July was another whirlwind of activity and life blurring away. Blink and you'll miss it but that's all the more reason to get stuck in. My challenge for July was to jump in the cold winter water every single day, and besides taking 3 cold showers in lieu of the ocean or lake due to simply not having time, I'm pleased to say I ticked this one off the list. So what was learned this month? I learned that the cold didn't bother me, but I was good at bothering myself about the cold. Doesn't make sense? I'll elaborate shortly. But first, I thought I'd just check in with anyone struggling and on that note, my inbox is always open. I'm no-one special and like everyone, I have my own struggles but if you just need a chat and you're not sure who to turn to, please reach out.
If you’re feeling down and out, if you feel like giving up or if you're just feeling a little uncharacteristically low or off try these two things.
Go for a run, a hike or just a sweat session of some sort. Preferably outside but you do you. Push it hard. Rather than fighting your thoughts, maybe you’ll be wondering why the hell you decided to climb that steep hill. Out of the head and into the body.
Next, jump in the ocean or a lake. Just do it. And if you catch yourself wondering why or saying “fuck that” it’s all the more reason why you NEED to do it. Choose hard. More time doing, less time thinking. Perhaps that’s all it is? Could an element of mental health be that simple?
These simple modalities can, for a short time make you feel incredible. It’s a dopamine high but not from a shitty source like doom scrolling TikTok, it’s from a place where all humans need to visit but many seldom do. This place is discomfort. You must seek it and maybe, just maybe, it’ll give you just enough good feels to push forward one more day and sometimes, that’s all you need. Just make it one more day my friend, and think about tomorrow when it arrives.
Hard takes practice, but you can do hard things and when you realise the possibilities of life, the choice gets easier. In a previous blog, I mentioned that I don't want to remain on the sidelines in my own life, I want to be a player - a participant in life, not a spectator. I enjoyed what Jesse Itzler (Misogi man), says;
The clock doesn't stop. Time is undefeated. Only way to compete with time is to do stuff. Once you do something, time can't take it away.
Schedule adventure, whatever that adventure it for you.
Prioritise.
Execute.
Choose to be a doer.
Busy July and the cold
As I mentioned above, July was action packed. I had my good friend James over early in the month for 8 or 9 days which was RAD. Running, cold swims, more running, snowboarding, coffee (lots of it! I met my match),and more cold water. I met James in Bali back in January; how cool is it that a single connection from a last minute flight can lead to a strong friendship down the line. Be open to possibilities and see what magic happens. After James left, I had a little bit of work to catch up on but it wasn't long before the beauty of Queenstown beckoned and yup, the lakes were cold 😂 but I was excited for the challenge.
The cold has a lot of physiological benefits, but for me, I was more interested in overcoming discomfort. Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable as they say. Elaborating further on my earlier statement, "I was good at bothering myself about the cold" I simply mean that like anything in life, things "just are." The cold will always be cold, the hot will always be hot and that menial task will always be boring as hell. We're not bothered by the "thing itself" but as humans, we're pretty good at getting ourselves worked up. Overthinking it and creating it into something far worse that perhaps what it actually is. Only we can control our reaction to things, so a takeaway for me this month was to just chill out. Yeah it's cold but who cares. Change your perception and change your life.
Anyway, that's enough chit chat. I'm already about 2 weeks over due with this one.
Peace
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