A long time ago I used to go to college. This was the late 90’s early 2000’s. Because the university I went to was in a city 150 miles from where I graduated I opted to live in student housing. I also worked for the university in a few different positions, including the front desk of the hall I lived in.
One of the better parts of the job was getting to greet almost all the residents. I say almost all because there were those dedicated few who just didn’t want to socialize and would go so far as to ignore people who talked to them. I respected their right to solitude and quickly learned the few and would only look up to see if they were walking by or up to the desk. If they were clearly walking by I’d look back at what I was doing, usually studying, and leave them be.
And then there was the other end of the spectrum. The super sociable who loved to be greeted back home each time they walked in the door. My favorite being a guy named John. He’d say the same thing every time you greeted him with a “how are you doing today?”
“Peachy keen as always,” was the response every time. Sunny day, “peachy keen as always.” Rainy day, same thing. At the beginning of the fall semester when it was still nice and warm outside he was “peachy keen as always.” Then at the end of the semester when it was freezing cold and dark most of the day, same response. There just wasn’t a time this guy wasn’t “peachy keen as always.”
We used to wonder if there was something wrong with him. How could you be happy all the time? It’s not natural, right? I mean there had to be some events going on in this guy’s life that were not good. Tragedy, in some form, befalls everyone. How could he truly be “peachy keen as always?”
I get now what he got then. He was always that way because he chose to be. He decided that no matter what came his way he’d take it with a smile on his face. Even the bad stuff.
We all have that choice. We can’t decide what will or won’t happen to us, but we can decide how we’ll react. Whether events rule us or we rule them. When we decide to rule them our life truly can be grateful at all times, if that’s what we want.
It took me a while but I learned his lesson. So the other day when I went to Starbucks in Athens, Alabama the barista asked me how I was doing. And with great pleasure I responded, “peachy keen as always.” I hope you come to feel that way too. Have a great day. Peace.
This week’s vlog is up on YouTube. It’s about what’s important to you. We are often told what is and isn’t important in life from the perspective of others or society. None of that is important. You have to decide what is and isn’t important to you and prioritize what is. Leave a comment letting me know if you agree or disagree. Leave a like if you enjoyed the video. Subscribe and click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video to YouTube. I hope you’re having a great day. See you soon. Peace.
Here is this week’s weigh in. Gained a smidge this week. I know why, and I’m ok with the why. I explain in the video. Also an employment update. Check it out. Like the video if enjoy it. Leave a comment here or there letting me know what you think or how I can be better. Subscribe and click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I post a video to YouTube. Have a great week. Peace
Having a rainy day is ok if you can see the silver lining. Take today for example, was a literally rainy day. I had decided earlier in the day that I would do a jump rope workout today. I was getting ready to do it when I heard the sound of pitter patter on the roof. It was raining outside. It would have been easy to decide to do an easier indoor workout. In fact I had contemplated the idea. And then I realized it’s just a little rain. I had decided to do a jump rope workout for a reason. It burns more calories and strengthens the body due to the impact from jumping.
The downside of not working out with the jump rope was fewer calories burned and less progress in my fitness program. The downside of doing the jump rope workout was I’d get wet. Getting wet seemed the lesser evil so I grabbed the rope and went outside. It was a better workout than I had imagined. That was the silver lining.
For one, going out in the rain to work out showed willpower. And willpower is a muscle all its own. The more you work it out the stronger it gets. And with it the positive mindset and happiness of knowing you did the right thing.
Second, I had to learn to adapt with the jump rope. The rope I use outside is a leather jump rope. And the thing I learned today using the rope in the rain is that the leather jump rope absorbs water really well. And that throws off the timing because the rope got heavier as the workout moved forward. It was fun having to mindfully adjust to the changes as the rope got heavier.
Next, along with the rain was the wind. That throws the motion of the rope off a bit, too. Unlike the rain which slowly made the rope consistently heavier the wind picks up and recedes so the effect was erratic. Again, it taught me to be more mindful of how the rope was swinging and how I was controlling it. Bonus.
And finally, the rope wasn’t the only thing getting heavier. I was. As the rain soaked my clothes I was getting a little heavier. Not a lot mind you. It wasn’t like the rain added 20 pounds or anything. But as the workout went on and I was naturally getting more tired it did make it a little more taxing then if I had jump roped on a dry day. So it took the workout up a notch.
So there you have it. A rainy day didn’t have to be a bad day. In fact it was a great day because it made me a little stronger and a little better. The silver lining in the rain cloud. Hope you had a great day, rain or shine. See you soon. Peace.
There used to be a show on I loved to watch called American Gladiators. The show had many events all of which were designed to pit weekend warriors against the professional gladiators. The idea was simple, compete in an event against the gladiator doing the best you can and if you did well enough you’d get points. Collect enough points and out score your fellow weekend warrior and you won.
