Health

Daily Habits: September 2022 (Whoa, I didn’t expect this!)

October 1, 2022

September’s results are in.

It’s officially a SMASH – far better than I could have hoped for!

If you remember, August was a write off. I was on holiday for a big part of it, so I let go of any expectations. I guess I had something to prove to myself in September. Was I going to allow a dip in August to derail me – or was I going to come back strong?

Before we jump in, here’s a quick recap of my goals for September:

Get the habits which I previously considered in the bank (i.e easy to keep at over 80%) back to over 80% – no alcohol, intermittent fasting, caffeine, water and supplements.

See where sleep and paleo fall and then plan my goals for October.

Here’s how September looked:

WHAT A MONTH. Every single habit is over 80% – including sleep which wasn’t even part of my goals! I even hit an average sleep of 7.12 hours, a record for me. September was by far the best month since I started tracking my habits. I reckon even Goggins would be proud!

I don’t really have much to say about each habit – other than I just put my head down and focused on doing really well in September. And it paid off.

I’m AGAIN reminded about the power of physically and visually tracking my daily habits. Almost every day it helped nudge my self awareness and behaviours into a better place. It’s life changing.

So, what for October?

Simple. I want the same.

I need to prove to myself September wasn’t a lucky month. Ideally I need three months of being in the green for those six habits (alcohol, sleep, fasting, caffeine, water and supplements) to feel like I have them NAILED. At the rate I’m going, there’s a decent chance I can achieve that this year. Only after I’ve achieved that, will I consider adding in anything new.

Let’s address the elephant in the room – my diet. I’m desperate to tackle it. Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how I want to eat and I’m starting to change my view a bit. Paleo is too strict for me to be consistent or happy with. I’m realising that having it as a goal is actually causing some unhealthy eating habits. I’ll write about this soon.

What I’m likely to do is follow CrossFit’s nutrition recommendation:

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar.

I definitely want to avoid ultra-processed foods. The big change I want to make is incorporate (in moderation) some cheese, milk, greek yoghurt, oats – perhaps even a small amount of potato. So, still very clean, but with a bit more leeway.

The trick is in defining a rule set that I can clearly hold myself accountable to, that fits with my habit tracking. I still have a bit of work to figure that out.

For October, I’m going to officially drop paleo as something I’m tracking. Instead, I’ll track (but importantly have no goals for) against the crossfit recommendation – along with allowing cheese, milk, greek yoghurt, oats and baked potato. It’s still too fuzzy for my liking (what exactly does ‘some fruit’ or ‘little starch’ mean?). But, for now I’ll use my best judgement when it comes to daily tracking. And I’ll decide on a clearer set of rules before November starts.

October, let’s go!

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Why you HAVE to be consuming podcasts and videos

September 28, 2022

I’ve been consuming podcasts and videos more than I’ve been reading for a few years now.

It’s a change I’ve been feeling increasingly uncomfortable about. Reading books has impacted my life in a big way – yet here I am reading significantly less. Podcasts and videos feel like a shallower version of reading – yet I’m consuming them alot (probably 10-15 hours a week).

I’ve come to realise that podcasts and videos can be incredibly powerful though – just in a different way to books.

I find podcasts more tactical. They often inspire me to make immediate changes in my life. This type of immediate change helps me iterate on my behaviours and habits regularly.

I find books are generally more useful for understanding broader themes. These themes tend to shift my thinking at a macro level, but in a much slower way. If an idea or a theme clicks for me in a book, it’s like a seed has been planted. And then over time, this helps to change or inform new beliefs – which then leads to an actual shift in how I live my life.

Here are a few examples of how podcasts and videos have helped me make immediate, tactical changes in my life recently:

The Foot Ability Protocol by Ben Patrick (Kneesovertoesguy)

I’ve been aware of Ben Patrick for a while. I watched his interview with Joe Rogan. Since then, I’ve kept up with him on Instagram and YouTube. I also bought his Knee Ability Zero book. That said, I hadn’t yet incorporated any of his ideas into my training.

