Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Fears, Nerves, and Advice Needed

I'm not going to lie. As excited as this new opportunity is, there are a lot of things I'm really nervous about. There's the standard issue new-job-jitters, but this is more than that.

I'm nervous about seedy motels and lost luggage. I'm afraid of getting sick or injured on the road. I'm nervous about long, lonely drives, especially at night, and car troubles. I'm afraid of driving through really awful weather (did you hear about the 50+ inches of snow the Dakotas got last weekend?!). I'm afraid of my car getting broken into. And so on.

I have vicariously lived the life of a traveling rep for the past 5yrs through W. He totaled a car in northern Wisconsin, passed kidney stones at a hospital in Indiana, had his car broken in to in Nebraska, and was stranded in Minnesota because of a late season blizzard. He's driven through the night to get to places, driven 8-12-14 hours alone on the road to get somewhere. Having worked on the road for over a decade he's pretty much experienced it all. And if he hasn't, I have other friends and colleagues that have. 

When I accepted the position, and this new adventure, I knew all these things, and to some extent accepted it. That comes with the territory (no pun intended).

But what I can't seem to wrap my head around is how to balance life on the road and an active, healthy lifestyle. I'm afraid I'm going to stop exercising, eat like crap, and end up morbidly obese and miserable. 


Now I realize that this is actually one component to life on the road that I can actually control. I can choose to exercise and run. I can seek out healthy restaurants and make smart food choices. It all sounds good and empowering on paper.

But how? How do you stay motivated? Find the energy? Make the most of a food per diem? 

It's great in theory to look up running routes of Crossfit gyms in the cities you're in, or to ask for suggestions online, but after a long day of travel, visiting accounts, and then catching up on office work, how does it actually work? 

I'm hoping that someone out there can relate and share some real life advice...

No comments: