All tagged Health
Why I Take Cold Showers
My story goes something like this:
I was a Personal Trainer with a defunct body. I was aesthetically fit; endowed with “abs” from a regimen of eating mediocrely, lifting weights (with bad form), running, and the benefit of youth. But at age 24, the observance of chronic lower-back and shoulder pain necessitated my first application of The Life Method:
Question: Do I have absolutely no idea what it means to be healthy?
Test: Takes a Pilates class
Observation: Gets shown up by 50 year-old women
Feedback: Not happy about the observation—pretends event never happened
Result: Keeps injuring lower-back
How to Fitness Pt. 1
Yet, being healthy is not just something you start doing because you suddenly have loads of free time. It can certainly start that way, but as anyone who has had their motivation to get fit this quarantine sapped by an infatuation with Joe Exotic can attest, hoping and doing are not one in the same.
Are You Having Enough Fun?
This is how character develops as well. Growing up is tough; just ask a pubescent boy. He will probably tell you that learning to navigate girls is a lot like making a right-on-red. This early feedback—when we are learning to drive—is the information we will subsequently use as we traverse through life. If all goes well, the boy will transition into a young man and just as with making a right-on-red, hopefully he has enough practice to no longer shit his pants while conversing with the opposite sex—I’m still a work in progress. The things we perceive when we are developing will determine whether we grow up to be someone who instinctively says “Bless you” when a stranger sneezes, or someone who actively abstains like that weird lady on the subway. Hopefully, these examples show that our brains’ feedback and autopilot system is a double edged sword: allowing us to add complexity to our daily drive but making the disruption of our habits and character nearly impossible.
The Art of Resetting
Life doesn’t usually issue pause and reset buttons, yet that is exactly what this virus has given us. We’re in the midst of a chance to rediscover ourselves, our families and our communities; a chance we squander if we spend this time binging Oreos and Netflix while praying for it all to be over.
Clean Your Room
Life is hard enough without the bullsh**. Status and money are those forces in your nightly dreams that prevent you from turning left, when you are desperately trying to turn right. And, what happens in that dream when you turn left despite your desire and intuition? That’s right, you fall into the abyss––always.