His recent video The Foot Ability Protocol got my attention. He shared a very simple routine that includes the foundational exercises he often recommends for good foot and knee health.

This felt like something really easy I could fold into my training once or twice a week, and would be very beneficial to do. And I’ve done exactly that. Eventually. I’m going to buy a drag sled so I can add some extra stimulus for backward walking.

1870 – Max Lugavere – The Joe Rogan Experience

The Max Lugavere interview with Joe Rogan is possibly one of the best well rounded conversations on metabolic health I’ve listened to. It inspired a few immediate changes in my health habits.

Joe and Max talk about the benefits of the sauna and cold exposure and Joe’s sauna and cold routine.

Sauna: 20 mins
Cold plunge: 3 mins
Sauna: 20 mins
Cold plunge: 3 mins

Always starting with the sauna, and ending with cold.

The benefits of hot and cold exposure aren’t new to me. I just haven’t found a way to incorporate it into my life. And then it clicked. My local outdoor swimming pool has a sauna. If I were to use that, I could then use the pool for cold exposure (it’s currently 15 degrees celsius, and gets down to 4 degrees celsius in the winter). It’s a perfect way to get cold and heat exposure.

Four days later, I turned up at the swimming pool at 7.30AM on a Sunday morning. I did the above routine and it felt amazing. It was such a nice way to start the day. I plan to do this at least once a week going forward.

Joe and Max also talked about oral hygiene (benefits of flossing and concerns around fluoride and mouthwash). This caused me to stop using mouthwash and start using a fluoride free toothpaste. I also intend to start flossing each night too.

The conversation around dairy fats is also well timed, as I’m currently re-evaluating my diet. I’m already starting to be more flexible in incorporating some cheese, milk and greek yoghurt into my diet.

Metabolic Flexibility and Longevity by Crossfit Health

I’ve been doing time-restricted fasting for many years. I keep to an 8 hour eating window and a 16 hour fasting window, which I achieve by skipping breakfast. I have my first meal of the day around 13.00 / 14.00 and almost always train before that in a fasted state.

I am very inflexible on this. That’s because once I start eating, my appetite starts to ramp up and I end up feeling the temptation to snack and graze throughout the day (and often do!). By skipping breakfast I am essentially pushing this out. I also love the efficiency of not having to think about food until the afternoon.

However, the panel in the video defines metabolic flexibility as ‘being able to optimally switch from one fuel source (carbs, fat etc.) to another’. Essentially you want your body to be able to cope and be efficient with various states of training and fasting. When you do one thing all the time (i.e skip breakfast and train fasted), your body only gets very good at doing that.

It made me realise that I need a bit more variation if I want my body to be metabolically flexible. I’ve already started to add some variation into my fasting and have done a couple of unfasted training sessions. As I suspected, it didn’t feel great – a sign that I probably have some work to do to be more metabolically flexible.

The above are just three examples of how podcasts and videos have helped me change some of my habits and behaviours for the better.

We literally have access to some of the smartest people on ANY topic you can imagine – and for FREE. If you’re not consuming podcasts and videos regularly, you really are missing out on opportunities to be inspired and better educated – and to become the best version of yourself.

A final tip. You must become a good curator of the podcast and video channels you subscribe to. You have to really care about your information diet and be willing to put in the effort to have it serve you. It’s SO easy for podcast and YouTube feeds to become noisy and overwhelming. I might write up some ideas for how to do that well in a future post.

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Daily Habits: August 2022 (Uh oh, have I lost it?)

September 4, 2022

Let’s get straight to the point – August was a write off.

I expected it to be. I was on holiday for ten days, so I decided beforehand to still track my habits, but let go of any expectations.

Here’s how it looked:

Ouch.

I’ll make a few brief comments on each habit, and then get to my goals for September.

No Alcohol – I’ve been sober for 13 and a half months, so didn’t expect this to drop below 100%.

Sleep 6.5HR – the hot weather we had in the UK, my daughter not sleeping well and late nights on holiday were the main causes for a low 52%.

Paleo – I ate what I wanted on holiday, as well as the period before and after – hence a very low 16%.

Intermittent fasting (16 hour fast, 8 hour eating window) – I ate a very big breakfast every day on holiday, but held my consistency before and after – managing a fairly decent 45%.

Caffeine (max 3 cups, before midday) – same as above, I held my consistency before and after holiday, settling at 61%.

Water: 2 litres – this was a habit I tried to keep up whilst I was on holiday, and I did exactly that – 84%!

Supplements – I held my consistency before and after holiday, and took about 5 days of supplements with me on holiday – managing a good 68%

As I said above, not great – but as expected.

As I look forward to September, I’m reminded of the TWO most important things in building consistency with my habits over the last six months:

1. Visually track progress on a daily basis

2. Focus on one habit at a time

It’s the second one I really need to pay attention to as I build towards all habits being at 80%+ for the end of the year.

With that in mind, I’m going to keep it super simple in September. My goal is to get the habits which I previously considered in the bank (i.e easy to keep at 80%+) back to over 80% – no alcohol, intermittent fasting, caffeine, water and supplements. I’ll see where sleep and paleo fall and then plan my goals for October. Even though I have no goals with them, I am quietly confident they will improve.

Being on holiday has also given me a bit of time to reflect and think about where I want to take my health habits over the longer-term. My goal is to get all of the above habits to 80% by the end of the year. If I am being realistic, even if I get there, it will be coming in hot. So, I’ll need to spend at least the first three months of next year resisting the temptation to add in anything new. I need to prove to myself that these are in the bank and easy to maintain at over 80% – however long it takes.

That said, once I have achieve this, I have a few ideas for other habits to focus on:

Mobility exercises

150g protein per day

Increase sleep to 7 hours

Reduce caffeine to 2 cups per day

Whilst it’s tempting to add these types of habits now (even just to track them), I know it’s the wrong thing to do. It will distract and overwhelm me.

OK, let’s do September 👊

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Daily Habits: July 2022

August 2, 2022

I’ve been tracking my health habits on a daily basis for six months now. It’s been so powerful, I can’t imagine ever not doing it.

Here’s a recap of my goals for July:

Eat paleo – meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts (50% of the time)

Everything else, 80% or over – no alcohol, sleep 6.5 hours, intermittently fast (8 hours eating and 16 hours fasting), maximum of three cups of caffeine before midday, two litres of water and taking my supplements.

And, here are the results:

Overall, I’m really pleased with July. There were quite a few positives and also a few things to focus on improving.

I’ll start with the positives:

Not drinking alcohol is hardly a thing for me now. I had a few social catch ups in July and I found it effortless to not drink. I also hit my one year alcohol free in July.

Caffeine, Water and Supplements are also now firmly established daily habits. I suspect if I dropped the tracking altogether, I would easily continue to maintain 90% + consistency.

Intermittent fasting under new stricter rules (only water and black coffee in my 16 hour fasting period) reached over 80% consistency for the first time. And, it felt easy. When I missed, I made a conscious decision on that day not to fast – it was never the result of me losing concentration or failing due to willpower. I’m confident I can easily maintain 80% + consistency going forward.

Now, for the areas to improve:

Paleo came in at 45% consistency – a little shy of my 50%+ goal. That said, there are a few positives to take from that. Firstly, it was pretty close. Secondly, I proved that last month’s 47% wasn’t a fluke. Thirdly, I found a better consistency on weekdays, where I was able to eat paleo for three or four days back to back. And lastly, I managed to eat paleo on a Friday one time! So, even though I fell short of my 50%+ goal, there’s a lot of progress that gives me the confidence I can get into over 50% territory soon.

Sleeping 6.5+ hours dropped to 68% consistency – my lowest score since March. This was disappointing, and I need to tighten this up. That said, July had some unusual challenges. It was HOT in the UK and this made it much harder to sleep. I also had a few things going on with my daughter and dog that disrupted my sleep. So, I feel I can tighten up (earlier nights, better night time routine and waking a bit later) over the next few months and soon get to a solid 80%+ consistency.

