Making changes for the simpler

I'm back home in Belgium where after having done some traveling I WILL BE staying put until the Belgian Poker Challenge comes around on the end of November.

Not way back I had the risk to travel to Poland for 6 days. That's where my girlfriend is from, and we had a very fun time. I took a laptop at the trip, even though it was a purposefully nonfunctional laptop -- that may be to say, not one I'LL play on or do much else -- which let me benefit from the trip and never be distracted.

Now I'm home again and focusing all over again on living a healthy lifestyle. Over the summer my brother and that i were discussing a potential prop bet that will involve my stopping smoking, drinking, and losing a specific amount of weight by the top of the year. We ended up not making the bet, but I still stopped smoking (mostly) and started concentrating more on figuring out and improving my fitness.

Matthias de Meulder

Now I've decided also to not drink either, for a while, as a part of that very same idea of improving my health and overall quality of life. I DO KNOW that after I AM GOING out so much and maybe party a bit an excessive amount of it doesn't have a favorable effect on my decision-making, my productivity, or my life generally. And already I'm beginning to experience some good effects of this decision.

One side effect of living a more fit lifestyle I've noticed is that it's given me more time and effort to concentrate on and pursue various interests, including learning about new things.

When you're younger and in school, you're roughly forced to check various subjects and your mind is continually under siege (to be able to speak) by new knowledge and ideas to stimulate your thinking. But if you get out of college and get slightly older, it's a must to hunt down that sort of education to your own, and i am realizing I HAVE so much that i am involved in and much more energy to explore those things, too.

I've been thinking increasingly about starting a brand new venture -- perhaps some roughly business or a cafe or even even something to do with going back to college -- although I AM NOT quite sure what as yet. It will also have something to do with poker, I DO NOT know. But I definitely am thinking about doing something new that may be worthwhile and fun and life-improving.

A couple of weeks back I DISCOVERED myself roughly full of all these thoughts and that i hopped on Twitter for a short time to share what I USED TO BE thinking.

"Got a goal," I STARTED. "Gonna return to using a pc solely for work, a phone to hook up with friends/family and my free time to live! Need to become more aware again of everything surrounding me. Be good to people.... Too many of us smartphoning their life away, that specialize in money and success, making a universe by which only they matter."

I was on a bit of of a roll, I'll admit. I continued...

"This becomes so consuming it is easy to forget who you might be and what you stand for. The variability of items that used to inspire you, gone. So I challenge you all to get available in the market with me, live life self-aware and take a look at to reassess what you actually need from life and opt for it!"

I had just a little more to say.

"When I GLANCE around I see too many of us unhappy with their lives, who don't pursue their true goals in fear of failure or of losing grip. So... find your true passion, set goals and pursue them. Don't let anyone let you know it's impossible."

Afterwards I USED TO BE a bit of self-conscious about tweeting all of these thoughts out like that. I DID NOT need to be preachy, but I ASSUMED it wouldn't hurt to share a few of these ideas I'd been having.

I think it may possibly never be a nasty thing to take a look at not only to enhance your individual life, but to do what you'll be able to to be a good influence on others besides. It is so easy to get ground down by a life stuffed with repetition and never exploring the chance that things will also be different -- and higher! The full-time poker player -- especially the web player -- knows rather well how routinized (or even lonely) a life can become, and the way hard it may be to damage out of that routine.

I understand how it's sometimes hearing another person go on about improving your life and offering all of those "inspirational" thoughts. Some respond well to that sort of recommendation or input, but individuals who aren't focused on such things might just hear them and think "I AM NOT serious about all that shizzle!"

So don't take this as preaching, but just me reflecting on a few of what I HAVE BEEN occupied with lately relating to improving my very own quality of life. And if any of those thoughts are useful to you as you consider where you might be currently and where you would like to go, I WILL BE glad.

Matthias de Meulder is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

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