When the dates are set for yamabushi training, the dates are set. You’re going to be doing training on those dates. I’ve been through both typhoons and days with zero clouds in the sky on Gassan. We have no real way of predicting what side of Gassan we’ll see before we enter training.

But it really doesn’t matter.

When you resolve to start a new habit, or change a few things, you have to resolve to do it no matter what is thrown at you. It’s no good choosing the days you go out for a run, because those days may become fewer and far between when winter rolls around. Likewise, you need to have some sort of plan for what to do if you get invited to a BBQ on a day that isn’t your cheat day.

It’s never easy. If it were easy, you wouldn’t have resolved to do it in the first place. But if you put it in your mind that you will do it no matter what is thrown at you, when things inevitably are thrown at you, it’s much easier to persevere, and get through.