So, overall, I think I’m in a really strong place. And, I need to keep reminding myself that where I am now compared to 6 months ago is night and day.

That brings me to August and also thinking about where I want to be by the end of the year.

Let’s start with where I want to be by the end of the year. That’s an easy one. I want to be 80% + consistent on all of the above habits I am tracking. To do that, I have to maintain the five habits already at 80% consistency – no alcohol, intermittently fast, caffeine, water and taking my supplements. I don’t think that will be challenging. And then I have to get my sleep and paleo to 80% +. That will be much more challenging and will likely take the rest of the year five months) to achieve.

Now onto my goals for August. That’s a tricky one. I have a 10 day holiday in August where it wouldn’t be enjoyable or sensible to try and achieve the same level of consistency with my habits. So, I’ve decided to take August off. I will still track my habits, but will let go of any expectations. The main things I will push to keep at a decent level are sleep and water. There’s a good chance I can keep these at 80%+, but let’s see. Everything else is bound to drop significantly. And then in September, we start again!

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No Alcohol: One Year

July 16, 2022

I was on the phone to a medical specialist earlier in the week. They asked me if I smoked or drank alcohol and I said ‘no’. It felt good to give that answer with no hesitation.

I wrote about my journey after 60, 90 and 250 days. And honestly, I don’t really have too much different to say compared to 250 days.

I feel great. Not a hangover in sight. Better weekends. I have more confidence. I have less anxiety – especially at the start of the week. I’ve had a complete transformation with my health habits (see below). I weigh less and am more at ease with my physique. I’m confident that I’m healthier (we’ll find out when I take a new set of bloods in August). Also, I do not miss the mental gymnastics that come along with trying to manage my alcohol limits – which I always eventually broke.

Perhaps the best way I can describe it, is that it feels as if a weight has been lifted.

So, where do I go from here?

I suspect I’m going to be alcohol free forever. There’s too much to risk by trying to get to a place where I can have a couple of drinks on a special occasion, a few times a year. That said, I’ll keep an open mind. I prefer to be self aware of the benefits and risks – and from there, continue to make whatever the right decision for me is.

By the way, this is where my habits are for July so far:

I’m on track for a record month. I KNOW this would not be possible if I was drinking. It’s this and less anxiety that are my biggest reasons for staying sober right now.

If you’re thinking about giving up alcohol, I’d be more than happy to chat and share what’s been useful for me.

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Warming up – the single biggest thing to reduce injuries and get results

June 1, 2022

I used to view warming up as a boring obstacle before my workout could begin. I’ve had to entirely change my thinking around this in the last few years.

I’ve come to realise that an effective warm up is the single biggest thing I can do to reduce the risk of injury. I’ll go even further than that. Remember, being consistent is probably the biggest factor in getting results. Injuries cause inconsistency. So therefore, an effective warm up is in fact the single biggest thing I can do to get results.

As with most learning and growth, it takes time and several iterations for things to click into place. This has definitely been the case for me. My thinking has shifted over a number of phases in the last few years.

It started with seeing it as unnecessary and not warming up at all. Why take effort away from the workout? I then had some personal training in my thirties which exposed me to better warm ups – but I still loathed doing them and didn’t understand the value.

I then found Crossfit, where warm ups were built into the session. I did them, but I had a ‘go through the motions’ type of attitude towards them. Just give me the handstand push ups already!

When I left Crossfit, I started working with a personal trainer (Jamie). He helped me get clear on my goals and the best way of achieving them. He now creates all of my sessions and programming. Working with Jamie has helped educate me on why warming up was so important and how to structure it. This was the biggest singular shift in thinking for me. I understood things better. I started to be much more consistent and intentional with my warm ups. I started to even like doing them – well, sometimes. That said, I still didn’t quite make the connection between just how important it was for reducing the risk of injury – and therefore my results.

And then I got injured at the beginning of this year. Leading up to that, I had my best 6 months of training ever, with great results. It’s taken me the best part of five months to get back to a place where I can train consistently again. This has given me a lot of time to reflect on why I got injured and how I can reduce the risk of it happening again. That’s when things started to REALLY click. Warming up was a significant factor in all of this.

