After recently completing a month long Cold Shower Challenge, I was already looking into how else can I challenge myself. Searching through articles and videos led me to the idea of intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is when you eat one meal a day and fast for the rest of the day. I was extremely confident I could handle that so I felt like I needed something more challenging. Soooo..when I came home Monday Night from a networking event, for some reason I told myself I’m starting first thing in the morning. No more holding off challenges. No more I’m waiting until the 1st so I can start the month off fresh. IM STARTING NOW. Well not exactly right now, since I was finishing my last plate from Thanksgiving Leftovers which was washed down with a glass of Red Wine. 🤷🏽‍♂️🍗🥧 🍷. But I told myself first thing in the morning I’m going on a water fast for 24 hours. Just water nothing else. Water, prayer an a little bit of discipline. After all that’s the point of this fast anyway. Building mental strength and fighting temptation. Of course once the hype died down and the morning came I kinda forgot about those fasting plans an I had my usual cup of coffee to go with my Wife. The funny thing is as soon as I finished the coffee I knew I messed up. “You know you done effed up right.” Even though some people say Black Coffee is ok during a water fast, the point of my recent challenges have been to show discipline, build mental strength, and fight temptations. Plus I had milk and sugar in the coffee so that was disqualified anyway. It was around 9am at that last sip of coffee. Tuesday Morning. So I knew I just had to make it to Friday Morning 9am. Just water. Nothing else. Water, prayer, an a little bit of discipline. Oh yeah, and how do I not mention this challenge to my Wife lol. Because let her tell it, I turn into a grumpy old man whenever I haven’t ate for a while. *Insert “You’re Not Yourself When You’re Hungry” Snickers commercial. So not only did I have this 24 Hour Challenge. But I also had the challenge of completing it without my Wife knowing. I needed to prove to myself that I can keep my hunger mood in check lol. Along with the more important reasons I mentioned. Since me and my wife don’t see each other much throughout the day, I knew it wouldn’t be that hard to avoid her knowing about the fast. Especially with 2 evening events on Tuesday and Wednesday. Those were nights I knew we probably wouldn’t eat dinner together anyway. But what will happen in the morning once she notices she’s the only one with our usual Coffee to go. 🤔😟. And just like I thought. Wednesday morning. 22 hours into my 24 hour fast, she notices there’s only 1 cup of coffee an of course it’s for her. “You didn’t make a cup for yourself?” I simply replied “Nah not today” Lol. Straight to the point to avoid any possible follow up questions. She didn’t have any follow up questions but she did jokingly say “Oh you changed.” So that’s how my fast was coming to the end. Then I felt like the challenge wasnt enough. There wasn’t much resistance and temptation in that first 24 hours. And the challenge wasn’t about food. It was more about the discipline, building mental strength, and fighting temptation. So I decided at that moment. 72 Hours. 3 Days of Just Water. Water, prayer an a little bit of discipline. That 2nd day was tougher than the first. Especially when it’s Wednesday an I’m at a bar for my weekly Vibes In The City event. I got offered a few drinks that night but I had to decline. So once I conquered that I knew the last day would be a breeze. 48 Hours passed by since I had anything besides Water, it’s Thursday morning and Surprisingly my Wife didn’t ask about the coffee this time. Oh this really about to be a breeze. Lol. NO NO NO. WRONG. As I was functioning through the last day of this fast, I started to feel my energy get low. I was moving a little sluggish and now I was starting to question myself. A lot of doubt start kicking in. And this day was also tougher because I had a lot of running around to do. Running around on a empty stomach was tough but I didn’t let it effect my day or mood. Whenever I felt the grumpy granpa hunger mood kicking in, I changed my thoughts to something positive. As dinner time approached Thursday night, I knew my body would start anticipating the next day when the fast will break. That made it a lot tougher. It was almost like a dog who knows when they’re getting closer to their everyday tree. Lol My body knew but my mind stayed strong for me. 3 Days. Just Water, prayer an a little bit of discipline. And my Wife didn’t notice. Or maybe she did and just thought “Here he go with another one his crazy challenges” Lol