Triathlon in real life

I spent almost 3 hours watching Stage 2 of the Tour of California on TV yesterday.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with watching professional cycling on TV, many people watch other professional sports on TV, like baseball, football, hockey, basketball, again, nothing inherently wrong there.

But to be honest, I don't have 3 hours to spend watching TV, or at least I SHOULDN'T have 3 hours to spend watching TV. I'm not a professional athlete, despite what my allusions of grandeur are and nice as that would be, but in reality, I'm just a lowly full time grad student who's also looking for a job.

I don't know what I'm going to do in the meantime to fix the situation, but the first step is admitting you have a problem, right?

I don't necessarily blame triathlon directly for my diversion from the work I should be doing, I've become a master of that on my own through a lifetime of practice across a variety of disciplines. Triathlon just happens to be the current flavor, granted it has lasted longer than many of the other flavors and as undoubtedly improved my life at least as much as it's potentially harming my life through distraction.

I mean it's hard to argue with the 30 or so pounds I've lost through both the increased activity as well as the intentional focus on healthy eating for health's sake, my wife sure seems to appreciate THAT change.

Nor can I complain about the people I've met through my training and competitions, triathlon company is certainly better than the company I kept as an unhappy EMS helicopter pilot.

I guess what it comes down to is a realization and definition of actual goals and priorities, being careful not to confuse dreams with attainable goals. Nor should I be negligent as to the danger of sacrificing valuable time to be productive for excessive time to enjoy something that is secondary.

None of this is easy for me