Happy New Year Everyone!!!!! The start of a new year is always exciting. Although, one cannot help but to reflect a little on the past year to inspire the year ahead. In my last post, I mentioned that the year was filled with many activities: blogging, starting a nonprofit, and educating the public. This seemed normal to me, but extreme to a few of my friends during discussion. In this entry in a journey into my mental awareness, I want to discuss extreme behavior. Recently, I went on a short (5 day) vacation to clear my head (which I will discuss shortly) which was wonderful and highly suggested. The trip served as a ‘reset’ for a new year to come. Anyways, without further ado, let me tell you about my realizations over the last couple of months.
To start with, the pace of life over the last year caused us (Kayla and I) to stray a little from our lifestyle over the last few years. How? Well, over the last few years, we have been trying to walk and bicycle around town. In the course of engaging in such a large amount of activities, compromises have been made which are not so great. The important point is to realize this behavior. The sooner that you realize the deviation, the sooner you can return to normal. How did we realize that we had strayed so much? First, our car insurance mileage increased over the course of the year – which raised our monthly payment. In all fairness, Kayla teaches part time and some of the courses offered disqualifies her from being able to ride the train and her bicycle to the university at which we work during the semester. This is out of her control you might say and I agree.
Secondly, the realization that we have accepted too much responsibilities with various organizations that have caused us to have to drive instead of bike or walk is critical. By accepting more responsibility from various organizations (volunteer based work), there is a trade-off. The trade-off involves trading our involvement in volunteer based work for the lifestyle that we had previously been transitioning toward. A lifestyle based on engaging in active transportation – blended commuting – i.e., biking and walking coupled with public transportation. Sometimes life gets hectic and we want to give our best to every project available. This is not a healthy state. Although, when involved in the daily race of juggling all of the activities, we might not be aware of over extending ourselves.
How do you realize that you are over committed when you have an extreme personality?
What do I mean by the above question?
A few years ago, I decided to give up drinking alcohol. The reason being was that I found that I was devoting way too much time toward drinking and socializing rather than toward a healthy lifestyle. This translates to the realization that I am an alcoholic. I do not drink a small amount infrequently. Actually, I really do not like the taste of beer. But for many years, I would find that starting the evening off with a single beer would lead to multiple beers and followed by a morning headache – not good behavior. I know this because now I do not have the same headaches. In the post that wrote regarding this decision, I explained that both Kayla and I have “extreme” personalities.
Meaning that when we devote our attention or momentum (decisions) toward a choice – we are all in. Moderation has been an interesting lesson to learn over the last few years. One such example of moderation is the realization of ‘small changes’ leading to a large stress relief – which Iwrote about in a past blog post. This does not relieve me of my extreme behavior. Although, the process of learning moderation on the local level allows me to retain my extreme behavior on the global level.
What do I mean by the “local” and “global” level?
A change on the “local” level might be a small change in lifestyle behavior. The example that I cite in a previous blog on my mental awareness page was leaving for the train stop 5 minutes earlier. What? Yep, I get stressed when I wait until the last minute to ride my bicycle to the train stop to catch the train. What I found was that by leaving just 5 minutes early, the reduction in my stress level is quite significant. As a result, I now am adamant about leaving a little early. This small change on a “local” level does not necessarily change my behavior (going all in and not looking back) on a “global” level.
What I have found over the years is that having an extreme personality is good if you aim that behavior toward a healthy lifestyle. Recently, I was listening to a podcast on the website “The Unbeatable Mind” by Commander Mark Divine (former Navy Seal) interviewing an extreme athlete – Rich Roll. I suggest listening to the podcast if you have not already. Commander Divine is super motivational and offers life tips that are invaluable – if practiced and optimized on a daily basis.
During the interview with Rich Roll, he commented on the pathway that is his life took toward becoming an extreme athlete running ultramarathons. He has a law degree. He found himself to be an alcoholic and decided to get help with his problem. For the next several years, he devoted himself to law and made a significant amount of money in the music industry from a legal standpoint. Then, one day while getting ready for bed, he found himself “tired” or “winded” when climbing stairs. He knew that his health had suffered as a result of the increase load of work he decided to take on over the years. Again, a decision, a trade-off – work for health.
He made another decision quickly after that realization. From that point on, he was going to run and improve his health by exercising. Having an extreme personality caused him to evolve (according to him) toward running ‘ultramarathons’, ‘ironman events,’ ‘epic5’ runs – crazy long distances. Not to worry, I do not plan to follow his path. But I did relate to his description of his journey to the present.
At one point in the podcast, Commander Divine asks him about his extreme personality. He asked him “can you keep up with this behavior?” His reply was what really resonated with me: “this is just my personality…it is who I am. that is how I am wired.” Accepting how we are wired is extremely critical toward changing our lifestyle habits. At least, that is what I am learning to be true time and time again.
That was a little digression into our (Kayla and my own) behavior. Now you have a better picture of our thought processes and can better understand the course over time that we have taken toward achieving success in living a healthy lifestyle. The process is an ongoing process. As I stated earlier, small tweaks have been made here and there. A recent example which I have not discussed yet, but just started was giving up caffeine (coffee and soda) along with chocolate. Why?