And that brings me to today. My warm ups are long and well designed. I approach them with a lot of intention. I never rush or skip them. I like doing them – almost always. I don’t see them as something I do before the workout. They are part of the workout.

That’s a million miles from where I started. I’ve had to have a fundamental shift in mindset.

One thing that’s been helpful is to approach it with an ‘athlete mindset’. It sounds weird, but I literally imagine I’m an athlete. Now, on one hand that’s ludicrous – because I am very far from an athlete. But, when I think about it like that, I’m able to approach it with the respect it deserves. If I want my body to perform as well as it can, for as long as it can – I have to triple down on doing the work that will help me do that.

Let’s get even more specific and practical. Below is how my warm ups are structured and how they fit into the session.

They begin very general, and then finish being very specific. They mostly fit the following structure:

1. Gentle movement – this starts the process of getting warm, getting the heart rate up, and getting the blood moving [VERY GENERAL]

2. Foam rolling – this helps loosen tight soft tissue and further improve blood flow, with an emphasis on the movements that will follow [GENERAL / STARTING TO GET SPECIFIC]

3. Dynamic warm up – prepare my body for the session with dynamic movements that are related to the movements I will be doing under load. Here, I want to lengthen my range of motion and push my heart rate and breathing up nicely. [SPECIFIC]

4. Specific movements – practising the specific movements I’ll be doing in the workout. I’ll do this before each working set at a reduced load / rep range [VERY SPECIFIC]

And here’s how that looked exactly for one of my workouts earlier in the week:

Walk – 20 mins [VERY GENERAL]

Foam rolling – Calves, hamstrings, IT bands & lower back. A bit of hip stretching [GENERAL / STARTING TO GET SPECIFIC]

Air bike: 5 mins at moderate pace (to get moving again after the foam rolling) [GENERAL / STARTING TO GET SPECIFIC]

3 sets of: [SPECIFIC]

– 10 Touch floor, then reach overhead

– 10 banded pull aparts

– 10 Scap push ups

– 10 glute bridges

– 10 PVC/banded passovers

Landmine rows (couple of sets with just the olympic bar and half reps of workout sets)

After the above I was very warm. My heart rate was elevated, and my body felt nicely primed for the main workout (a mix of air bike, landmine rows and shoulder taps).

Now, I want to be clear, the above warm up lasted 45 mins. That’s excessive. To give some perspective, my actual workout was only 15 mins, followed by a 15 min cool down. But, right now, that’s appropriate for where I am in the journey of coming back from my injury.

Going forward, I expect my warm up will account for roughly a third of my session. So, I might expect to spend 30 mins warming up, 45 mins on the main workout, and 15 mins cooling down.

As you can tell, it’s been quite a process to arrive at where I am today with my warm ups. I’m super glad I arrived here though. I really understand why I’m warming up and how to do it right. And that’s helped me actually want to do it and be consistent with it.

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Daily Habits: April 2022

May 3, 2022

Tracking my daily habits has been a game changer. And I don’t use that phrase lightly. In just three months, I’ve built a handful of habits up to 80% consistency.

In fact, my focus for April was to nudge those handful of habits to 80% consistency. Here’s how I did:

I’m really pleased for a few reasons. Even though I fell just short of 80% for sleep (I missed it by one day) – I’ve shown that last month’s improvement was not a fluke. I also had a curve ball in the form of a camping trip that pulled my numbers down. I was more on the ball over the weekends too.

As with March, I wasn’t counting ‘Be active’ because I’ve only been walking and doing rehab for my back injury. I’m starting to ease back into training now, so I’ll start counting that in May.

So, the big question – what’s my focus for May?

I’ve been trying to decide if I should give myself another month to let the handful of habits really settle at 80% before tackling something new. That would probably be the sensible thing to do. But, I’m also itching to tackle my nutrition. After some thought, that’s what I’m going to do. It’s long overdue.

I would usually focus on only one thing at a time. However, there are two things that are very closely linked, which it makes sense to tackle together.

