Welcome to the beginning of something new.

And I don’t just mean the blog.  Yes, this is the inaugural post of my new blogging adventure, but I hope it’s the start of something better than that.  Something bigger that will you come back to and take this ride with me because, frankly, I think we can help each other.  But more on that in a minute.

First, let me lay it all out on the line.

What is ChrisReimagined.com?

In November, something happened to me.  I started to have some health issues.  Without really getting into a lot of deatils, some bad things started to happen that were fairly good indications that I might have cancer at 31 years of age.  The indications were persistent, painful, and after talking with the doctor, getting poked, prodded, injected with dye, and scanned in a nice whirling tube, the results were… kidney stones.

Better Than Cancer

In other words, I’m going to live.  However, for a couple of weeks I had to come face-to-face with the idea that I might not or if I did live, it would only be after rounds of chemo or surgery.  Unbidden, I started to wonder what it would be like if my son might have to live without his father.  I also started to think about how I might never see him graduate, get married, hold my grandchild, etc.

In just about every way, having stones was better than cancer in terms of the chance of fatality, the severity of the process to get rid of them (my stone was bad enought that it did require surgery, incidentally, since I never do things half way), and the fact that while cancer has a lot of environmental sources beyond my control, kidney stones are something I pretty much caused myself due to awful dietary practices.

So, there I was.  Relieved that it hadn’t been cancer, but pretty upset for not taking better care of myself. 

The Snowball Effect

Because let’s face it.  I’ve been failing on the whole “body is a temple” thing.  If you’ve seen pictures of me, you may notice that I’m more than a little overweight.  While I know how to cook healthy, I have chosen not to.  I have a gym membership that I don’t use and every day I wake up, I can pretty much say I’m in the worst shape I’ve been in.

And if I was all concerned about my son living without his father because of cancer, should I give myself a pass and ignore what all of that weight is doing to my joints, my heart, my brain, and my liver?  And frankly, if I am that worried about my time on this earth running out, what am I happy with what I am doing with my life?  Should I wait to be a better employee, food writer, friend, father, podcaster, marketing, author, etc.?  I’ve got goals, but am I doing anything to achieve them?

The Answer is “No”

No, I can’t ignore my weight.  No, I am not happy with a lot of things in my life.  In fact, I’m kind of lazy.  I’m kind of a slob.  I don’t care about my appareance and I fear that I’m a bit of an egotistical jerk.

What to Do About It?

Well, that’s where this site comes in.

See, I’m a big Battlestar Galactica fan, both the first and second series.  While the original was good and I enjoyed it on its own merits, the Sci Fi channel came along and remade it into a wholly separate show.  The names stayed the same (mostly), but the structure changed.  It was deeper, more dramatic, more thoughtful, better.

It was a reimagining.  And that is what I am going to do.  Reimagine myself.  And that’s where you come in.

I am going to make a promise to myself and everyone who reads this blog that in the next year, from January 2nd, 2010 to January 2nd, 2011 I am going to make a concerted effort to improve myself in six key areas:

1. Physically
2. Stylistically
3. Spiritually
4. Financially
5. Environmentally
6. Professionally

How I plan to address each challenge will be laid out in the following blog posts as will progress reports on both my successes and failures.  But the important thing is that I have made this promise to myself, my family, and each person who reads this blog post.  More importantly, I want your help keeping it.  All I need you to do is come back and read.

If I know someone is reading, then I know I have someone to whom I must keep my promise because it’s a sure thing I’ll break a promise to myself.  I might even break it to my family, but I’ve made promises to the world before via my blog and I kept them.  I want to keep this one, too.

How I Can Help You

If you’ve found this post, then you’re either a friend or you found it because maybe you’re going through the same problems I am.  Maybe you’re not happy with how you look or how you treat others.  If so, it’s okay.  When you decide that you want to change, these posts will be here.  I can’t promise that I have all the answers.  In fact, I know I don’t.  That’s why I brought in a team of experts. 

If you click on the My Support link above you’ll see all of the people who I had to help from.  This team includes my nutrionist Darya, style consultants Charissa and Anna, and accountability execs Kelly and Blogomomma.  See, I know that it takes a village to raise a child.  I think it also takes a village to reimagine a man.  In all honestly, I do not believe I can do this without them.

Maybe you’re happy with that way you are, that’s great.  Then this will be awfully one-sided.  I need your help, but you don’t need mine.

On the other hand, maybe there is a change you want to make.  Maybe it’s one of the six I listed or maybe you want to go back to college, maybe you are having trouble with a relationship, or something else.  If so, know that you don’t have to make the change alone.  There’s no shame in asking for help when it comes to something as monumental as changing yourself, even if it’s just one thing.

You’re not alone.  In these posts, I hope you find inspiration and I you avoid the mistakes I know I am going to make.  Also know you can contact me and we can figure out how to make your change together.

Sound good?

If so, read on.  I’ll start talking about each change and I foresee making it.