“I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul” – William Ernest Henley

I am on this great transformation train. I have battled against all the fears and doubts I had in order to completely immerse myself in this, and now I sit here typing before you very confident and proud of how fantastic of a day I had. I cooked all my meals for the entire week (took me about 1.5 hours) and counted all the calories in each meal. I took the time to plan out things so when I am busy I can make the good eating decision because the food is already there for me. Laziness does not factor into my eating plan anymore because the food is cooked and all I have to do is heat it up. Plus, it is incredibly healthy. So, if you are looking to go through a major body transformation, think about trying this at least for a week. See what you think and work from there.

I want to be me. And I am being me. I think I am living in a time of my life where I am being 100% completely authentic with everything that is going on. Really, what you read here and see is what you get. There are no hidden paths, no secrets or stories untold. The flu really did wonders for me mentally. That might take some explanation. Besides being unbelievably sick and unable to workout, I worked on strengthening my mind so that when I am healthy I can attack life with a force and vigor unmatched by my previous efforts. I am on the path to getting in the best shape of my life, to graduating college with good grades, and to finding a career to embark on. What I was struggling with before was the fear of not knowing what the future is going to be like. But that is LIFE! You do not know what the future will be like, in fact, you do not know what 60 seconds from now will be like for certain. You can speculate, but then again, you are living in the future and disrespecting this current moment. So I entrenched myself in the present moment today and really appreciated life for what it is. There is nothing that I am afraid of anymore. Over the course of my life, I have probably lost hundreds of pounds (on and off) but never truly accomplished what I wanted to. I focused a lot on trying to be him or her, but never really focused 100% on making myself the absolute best I possibly could be.

“Realism is the most commonly traveled path to mediocrity.” – Will Smith. I am one of the most unrealistic people out there. But here’s the difference, I will take that unrealistic idea and work on it and dream with it until I can make it a reality. The idea that I have in my head right now may seem completely unrealistic to many…but in my head it is as real as anything else. I am going to be more than I am now. I am going to be that shining light for the world not because of arrogance or cockiness, but because one day I want to be someones hero. I want to be that hero that stood for principle and character. The only way to get there is to be consistent, to be passionate about my unrealistic ideas and make them happen. You can do anything you set your mind to…trust me. A year ago I created a dream that I would blog to thousands of people each day and touch their lives with what I was learning along the way through my journey. I had never written before, but I had faith and belief in myself. Now, thousands of people read here a day, and I have redefined my dream: to have millions of readers. (So if you could please share this with your family, friends that would be great :D)

The message has come up in two posts back to back. Create you the best way you can. Whether that is strengthening your mind, your soul,  your body, go for it. There really is nothing stopping you but yourself. We all have 24 hours a day to work with. Maybe waking up at 5:30 am every day is unrealistic for some, but it gives me the ability to have those extra hours to accomplish my dreams.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project