Coach Herb Brooks and Coach Eric Taylor Always Watching My Back

I didn’t plan on it happening it just kind of did.

Serendipitous. I guess.

I hadn’t planned on mentioning it but considering I was at one of my ultimate lows I figured I’d share how I was able to peel off the layers of grief and have heartbreak take a seat in the back of the bus.

My diet. My mental diet.

I mentioned Monday that I had begun a mental diet, same process as a 30-day-juice cleanse, but instead of cleaning out my internal organs with green kale smoothies, I’m in the process of cutting down on crap … Emotional crap that adds at least 50 pounds to the weight I’m already carrying on my shoulders. It’s a mental well-being cleanse.

Now considering I was born and raised in the awesomeness that is the dysfunctional Latino-American family there was probably a lot of excess “stuff” lingering around my love handles, but this mental diet has helped trim away some of that unwanted heaviness.

However this is not like other diets where by day three you’re ready to stab somebody because your body has been starved of essential nutrients. On Day 3 of this 10-Day Mental Challenge I’ve managed to avoid hostile encounters with clueless people who really deserved an ass-kicking, but I thought of my mental diet and I got all Zen on them.

At the end of the day, I felt better than the day before, and in truth that’s what it’s about … being better than the day before. It’s about interrupting old patterns and replacing them with something new. It’s about being able to change my state regardless of the disastrous environment surrounding me and finding a resourceful state of mind–the-Kurt-Russell-playing-Coach-Herb-Brooks-in-the movie-Miracle-state mind-the-Coach-Eric-Taylor-in-the-TV-show-Friday-Night-Lights state of mind.

This was not, and is not easy, especially when you’ve got all kinds of shenanigans of the I Love Lucy-Gilligan’s Island kind. But on Day 3 I’m still managing to stay afloat. And on this Day 3 I’ve learned that it’s not about lying down and ignoring the technical difficulties in your life, but putting yourself in a better mental and emotional state so that you can be prepared and find a solution.

Be prepared to be Coach Herb Brooks or Coach Eric Taylor.

 

Coach Herb Brooks

Coach Eric Taylor

 

So how do I do it?

Running. Biking. Swimming. Kickboxing. Some kind of physical activity just to get me breathing and feeling differently, to get me in a pumped-up state of mind. And I do it in the morning. And let me just refresh your memory … I hate the morning. I am not a morning person at all, but I do it early so that I can start the day right, because I know there’s gonna be some wrong in it. After getting that Rocky Balboa feeling I start the day and if someone decides to act like a jackass or something bad happens that’s out of my control, I try not to hit the George-Costanza-serenity-now phase immediately. Instead, I ask myself if there’s something I can do at that specific moment to help improve the situation.

So far I haven’t exploded.

But it’s only been Day 3 and I still have Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer. Plus I had a lot of positive support from my WordPress family on Monday (the unexpected Day 1 of the diet) so that definitely helped keep me on track.

I’ll let you know how things pan out in the end. Maybe I’ll lose the rest of the mental-this-is-draining-my-soul weight, or maybe I clear out the ice cream aisle at Vons. It’s still early in the mental challenge, but I’m feeling pretty badass … like a contestant on the Biggest Loser with that chick Jillian Michaels in my corner and my inner coaches Brooks and Taylor always watching my back.

 

 

 

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Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose.

It left me with that Thelma & Louise you’re-different-now-kind-of-feeling … with the exception of driving off the cliff of course.  I know some people out there hate all that is television and think it’s the devil and in truth with all these awful reality shows out there, I can’t blame them.

However, this TV adventure left me with a positive feeling, which I thought was a pretty awesome way of continuing the New Year,  and I have Netflix to thank for that.

Well in truth after every night for two weeks I wanted to slap myself for being so stupid and not watching it when it was actually on the air. I mean for crying out loud I’m a sports fan, and football enthusiast, but I’m also a lover of good characters and great stories. And I might have been put off by the fact that it looked like one of those teenage shows, but I realized I was way off on that. And so I watched and watched and watched until 2 a.m.

Friday Night Lights Tami Taylor and Coach Eric Taylor

I know, I know. Some may think that staying up late watching television is crazy, but I got hooked and had to watch episodes back to back to back.

I looked forward to the “Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t Lose.”

I got cheesy in me when it comes to sports stories, it’s part of the old jock in me.

In any case if you haven’t guessed it by now it’s the show Friday Night Lights. If you haven’t seen it …

Dude … I encourage you to do so. I don’t normally recommend shows that are not on FX or AMC, but this one is definitely a must watch.

They have some pretty badass characters and even though it had some strong female characters like Mrs. Tami Taylor and Dillon High School student Tyra, I was drawn to the dudes. Not so much because they were good-looking more so because of their stories.

Friday Night Lights

I loved the inspiration behind Dillon High Football Coach Eric Taylor and his pregame and half-time speeches. He also cracked me up with his you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me stare followed by one-liners. I liked seeing the back-up quarterback Matt Saracen and his coming-of-age story. I liked the surprises that Tim Riggins had in store for me and I rooted for him to smarten up and catch a break.

However I tripped out on how much beer was being consumed by everyone and how easily they got it. I was also amazed at no matter how big the hangover, they always said ma’am or sir when asked a question. I tripped out on my need to say y’all after watching the show. I tripped out on how Buddy Gaherty and the boosters created so much frustration and anger that I constantly rooted for them to fail in their sneaky ways and leave Coach Taylor alone, which happened sometimes.

In the end Coach Taylor and his players got what they deserved and I was able to take advantage of the little life lessons throughout seasons 1 to 5. One of my favorites was Coach Taylor’s pregame saying.

“Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t lose.”

It helps when you’re feeling crappy in the morning. It helps when you’re about to venture off into a new day. It helps when you’re writing your novel and are stuck. It helps when you’re a football player in Dillon, Texas and you’re ready to take the field in the state championships. It helps.

You can use it in any scenario, doesn’t necessarily have to be sports and you don’t necessarily have to say y’all. But it definitely helps you get in the Thelma-&-Louise-this-is-going-to-change-my-life-today-kind-of phase. This therapy is universal and it’s cheap, so it’s best to get Netflix and get right on it.