10: Start ZombieWorkout
20: Run, lift, learn new skills
30: Goto 20
That's been the gist of the Post-Apocalyptic Workout thus far, the idea that it would be simple enough even for a classically educated and therefore completely useless individual like me to continue on to the promised-land of self-sufficiency. Okay, maybe not total self-sufficiency, but maybe buying myself a slot or two in the lifeboat (so I'm not the first one thrown out, but maybe number two or three.)
I was able to finish the first challenge because I was the beginner of beginners. I wrapped some wounds and beat on a dummy's chest (no, not my own, you pervs!) and hopped on the treadmill and suddenly eight weeks went by and I thought, this survival thing is a cinch.
Okay, I didn't really think that either, but I did think that a workout plan + a couple of skills every eight weeks would be doable. Except that there's that little problem of mismanaging my time (or simply not having enough of it) and miscalculating my budget.
Ask anyone: I'm a pretty decent multitasker. As a writer, this is hugely important as you can be working on one script while rewriting another and heading into the writer's room to talk about yet another. You need to be able to switch from writing mode to producer mode to diplomatic mode. I have that part down pat.
Except that as most of you probably know, I'm not working a regular writing gig now, so I manage with an amalgamation of a bunch of different jobs: I work part-time at a gym, I answer customer service emails for a website, I'm on staff at a dog rescue organization, I'm doing some online marketing for a medical software company. I also have this blog, my regular blog, and a new blog that a company has built for me (in that I can't blow it off.) I keep up with my workouts, I look for new possible writing work, and oh yeah, I think I get to sleep in there somewhere.
Clearly, things suffer. I blew my wad on my lockpicks and my chin up bar for this challenge, thinking that money for a freelance gig would come through and I'd be able to use a bit o' that scratch to take up guns and and check out practice locks. Except the bastards screwed me, so I'm looking at the upcoming deadline for Challenge #2 and realizing that I won't meet it.
I could make this a priority over everything else, but I also have to make my car payment.
Some of you have asked if I thought that you could do this sort of survival thing on your own, and while I am far far FAR from an expert, my answer is no. Physical training is easy: an hour and a pair of running shoes is all I need, and that I've kept up with, pas de probleme. But the skill portions require time and planning and coordination and finally money. When it comes to those things, I'm pretty deficient on all counts.
Survival is doing the best we can with what we have. I do feel like I have let people down. But in an odd way, I've also learned what my limits are. I do plan on overcoming them. You'll just have to cut me the proverbial slack.
Abort, Retry, Fail?
I pick the one in the middle.

