A one year project to become a better man in America's south
Day 66 – My father and I were as close as a father and son could be when I was a child. But when my parents divorced, my father turned away from God and family and toward violence and drugs. We didn’t talk for years as he bounced in and out of jail until two years ago when he called to tell me he was dying of what started as colon cancer. He died last year after the cancer spread throughout his body.
Day 64 – My name is Wesley Donehue, and I’m a workaholic.
Today was a long day in the office. Autumn always brings long days. Vacations are over, and we must squeeze in as much work as possible before the holidays begin.
Day 62 – Psalm 127:2, David wrote “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat – for he grants sleep to those he loves.”
In other words, God wants us to rest. He gave us the ability to rest because he loves us. It is a gift that we should receive, but do not.
Many of us feel as if rest is for the weak. We work around the clock, everyday, always attached to our blackberries and iPhones as if the world cannot survive one day without us.
Day 57 – A short post because my arms hurt.
After business trips across the country and a nasty ear infection, I was back in the gym today for the first time in three weeks.
Day 49 – It’s the Monday after the first University of South Carolina home game. That means that the whole city probably cracked open an ice cold beer at some point to celebrate before or after the win against Navy.
A good portion of those revelers probably woke up Sunday morning with a moderate to severe headache. Some of those headaches were brought on by innocently drinking too much alcohol with friends. For others, their morning misery was to be expected.
Which one were you?
Day 29 – In continuing our study of the Beatitudes this weekend, Dr. Wendell Estep of First Baptist Church of Columbia moved on to Matthew 5:6, which states “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
Dr. Estep said that we have three types of thirsts. The first is the physical thirst. As you know, I certainly have a large appetite for tacos, boiled peanuts and barbecue. The second is the intellectual thirst. The third is spiritual thirst.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions as to why I talk about faith so much on this blog. It’s an easy answer. I believe that to be a better person you must thirst for spiritual growth. That is not to say that I think religious people are better people than atheists. I don’t think they’re better. I just think they’re are better off.
Day 9 – I recently hit the store to buy a bunch of extra gym clothes. Elizabeth doesn’t like when I wash the clothes every night, so I decided to buy enough gym clothes to have clean shorts, shirts, underclothes and wraps for five days a week. Yes, that’s a lot of gym clothes, but you only have two choices – wash your clothes or have enough clean ones for every day. Wearing the same clothes two days is absolutely not an option. The gym makes you sweat. Sweat makes you stink. And you cannot be the stinky guy at the gym.
Here are a few gym etiquette rules from John Bridges’ How To Be a Gentleman:
DAY 6 - WOW! That title sounds like some cheesy health magazine cover. I mean, seriously, can’t those guys get anymore creative than the crap they throw on every single cover? How many times are they going to tell us that we can get rock solid abs in 30 days?
Actually, I did just lose 13 pounds in three weeks dropping from 170 to 157 pounds. Here’s how it happened:
DAY 3 – Please do not think I’m one of those “social media gurus” trying to sell you on lifestyle design. Unless you are running for office or promoting a cause, I don’t want your money. I tweet and FourSquare my life, but I’m not one to share the more intimate parts of my life.
So why am I doing this?
People need accountability. I need you to hold me accountable. I want to help hold you accountable.
On Friday I weighed 159 pounds, my lowest in years. This morning I was back up to 164. What happened?
Luckily, I’m not freaking out. I expected it. Not only have I been hitting the gym harder than I ever have, I have also been sticking to an extremely strict diet over the last two weeks. Inspired by Timothy Ferriss, I have been trying out his “Slow Carb Diet” from The 4-Hour Body, which can be broken down into five rules:
