Time for a life makeover

I'm not living the life I want.

Maybe that's a sad thing to realize, but it's better to realize it now than 20 years in the future. I'm a middle-aged guy with a decent job and an average family. At 50, I'm working as the Manager of Communications and Marketing for a mid-sized college in Alberta. I've been married for 26 years. I have three children and one grandchild, with a second on the way.

My eldest son, daughter-in-law and grandson live in my basement. My middle child is attending university. My youngest, my daughter, moved out when she was 16. She dropped out of high school, moved in with her boyfriend and is now pregnant.

I'm overweight. My hair is turning grey. I'm earning a decent income, but I'm still living paycheque to paycheque. (Please note: it is cheque, not check. As a Canadian, I try to stick with the British spellings. They seem classier.) I'm nervous about my retirement as I have very little set aside for it.

I drive a minivan, for God's sake! A 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan. It's windshield is cracked and it came out the loser in a parking lot war I did not witness.

I enjoy the occasional beer and glass of wine. I don't smoke and I've never done drugs.

Throughout my life, I've done little of great consequence. I've been content to let life take me where it will and have done little to actually guide it in a direction of choice. That's about to change. And I'm going to track my changes with this blog. The good, the bad and the ugly out there for all to see.

Why do something like that? A few reasons, actually.

I'm a procrastinator. Without some form of accountability, I'll keep putting things off. Writing a blog will help keep me honest and help keep me on track.

Inspiration. Perhaps I can inspire others to start tackling life now before it gets away from them completely. Don't like the way things are going in your life? Take charge of it now. Start researching how it can be different. Set some realistic goals and actually go after them. Not exactly earth-shattering advice. But it's what I'm going to do and it's really the only answer to breaking from a life you're not enjoying.

Let's face it. Life is what you make of it. You can either sit around and moan and groan or you can actually do something about. That's what I've chosen to do. Yes, I imagine this will be a little embarassing, but I expect it will be good for me as well.

Things I plan to achieve and share through this blog:

Physical makeover. I'm going to lose weight and shape up, finally. At this writing, I weight 194 lbs. I've been heavier, and I'm not proud of that. I'm 5' 9" tall and have a smaller bone structure for a guy. My goal is to get down to 170 lbs. I'm going to attempt to accomplish this through exercise and watching what I eat. I'm not going on some weird diet, just controlling portions and content. I will likely follow the 90/10 weightloss plan. It involves eating regular food proportioned to fit within an overall daily caloric intake. The '90' refers to eating 90 per cent healthy food. The '10' is the guilty food stuff. A special little snack allowed each day.

I am also going to join the YMCA and workout on a regular basis. I'm going to check out working with a personal trainer for a bit to get started. I have to be careful due to a back issue I have, but I know I can still do what I have to do to succeed.

Financially, I know I need to take action and take it now. I'm currently reading 'Start Late, Finish Rich' by David Bach. One of the things Bach stresses is that those starting later in life need to save and invest faster. Makes sense. In answer to the question, how can one invest money when living paycheque to paycheque?, Bach suggests looking at the 'latte' factor in life. Simply put, how much money to you waste each month without even realizing it? Five dollars here and there adds up.

He also suggests continuing to work at your job while building business on the side. On of the ways to accomplish this is through direct sales. In other words, becoming a consultant for a reputable company and working this as your own business. I've dabbled in the past. Now I'm getting serious.

Recently, I've decided to combine my interest in cooking and gadgets together to start a Pampered Chef business. I've had two shows so far. They've been fun and profitable. My plan is to use profits from PC to pursue investments and self-education in that area through another opportunity that I'll get to in time.

I'm also planning to grow spiritually. In my life I've gone from being an atheist to belonging to a fundamentalist Christian church to where I am now. And that's somewhere in the middle. I see a lot wrong with organized religion and I don't believe in the literal biblical interpretation of God. I say I am spiritual, but not religious. To me, God is not a separate entity waiting to reward or punish humanity according to his/her whims. God is a positive creative energy found within every one of us. That's the direction I will explore.

There are also personal areas I intend to examine, some of which I'll share here, others will remain private. So stay tuned for the Life of Bly - The good, the bad and the ugly.