I live a very mono-dimensional life. I'll be the first to acknowledge and admit it.  I have chosen it, so it's what I want, but there is no question that the day in and day out of my life is quite monotonous and generally not overly exciting.  Get up, eat, train, eat, rest, train, eat, rest, train, eat, rest, sleep.  Repeat.  

I was asked the other day if I do anything different on the weekends or if the days are basically the same from one day to the next.  Let's just say that the only reason I know a Saturday from a Tuesday is because the lane times at the pool change from weekdays to weekends.  I also notice that grocery stores are a lot busier on weekends.  And I don't have physio on weekends.  But that's about it.  

And this is the way it needs to be to achieve the goals that I have set out for myself.  So it is not a 'sacrifice' as many might term it, but simply a chosen way of life to ensure that I meet every single one of my expectations.  And as I was discussing this all with Wade today, he provided an analogy for this 'sacrifice' as we like to call it that explains it all beautifully.  Here it is:

You're a kid.  You get one penny for your allowance every day.  You can choose to buy many little 1 cent candies so that you can have a treat every day OR you can save your pennies until they become 100 pennies so that you can buy the 1 dollar candy bar you eye every single time you go into the store.  Which do you choose?

What the one delicious candy bar won't provide you with is the immediate gratification of a treat every single day.  It also means that you will not experience the diverse range of flavors from all the different little candies that you sample every day.  It also means that instead of many...you can have just one. It also means that there is no guarantee that you won't get robbed part way through and have to start saving all over again, taking even longer to get to your delicious candy bar. 

It means you will have to be disciplined.  Very, very disciplined.

Because what the candy bar DOES provide you with is the ultimate satisfaction of knowing that you know what you want.  Because knowing what you want and going to get it is true happiness.  And as the rest of the kids spend their pennies on the small treats they don't even really want, you just keep dreaming about that chocolate bar of yours and how great it will taste when you finally get it.  And then, it happens.  The day that you count out your pennies and place all 100 of them down on the counter.  You then say to the store clerk, "That one.  I'd like THAT one please."  

Sacrifice?  Nope.  Don't think so.