Gastric reflux runs in my family. I remember as a child watching my father take his daily pill of ‘Tagament’. In fact, just over the last couple of months, I have started to take the same medication. Although, through research, Kayla found out that the medication was outdated and not as effective at treating acid reflux as newer medications on the market. I just got done taking a 14-course (14 pills – 1 per day) of Nexium. I followed the instructions and have stayed away from chocolate and coffee along with soda’s and greasy food. I drink a large amount of water these days. I feel healthier. At least, I do not have the same acid reflux during the night. I will continue this lifestyle change and update you on the progress or failure as I move forward.
I want to return toward the realization of being over committed. Given our extreme personalities and competitive nature’s, we stumbled upon a ‘walk challenge’ back in November. The idea was that the City of Glendale would track (with personal devices – fit bit, smart phone, etc.) our daily walking steps over a year. The goal of the challenge was to achieve as a group of residents in Glendale a total of one billion steps over the course of a year. Different groups of people have signed up from various businesses in Glendale. Sounds great right?
Kayla and I immediately signed up to participate in the challenge. Immediately, the extreme nature of our personality was out front. We walked everywhere on the weekend to get our steps up in count. During the week, we could be seen walking more than would be seen riding bicycles. Walking became the default answer to the question: “how do you want to get there?” The amount of steps achieved on a daily basis has slightly decreased. Although, the goal is to be realistic and not go out of our way to increase our daily steps unrealistically.
There have been people who are participating in the challenge who have strapped their devices to their animals to get their steps up. Additionally, a few participants have driven around to increase their daily step count. Sounds terrible right? I agree. One friend rides her bicycle around and the device counts the mileage as walking steps. Wow. Our goal (which is in line with the motivations of Kaiserwellnesscenter) is to live realistically, but design our life to maximize these steps. Living in a city like Glendale which is completely walkable and bikable, each choice needs to be one or the other. Choosing between the two choices leads to a healthier lifestyle with reduced stress.
There is a trade-off though to be honest. What is that trade-off? Time. A little extra time is worth your stress level reduced. Plus, during the process of walking around town to conduct business and errands along with pleasure, you notice how easy the day is to plan. Couple walking with transit if the distance needs to be extended outside of the city limits. The down side to be honest is the time needed to allot toward achieving transporting yourself by such modes. As I mentioned, there is a trade-off. Some people write off the trade-off in time as time that would be spent either in the gym after work or decoupling(decompressing) from stressful commute had they chosen to drive.
Walking has many benefits that are much more elegantly stated elsewhere online. The take home point is that during the process of traveling around town to compete in the step challenge, Kayla and I made a complete circle back toward the lifestyle that we initially were looking for. Our extreme personalities led us back to the easy lifestyle desired. Now, we leave the car at home more frequently as a result and do not accept meetings or commitments that are not accessible by blended commuting. The process has been a ‘reset’ if you will in health. Plus, walking provides you with an ample amount of time to “connect” with your city.
Walking and biking removes a barrier (a car window or side) from in between yourself and the environment. By engaging in active modes of transportation, your awareness of the layout of the city becomes increasingly better. Furthermore, you are much more grounded as opposed to sitting in a car and feeling various bumps and vibrations which represent the land underneath on which you travel. Last but not least, engaging with other concerned citizens is possible while engaging in active modes of transportation. Other residents who are walking, biking, coupled with public transit typically have a similar mindset about the environment around them. The benefits are numerous and worth exploring if you find yourself still tied to a car.
Furthermore, I want to stress the importance of taking a small trip (vacation) on your stress level. Getting out into nature on the weekends is a great way to reset your life. But taking an extended (a few days longer) is also great to do. At the very least, getting a small vacation is worth the time and effort. Last week, we just returned from visiting Grover Beach. I had not ever visited Grover Beach prior to last week. The town sits adjoining Pizmo Beach and below (15 miles) San Luis Obispo. Last year Iwrote a blog on this site about ‘disconnecting from your devices’. Learning to do so periodically is not just healthy, the opportunity exists during that time to realize your dependence on the various devices we have at our disposal to take our time up. Relaxing and connecting with nature or just connecting with a vacation spot is a great way to reset your mind and body for a new year to come. Plus, if you decide to take the train and your bicycles (without a rental car), a further reduction in stress is achievable. Here is a blogpost written last weekend by Kayla on the packing list a person would need for such an adventure.
To close, I hope that you (the reader) have learned something from reading my rambling journal entry above. Learning about yourself is difficult at times. Especially, when the lesson learned requires drastic changes in one’s lifestyle. Better to learn early in order to make ‘baby steps’ in lifestyle changes rather than going through large changes which might not be achievable. On this journey, I try to share as much as I remember or can with you to help you understand the challenges that I face on a day to day or month-to-month basis. Each of us deserves to live a great life. How we live out life depends on our proactive nature in the process. Live happy and live well. Until next time, have a great day!