Man, oh man.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 11:42AM I've had this idea in my head for some time now that for my 30th birthday - which is just over a year away - the present I will give myself is the gift of manliness.
That sounds weird, right? Like I'm going to book a night at some gay sauna in Amsterdam.
Well, no. That's not what I mean.
What I mean is this. For my 30th birthday, I want to acquire some of the skills and habits that I have lacked through most of my adult life. Mostly manly skills. Like self-discipline. Courage. Endurance. The ability to hunt. Or, at least, go for a jog at 6.30 in the morning before work.
I've been trying to develop these skills for years, but the hops and the barley and the nicotine weed have proven too irresistible, and I've followed the way of the slovenly man for most of my life.
Now seems like the perfect time to change tack. I have no responsibilities, and am just about young and fit enough to attempt such a transformation. But how? The big problem for me, it seems, is making the psychological switch from a man who avoids pain and gives in easily to instant pleasures, to a man who embraces pain and prefers the pleasure that comes from a struggle won.
Is such a transformation possible at this point in life?
behold the man in Musings