We know what is right, but we behave differently.
Over the holidays I put myself on the Information Diet. I don't look at social networks, I read a book and work in the garden. I run every day and practice strength training every other day in my dad's warehouse. I do it all purely statistically. I like statistics. An hour of running should extend my life by two hours. Strength training should reduce the risk of losing muscle mass from running. Analyzing movies and music broadens my horizons. Statistically, sitting down with a book helps me relax while investing time in expanding my horizons. Statistically, working in the garden should help me clear my mind while also being a kind of creation. I also consider it a kind of prevention... Prevention is one of the most difficult activities for a person to do, in my opinion. Prevention and discipline. Discipline people don't like, but, when they start practicing it, they start taking pride in themselves and they start loving it.
In January I weighed 101.7kg. I couldn't put on my concert jacket. Regularly without exercise I gain weight very quickly. In 2022, I lost weight from 107kg to 89.9kg. I knew I had to change my eating habits and start exercising again. I need to start with hard discipline. I can't say to myself "don't want to do it yourself" or "I'll start next month".
"I have to start now!" As I mentioned, in January 2024 I weighed 101.7kg. I started eating less, I radically cut down on beer drinking, and I committed to running at the end of February. Today I weigh 93.6kg and have run over 170km. It feels really great. I have a huge feeling of happiness after running. The euphoria is really worth it. I remember the occasional hungover mornings. The procrastination of responsibilities and the remorse over unnecessary conflicts at the pub table. That period is long gone. I'm proud of it. I occasionally go boxing with my friend David Lutheran. Boxing is a really complicated sport and requires very good fitness and technique. Until I tried it, I thought the fighter was naturally in me and if the situation came up I would capitalize on all the techniques I saw in the movies. But the opposite was true... Adrenaline slowed my judgement, I stopped breathing and closed my eyes. David could do whatever he wanted with me in the corner... That's how it is with everything in life. Real experience is very important. Whether it's my professional life or my private life. I needed a variety of experiences, whether in relationships with people, musicians, musical styles or in raising children.
I have understood that the best way to start is with what I don't want, and I can achieve that through prevention and discipline...
I don't want to be 107 kilos, I don't want to be "just" a Slovak musician, I want my children to really like me and I want them to have as few complexes as possible. All this is achievable just by prevention and discipline.
If I want to be an international artist, I have to know an international language. I have to have a musical language that is something special. I cannot just copy others and their success. I have to learn music theory and I have to know recording programs. I have to travel and I have to be like a sponge. I have to listen and listen and listen and learn from the better ones. I have to work on my technique. I wanted to make music for movies. I had to start with short student films first. To analyze film music in relation to the image, but also the music itself... To philosophize about art itself and its very meaning... To read books about music. I have to try to understand what it is all for. It's my profession, after all.
I have to talk to children as friends. Hold them up in times of trouble and set an example. It's very difficult. It's much easier to start shouting from authority, giving prohibitions, orders and pounding on the table. I have to tolerate their feelings and personality. They are very fragile...
It's easier to have a pizza and 5 beers in the evening and cry about your weight, your music career that didn't work out because of someone else. It's easier to look for shortcuts behind someone else's success. But we all know this. We all know very well what we should do, or what the other should rightly do. We just don't do it.
We know very well that hatred is evil. We know that we alone are responsible for the direction of our lives. If we feel that we are not, we should think hard. We know well that running is healthy (or sport as such). We know well that gossip has never done any good, and we have often been ashamed of it or even lost friends... We know well that in the end, good will triumph over evil. We know that it is wrong to hate, and it says more about ourselves than it does about who we hate...
But it is easier to feel like a victim. One loses responsibility for one's actions...
We should stop being controlled by negative emotions and start behaving more rationally. We should realise that we know too little to shout loudly that we are right. We should preemptively start cultivating and educating ourselves. This will help us to recognise liars, populists, fear-mongers and thieves. Let's stop shouting ME, ME and only ME ( even behind the WE, there is often a ME). Let's stop hating. Let's try to put ourselves in each other's shoes... Let's keep asking and checking. Let's not be afraid to be alone. Let's not settle for easy answers. Let's keep looking and searching. Let's try to understand things in context. Let's write our feelings and thoughts down on paper. Let's observe how it affects our lives. This will help build empathy for each other. For only in this way can our society develop and only in this way can we solve big problems. All the good things that humanity has achieved have happened because of connecting and working together. Let us ask ourselves in crisis situations what type of behaviour makes sense for us in the long run. Not only for us, but also for our loved ones, our surroundings and our relationships... Let us listen and look with understanding.
Let's put down the bottle of alcohol, start building our lives and we'll all be fine here.
Let us do what is right.
D.
#davidkollar #slovakia #letsdowhatisright