Each individual event had its own challenges. Powerball required you to be fast, but also agile. You had to meet the dual goals of getting soccer balls into the baskets and avoid being train wrecked by a gladiator. Or Assault, where you had to advance toward the gladiator who was shooting tennis balls at high speed your way. Get hit you were done. To take it up a notch you’d have to stop at certain stations to attempt to shoot and hit a target located right behind and above the gladiator. Assault required you to stick your neck out to make the shot. The event I’d like to focus on today is Hang Tough.
Hang Tough was simple in concept. You start on one platform holding onto a gymnastics ring. And then you’d swing from ring to ring, attempting to land safely on the platform on the opposite side of the field. There were a couple of minor hiccups, though. First, you were working against the clock as you were holding up your entire weight by the hands as you went from side to side. Anyone who’s been on a jungle gym knows that the longer you go the more tired your arms get. If the warrior’s grip gave way before he or she reached the other side they’d fall and lose the event. Oh, and there’s the small issue of a gladiator coming your way on the rings from the opposite side, intent on taking you out. And I don’t mean dancing.
The rings were spaced such that you could reach the next ring while still holding on to your current one. You didn’t have to let go until you were assured you had a good grip on the next ring. But the presence of the gladiator could rock that boat. Sometimes you’d have to quickly move from the one ring to the next and couldn’t test your grip first. And on some occasions the warrior, in an effort to dodge the gladiator, would have to let go of one ring before even grabbing the next.
Life can be like Hang Tough. It’s nice when you have the time and energy to go safely from one life choice to the other. Being in a position where you can test your “grip” on the new life event before releasing the past one is awesome. But sometimes life throws you a curve and you’re left with a decision. Go before you know, or stay the steady course and risk the gladiator.
Maybe you get lucky and dodge the gladiator safely. Maybe you get lucky and the gladiator’s grip gives way before yours. If you’re not so lucky and the gladiator catches you, now you have a lot of extra weight on your shoulders to deal with. The gladiator, and life, try to drag you down.
Then again maybe you’re that person who decides to be bold and go for it. You understand the risk. If your grip isn’t true you fall. But if you grab that next ring securely you’re past the danger and on your way to victory. You just have to be willing to assume the risk and live with the consequences.
The consequence, of course, being you fail, and fall. Cool thing about Hang Tough was that many a warrior fell, but all would go on to compete again. Failure was embarrassing. A bit regrettable. But never fatal. So they’d pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and get right back to competing.
What set the risk takers apart from the guys who played it safe wasn’t so much that they’d take the risk, it was the understanding that even if you risked it and failed, you still could come back and succeed.
So remember this week to Hang Tough. And if you’re the risk taker, do so boldly, knowing that as long as you’re willing to accept the risk, even if you lose you can still win in the end. Have a great week. Peace.
This one will be short but sweet. Yesterday I crossed a milestone with my blog here on WordPress. I now have over 100 followers. I enjoy putting posts up on here but there really wouldn’t be much of a point if it wasn’t for all of you following me and reading (and sometimes watching) them. I am eternally grateful for your support and truly hope that what I am sharing with you is helping you to be the best versions of yourselves. Have a great day today. Peace.
This week’s video is up. It’s about being mindful about your self-talk. Your brain is a computer and it’ll accept whatever input you give it. Tell it you’re stupid and it’ll accept that. So it’s very important to consider what you’re telling yourself. Leave a comment telling me what you think. Also feel free to leave suggestions for topics or how I can do better with my videos. Leave a Like and Subscribe if you enjoy the content. Click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I post a video. Have a great week. Peace.
Just had something happen that I thought I would share with you all. When the weather outside is like it is here in northern Alabama I’ll sometimes do my walk indoors. It isn’t ideal but it gets the steps in. When I walk outdoors it’s easy to know when the walk is over. I walk around the block and when I return home I’m done. When I walk indoors though there isn’t an end point to let me know the walk is over.
As such I follow the same routine when I walk indoors. I put my headphones on so I have something to listen to, which is currently the Audible version of Mind Gym: Achieve More By Thinking Differently by Sebastian Bailey, PhD and Octavius Black. I then will start the Exercise app on my Apple Watch to track the workout. Finally, so I know when I’m done without having to look at my wrist all the time, I’ll set a 15 minute countdown timer. I just took a walk indoors and forgot to include the last step.
I was walking back and forth listening to the book. I’m liking the information being presented. The person reading it, Ralph Lister, has both a great voice and a wonderful British accent. I had been walking a while and was curious how long I had left and I looked down at the Apple Watch. Just under 20 minutes had passed and it didn’t even feel like I had reached the 15 minute mark.
I had gotten distracted by the audiobook and didn’t realize that much time had passed. Which brings up an interesting point, which can be summed up in a quote from Seneca. “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” Sometimes we make things worse by assuming a negative mindset. Like being at work and watching the clock. Time slows down because we want out, but it’s the same hour as any other hour of the day. Or the weights being harder today because they feel heavier, even though we know they’re the same dumbbells we lifted last time. Our mindset is what’s making it harder.
