while now very good at holding the warrior pose, felt jellylike halfway up. I didn’t stop though and the run was good. Hanging with my bros was good too. This challenge I can handle. Second, I went to a picnic. This picnic started literally as a walk in the park. How tough could it possibly be? For the Sydney branch of my family and friends, picnics are notoriously boozy affairs. They tend to end when the wine runs out. And they’re fun. Weirdly enough, this one wasn’t the drink-a-thon it might have been. And no-one was really giving me any shit about not joining in. But it was the hardest drink resistance effort I have experienced so far. It wasn’t hard in the sense that I felt like I might give in. I knew I wasn’t going to drink. But I felt like a lone wolf. As I sat there sipping the lemonade I didn’t really want, I questioned why I was doing this at all. Would taking a harebrained stand like this make any difference to anything? Or was I just wasting a year of opportunities for fun times and replacing them with nun times? And then my friend told me she’d been facebooked by a boy whom we both know and I am seriously trying to forget. That coupled with the zituation that is currently baffling my face (thanks detoxing process, you suck) made me decidedly shaky in my resolve. I felt like sinking some whiskeys and punching said boy in the face (charming I know). But you see, that would have been my reaction before (except for the punching. I don't actually punch people very often even though I sometimes feel like it). And I’m bored with my recent history. I want to go somewhere better. I don’t know if not drinking is the way to get there, but the only way I’ll find out is by following through. Buy the ticket, take the ride (why do I keep referencing quotes from the famously drug-fucked (Hunter S Thompson in this case)? I think it’s my brain having a little joke.). So I’m still happy I’m not drinking. And I’m happy I won’t have a hangover tomorrow. And I’m not caving in for anyone. Because when the challengers come a-challenging, there’s only one thing to do. Hang tough muthaflipper, hang tough.

Speaking of which, check this out.