The first is eating paleo. This is going to be challenging for me. I have a bad relationship with food and tend to over-indulge in foods that are bad for me. I don’t know why I do it. I’ve tried to explore this with therapy and reading – but I haven’t been able to figure it out yet. I’m hoping that by making nutrition a focus within the framework of my daily tracking, I can make a breakthrough.

The second is intermittent fasting (8 hours eating, 16 hours fasting). But, wait – I’ve been telling you my intermittent fasting is already at over 80%? It is! Well, kinda. I drink cups of tea (and quite a few) in my 16 hours fasting window – so technically it’s not fasting because I consume milk.

The reason these are linked is because milk isn’t paleo (it’s dairy). So if I’m going to focus on eating paleo more often, I should also take the opportunity to tighten up my intermittent fasting.

So, my goals for May are:

eat paleo – meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts (50% of the time).

Intermittently fast (8 hours eating and 16 hours fasting) under new stricter rules (50% of the time).

I’ll now only consume water or black coffee in the fasting window.

If I can achieve 50% consistency for eating paleo and strict fasting, that would be massive for me. I can then see a path to nudging both of those to 80% over the next few months.

Of course, I’ll continue to maintain my 80% levels for sleep, drinking two litres of water, a maximum of three cups of caffeine before midday and taking my supplements.

A big ambitious month ahead. I’m ready for it. 👊

P.S If you are interested in my progress for February and March, you can find them here – Feb, March.

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Coming back stronger than ever

March 26, 2022

I’ve been working with Jamie (personal trainer) for the last year. One of the things he’s helped me with is to address the root causes of previous back injuries. It was going great. I had been training 4-5 times a week for about a year – getting stronger and fitter without any back issues.

Towards the end of last year we decided (Jamie might disagree with the we part 😉 ) to introduce some higher risk movements back into the program to see how I coped with them. Cleans and some CrossFit type movements – essentially hinge movements under load.

It was too much. My back felt tight after the sessions, which eventually led to a lower back twinge. We spent a few weeks reducing the intensity to let it rest. When it felt better (no pain, but I still felt very stiff), I tried to do a normal session with reduced intensity. I stupidly chose a weight that was too heavy and it twinged again. I then spent the next three weeks training at reduced intensity. It helped to not make it worse, but I still had a handful of twinges every day. So, we switched to only walking and VERY light rehab exercises. I’ve also been seeing an osteopath for the last few weeks.

I’m finally at a point where I haven’t had a twinge in a handful of days. I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

The last three months have HUMBLED me. I have a good mentality around training and one of the best personal trainers I could hope for. But, I’ve realised there is still a long way for me to go. I’ve been able to think a lot about why I got injured and how I can help reduce the risk of lower back injuries in the future.

Here are my insights:

My warm ups are longer and better than they have ever been. But, I need to take them to the NEXT level – both at the beginning of the session and before specific movements. It’s insane how much better my range of motion is after a good warm up. This might be the biggest thing I can do to reduce the risk of back injuries in the future.

I need to fully commit to cool downs. If I’m in a rush, I skip them. I almost think about them as optional. No longer. It’s the best time to get static stretching in.

I need to lose my fixation for high risk movements. Sure, I would love to be able to do the Olympic lifts and other CrossFit stuff – but they will always be high risk for me. Being able to train consistently and get incrementally fitter and healthier is more important. Perhaps I will get there some day – but I’m content to say goodbye to them if that’s what it takes.

My training split used to be a mix of upper body, conditioning, lower body and CrossFit stuff. Before I got injured we decided to change it to upper body, conditioning, midline / rehab and something fun and safe. I can see now that this is EXACTLY what I need. In fact, I’m now more than ever willing to shut my mouth and do what Jamie tells me to do.

Being too ambitious with weight choice is still a problem for me. Every time I have to make a decision, I need to remember to err on the side of caution. It’s always better to move a bit faster and better with a lighter weight – than a heavier weight and get injured.

