…the real work begins!
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I’m not even sure that I’m doing this right. (“Replying” to my own post in order to construct a journal?)
Regardless, I have some time, and so I figured I’d whip up an introductory post.
So, first things first, I’ve been running Ascension Q for…well, some time now. And boys, I’ve. Seen. Results!
First and foremost, by way of introduction, I’m married (15 years and three kids!) and a combat veteran. I did a lot of stuff after the military, though I only felt-content owning and operating my own, small farm in the Pacific Northwest. Then, in my mid-30’s (and quite out-of-the-blue), I was encouraged to apply for a rather elite graduate program; so, I applied with the firm-assurance that I’d be rejected and, thus, could honorably remain–content–tending to my family and critters and chores. But then, the strangest thing happened… the institution called my bluff and a few months later, I found myself on the other side of the country, diving into a program I was not prepared for. (Without boring you, I study linguistics and history.)
Long story short, grad school is no picnic. But then I found subliminals. Granted, at first it was rather touch-and-go. Were there results with, ahem, other programs? Eh, perhaps? However, then I found this place. After saving my money, I began Ascension Q–well, -ish–during my final academic year of grad school.
Why? Well, to be honest, I was desperate. My grades were sufficient to remain in the program (albeit, barely, and due to sheer stubbornness) but my life outside the high tower of academia? Suffice it to say, I blew up from a stocky 185 lbs., (32in waist) to a round 265 lbs.! The mental and habitual changes which typically accompany such a change were also present.
Yet, not only did I not drop out of school, I’ll most-likely end up magna cum laud–with a number of my professors asking my to step up to the next level in my professional track. In addition, as of the start of my internship (July), I’ve dropped down to 245. And my family life? Things are back on track–and more!
But, I’m still “hungry.” Hungry, and without 80+ hours of school work each week (which, in hindsight, I realize was simply an excuse to be lazy in other areas of my life).
So, over the past couple months I’ve been thinking and planning as I’ve settled into my new duties. Which I’m excelling-in, by the way.
However, of particular note, I’ve now got a wife who’s also interested in ascending (albeit, in a different way) alongside me. (My dream of having my own “Shield Maiden,” if you will, just may come true!)
I’ve not settled-finally on what to stack Ascension-with for myself–although, as of this post, I’m leaning toward Emperor Fitness and/or Primal. As for what my Mrs is wanting…well, you’ll just have to wait for the next update.
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Hey Welcome!
Can you elaborate on some of your experiences with Ascension?
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Welcome to the forum, @DocWhatshisface. Can already see that you will be an excellent example to the folks here (including being a source of inspiration to me).
The dedication to stick to Ascension Q and taking action served you well. So I congratulate you on taking action and reaping the subliminal-multiplied rewards.
In terms of what happens after ascending to your throne, I do recommend you looking at Emperor for what next is a King going to ascend to but to be the King of Kings?
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That’s a good question! I suppose I should have answered that one right from the get-go.
As far as specifics, I must confess that I’ll have to be working from memory. Unfortunately, if you recall I had said, “…I began Ascension Q–well, -ish…” The reason for this is that it’s really only been since June that I truly began to use it properly.
Nevertheless, the many months prior to that still yielded quite a few results. In particular, a major shift in my perspective–from which everything else has followed. Now, there’s an entire back-story to everything but I will spare you. Suffice to say, there’s a reason I fled to work on my own little farm, and despite being physically less-capable of the work each year due to chronic pain issues, I nonetheless pressed on. Yet, there was almost a decade of things I simply buried.
Then grad school started.
To be frank, I spent the first 2 years of the academic portion of my grad program struggling-mightily (heh, like the vast majority of students). I was always behind, always rushing, always buried. I “didn’t have time” to eat even reasonably-sensibly, let alone exercise; my motivation plunged while my apathy grew. In short, I was rapidly becoming a cliché academic: soft and lazy while arrogant.
However, over time, I began to see, first, that this was not what I wanted–at all. Not only was it affecting me but it was affecting my wife and kids. I started to take alarmed-notice of all the dysfunction around me and in myself.
Second, I slowly realized that Aristotle’s old maxim, “through discipline comes freedom” is not simply helpful–as a sort of pithy motivational phrase–but rather it’s true. In fact, this is so much so that every little disciplined change I made created more and more personal freedom. And this, not simply in regards to time but especially mentally. I began to see that the “chains” I bemoaned were actually of my own forging. Why “didn’t I have time” to play catch with my son, for example? Because I’d pissed-away that time dinking-about rather than working. Or, why was I always so exhausted? Because I’d refused to create and maintain a reasonable sleep schedule–ad nauseum.
I felt trapped by fate to be yet another AcAdEmIc, an idiot-savant capable of recalling and synthesizing dozens of points of data on the fly while being incapable of doing more than merely existing.
Thus, I set about to break those chains, if even one link at a time.
Put another way, I began to climb–at times tooth-and-nail–from the pit I’d spent so many years digging myself-into. And here I am now. Out of the pit, yes! However, now I’m looking around like the doulos of Plato’s cave, blinking against the sun and seeing, as if for the first time, that there’s an entire world out there waiting for me.
But just as I was about to march forward, I heard a little voice from behind, entreating me to help her climb from her own pit and take her with me on this journey.
So…here I am.
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This was a great read. I’m looking forward to what you share in your journal 
And that is what you meant by…
Wow!
Excellent! It only gets better from here on.
Good luck.
I will be following your journal.
What happens AFTER a King ascends his throne?
He gets the Queen and makes babies. 
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Precisely! I’ve learned that it’s not enough to simply “ascend.” Rather, the real key is to continue doing so; to recognize that improvement can always be made and so to work toward it–a la “the obstacle is the way.”
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Hey y’all! Sorry for taking so long to follow up. I do want to keep up on this journal, although life happens. So, it’s been both good and bad since the last update. In particular, I’m rather certain that I’m dealing with a lot of resistance after adding emperor fitness to my listening. So much so, in fact, that I’ve been struggling even to consistently listen (which is also the key to overcoming it). So while it’s been frustrating to experience regression, I also understand that this too shall pass if I keep after it.
Now, for the good I’ve also noticed a real desire to improve my physical fitness. Nothing fancy, but I have begun swimming at the Y. For myself, this is a pretty noticeable improvement, so it’s encouraging.
I gotta get running but I thought a brief update is better than none.
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