The Lifestyle of a Broken Clock

Written by Mike Greene Published: 19 June 2018 (Contributed by Mitch Greene)

I have come to think about the way I live my life as a clock. As soon as one thing is out of place, the clock doesn’t work. Sounds pessimistic, but it makes sense.

When I started college, I didn’t think like I do now. I had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning so that I could have time to watch my morning show before going to school. Because of this, I didn’t give myself the time to pack food. At college, I had a two-and-a-half-hour break where I would go sit outside and relax while listening to some music. I would finish my classes and be home around 4:00 and, at this point, I would be very hungry, so I would eat — a lot. Afterward, I would feel very sluggish from overindulgence, so I would skip the workout and do all the homework I didn’t get done earlier. After this, I would hang out with my girlfriend until maybe 2:00 in the morning. Every day I would keep this same routine, and I felt like absolute crap.

I knew there was something wrong, so one by one I changed things. First, I stopped watching my morning show and started packing lunch instead. This helped a little but didn’t solve the problem. I went back to my old ways, but this time tried to fit in my workout. Once again, no dice. Took out the workout and got more sleep. Good but not good enough. Went back to very little sleep and did homework over my break so I had more time at night to relax. Still not enough. It wasn’t until I completely revamped my entire schedule so that I would get proper sleep, nutrition, exercise, mental stimulation and leisure time. After all of that, I felt amazing!

See, I believe that my lifestyle was one of a broken clock because, although I would fix one of my broken cogs, there would still be ten more that needed repair. I expected to see the time with an almost functioning clock. The clock would never work properly until every last aspect of my most basic needs was met. Fixing one cog was simply not enough.

If you want a change in your life, then start by asking yourself how many of your cogs are broken. Think about a time when life just worked for you.  Your clock was running smoothly, all the cogs in place.  It’s time to bring that back.  And if you never had it, you can still get there—one cog at a time.