Beginning to Feel Alive - Part 4

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    Back in January I was introduced to a book, it was by a chap called Ben Aldridge and is called 'How to be comfortable with being uncomfortable'. In short the book is all about leaving your comfort zone, to help you cultivate a stronger, healthier and more resilient mindset and to help you feel calmer, happier and feel more at peace with the unknown future. This book is incredible and has changed my way of thinking about a lot of things, it has made me realise that I need to get over my various hang ups about being shirt free, adopt a stoic attitude and has helped me to get my head around the idea of getting out there to push myself more (It has also helped me to learn the Rubik's cube and pronounce the worlds longest railway station name too but that's another story).

    Often on a Sunday morning I meet some really good mates for a run, usually around 5km, I have hardly ever run shirtless on these runs, I cant actually remember any recent runs shirtless, maybe a few years back when its been hot but its a rare occurrence. These friends have both run some of the Tough Mudders and Spartans with me and so they know I do like to go shirt free but I always figure that when its just the 3 of us I will do them a favour and wear a running vest, I really don't want to make them feel uncomfortable.  

Out for a run

    Last week marked another milestone on my journey because I decided to ask both my 2 mates if they minded me running shirt free through the winter, like the true friends they are they both replied that they didn't care, in fact I quote "Shut up you tart! I don't care what you wear, or don't wear! I love you just the way you are, why should we care what you wear? do what you want Rob".   The responses I got from my 2 mates did 2 things, 1 - It made me extremely grateful to have such amazing mates and 2 - It made me realise that I now had to pluck up the courage to actually go through with it.

    And so I have decided that after several years of swimming and many more years of shirt free activities it is time to get my thoughts down in writing. I am hoping the blog may help people understand why I do this kind of thing, but also I will use the blog as a place to share my past experiences and all my new adventures as we move into winter.

For now though I have a shirt free November run to prepare for.

Rob

Ben Aldridge - How to be comfortable with being uncomfortable on Amazon UK

Beginning to Feel Alive - Part 1

Beginning to Feel Alive - Part 2

Beginning to Feel Alive - Part 3

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