If I injure my lower back again, I need to immediately stick to walking for a while. I need to see a couple of weeks of no twinges and most stiffness gone before I try and get back into training. Trying to train through it – even at a reduced intensity, only prolongs recovery.

There is more I can be doing to help improve my mobility outside of my training sessions. Foam rolling, stretching, rehab, massage ball etc. I have plenty of time on evenings and weekends to get 20 mins in. There’s no excuse.

I’ve also had some time to think about other sports and activities I’d like to do outside of my training sessions. Things that will be fun, safe and help me move better. Yoga, rucking, swimming, paddle boarding and tennis are on my radar. I’m not going to set any big expectations – or try to do them all at once. I’ll pick one to focus on and explore the others whenever it feels right.

I’m going to start with swimming. I’ve already booked myself into some swimming lessons for when my back is completely healed. I want to improve my front crawl technique so I can get some morning swimming sessions in. I have a lovely outdoor pool a few miles for me that can help double up as some cold exposure!

So, even though being injured for so long sucks, I’m confident I will come back stronger than ever.

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No alcohol: 250 days

March 24, 2022

Giving up alcohol for 60 days felt like a massive milestone for me. But now it’s just the first step in my 250 day journey of being alcohol free.

At the 60 day mark I still had some desire for a glass of wine at weekends or at social events. Whilst I felt confident that I wouldn’t slip up and have a drink – there was always a risk. When people noticed I wasn’t drinking, I told them that I was taking a break from drinking.

Now, the desire has gone and I tell people I don’t drink. There’s no chance I’ll slip up.

Life remains much better without it. I’m more consistent with health habits. I have less anxiety and feel more upbeat. It’s easier to maintain an ideal weight.

I find myself at a crossroad. I’ve been careful to never commit to giving up alcohol forever. The real goal was to change my relationship with it – which I have. I have proved to myself I can take it or leave it and go long periods without it. I know for sure life is a lot better when I do that.

The question now is – can I integrate it back into my life on my terms? Do I even want to?

I think I do. My ideal scenario would be having a couple glasses of very nice wine 3 or 4 times a year – at special occasions. I want to be conscious about what those special occasions are. I would like to drink slowly and really appreciate it. And then after – effortlessly – not drink again for several months.

My only worry is that every rule I’ve ever tried to put in place for alcohol has failed. It’s a 100% failure rate. That’s not good. Will a couple of glasses turn into three or four? Will I feel the desire to drink again on weekends? Will I be able to give it up again if I do fall into that pattern?

OK, let’s get more positive. I’ve also never given up alcohol for 250 days and had the relationship with it that I do now. I have a whole new perspective. So, I think the chances of the above happening are unlikely. And if they do happen, I’m confident I can return to being sober forever.

I’m on the fence. So, for now I will continue on my path of not drinking. Perhaps the right occasion will present itself for an experiment. Or perhaps I will never feel like running the experiment.

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Mental health and physical exercise

December 13, 2021

Tyson Fury is very open about his struggle with mental health. I stumbled across this short video of him talking about what he has found helpful and it’s super inspiring.

What I found interesting is how much emphasis he puts on physical exercise. He consistently comes back to it as being the foundation for feeling good.

Here’s a few quotes:

If I don’t train for two days, I feel totally depressed. You need to stimulate the mind. And I think training is the perfect way to do it. Working out, exercising. Whether you can do a lot or a little – you must do something.

I’m very very sure that working out and having a routine in your life is the answer for mental health problems.

When I don’t go to the gym, I feel terrible. But, when I train on a daily basis, I feel great. Now, I know if I train on a daily basis for the rest of my life, then I don’t think I’m going to suffer with health problems again.

This matches my own experiences. If I push myself hard for an hour or so, I feel great afterwards (even if I felt anxious or unhappy before). I think it’s part physiology and just feeling really good with yourself for working through the discomfort. That feeling lasts for at least a few hours, and often the rest of the day.

If you can get for or five sessions like this done a week, and then some type of active recovery on the other days (walking, biking etc.) – it makes such a difference. I know it does for me.

The video covers a bunch of other advice around mental health, so it’s well worth a watch.

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