So if suffering more in imagination can make thinks worse, why not use your imagination to make things seem better? I did by accident and my 20 minute walk only seemed like 15. Work could be over before you realize it because you were so busy being happy. Who knows, you might be so positive you accidentally put in another rep with those dumbbells. Worst case scenario is you were happy for no reason. And I think that’s a risk worth taking. Have a great day. Peace.
The weekly weigh in video is up on YouTube. Good results this week and some great news to get to share with you all. Watch the video to find out. Leave a comment here or there telling me what you think or if you have suggestions on how I can improve the videos or myself. Leave a Like if you enjoyed the video. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you’d like to be immediately notified every time I put up a video. Have a great week. Peace.
So I’m on a 24 hour fast. It’s not the first one I’ve done. It’s not even the longest I’ve done. I’ve made it over 48 hours fasting. Being fully keto adapted I can go a day or two without food easily. And I do so regularly to promote autophagy (your body killing off unnecessary cells) and weight loss.
When I first started fasting as part of my ketogenic lifestyle, though, it wasn’t so easy. I was keto adapted and used fat as my primary fuel source. I had plenty of fuel on board. So going without food intake wasn’t a physiological issue, it was a psychological one.
In our society we’re used to having food available at all times. Which means we’re used to eating any time we want. The idea of willfully going without food just went against my mental programming. And that’s not even counting the way our brains are hardwired.
Your brain fears scarcity. And there’s a good reason for that. Way back in the day, food wasn’t available 24/7. So when you had a chance to eat your body sent you signals to make sure you didn’t miss out. Who knew when the next available meal would come along. It’s a survival mechanism. The first time you fast, and probably the second and third, you’re going to be fighting some pretty strong urges to stop fasting. So here are a few suggestions on how to start fasting in a way that’ll be easier on you.
First, eat a big meal right before your first fast. I know this seems a little counterproductive but the idea is to make the first fast easy so that you lessen the urges and get your mind comfortable with fasting. If you start out on a nice, full stomach your brain is less likely to panic and you’ll last longer before it becomes concerned about the lack of food heading its way.
Second, and it goes hand in hand with the first step, make the big meal breakfast or early lunch. This is all about timing. Have the meal timed so that by the time you’re starting to waver on your commitment you’re about to go to bed. Sleeping gives you eight easy hours of fasting. If you started the fast around 8am or 9am and go to bed at 10pm you’re only having to hang in there for 13-14 hours, a little over half a day. Then you add the 8 hours of sleep in and you just fasted 21-22 hours. Even if you go with the early lunch plan because you’re a little wary, and eat the meal at 10am or 11am, your first fast would be 19-20 hours. You’ve taught your brain you can go nearly a day without food and be fine.
Third, have distractions ready. If you’re just sitting there thinking about how you’re fasting you’re thinking about food. And that’s just making it harder on yourself. So have pre-planned distractions. Like a book to read to keep your mind off of things. Maybe have a Sudoku app on your phone to play if a hunger pang arrives. Play a round or two to get yourself past the urge. Just make sure that whatever your distraction is it doesn’t play into the desire to have food. Like if you must have popcorn when watching a movie at the theater, that would clearly be a bad choice. Or hanging out with someone who you usually only meet for meals would be a problem because you’ll focuse on the food you aren’t having this time. Also, avoid strenuous activities like hiking or other sports as that will increase your bodies desire for food making things rougher. On a side note, once you’re used to fasting you’ll be able to exercise during a fast but I’d still avoid heavy resistance exercises.
Fourth, stay hydrated and keep your belly full of acceptable liquids. Water is fine on a fast and won’t end it. Coffee and tea, so long as you don’t add anything to them, can also be consumed on a fast. And they have the added benefit of encouraging fat burning. So drink enough to give your belly the sensation of fullness.
The final step is to be mentally prepared in advance. Tell yourself to expect the hunger, and remind yourself that it’ll be more psychological than physical. If you’ve mentally prepared it won’t be as much of a smack in the face. It’ll be part of the plan. When the hunger hits, and your brain is demanding food, you’ll remind yourself that you expected this. You just need to be patient and the hunger pang will go away because you know you have plenty of fuel on board. Even someone of lower body fat who has keto adapted for the health benefits has way more fat on their body then they could go through in a day. So just know in advance that you’ve got this and you will muscle through.
Those are my go to suggestions for handling your first fast. And probably the next couple of fasts as well. After I had fasted a few times and built my time up I stopped having issues sticking with the fast. And now I just fast for as long as I choose no problems. Give it time and you’ll get there too. And don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t make it all the way on your first few attempts. Go as long as you can and know you’ll go a little longer the next time.
I hope this has been helpful. If you have any other suggestions for making a fast easy please leave a comment below. I hope you’re having a great day. Peace.
Senso1970's Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.