Today is January 1, 2023. Another year gone. Another new year started.
Somehow, however, it does not feel like just any new year. 2022 was the bridge between what we knew and loved, pre-pandemic, and what is here and now.
So much has changed since the end of 2019!
The start of a new year is often an opportunity to change our lives, start new habits, dream new dreams, set new goals. We know that, sometime around Valentine's Days, most of our new year resolutions would have been forgotten, abandoned by the side of life's road, ran over like roadkill. And that usually happens because we try to change too many things all at once. We forget that making small changes over a long time is far more effective.
I stopped making new year resolutions many years ago. Instead, I try to fine-tune my rituals, the sequential steps we take everyday throughout each day. It starts by writing down what we do during a regular day. We get up, go to the bathroom, take a shower, etc. Each step is a trigger for the next step.
How do we fine-tune our rituals? We simply decide what we want to accomplish and how we can do that. Then we find something in our rituals that we can replace or shuffle to accommodate what we need to do. For example, if we want to be healthier by exercising more, we may find a spot in our rituals that we can use as a trigger for exercising. Let's say that we usually watch TV after dinner. Finishing dinner would be the trigger. If we substitute watching TV with going for a walk, then we will likely achieve what we want.
And it is not an all or nothing proposition. We do not have to give up TV altogether. We can exercise three days and watch TV three days.
Finally, it needs not be perfect. There may be times when the weather just is not OK for a walk. So we can watch TV that day and do a walk the next day.
Let's have fun with life this 2023. We have gone through a lot since the end of 2019.
I have been captivated by the adventures of a young lady that has recorded what I considered adventures of a lifetime. Her name is Jessica, but her trail name is Dixie. She is from Alabama, and you can tell when you listen to her. From what I have gathered, she was working in Colorado at some point and decided that she wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail; she recorded every bit of it for the world to see. The Appalachian Trail (also know as the AT) is a 2200 mile trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.
Then she embarked in the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), running from the Mexican border in southern California to the border with Canada in Washington State for a total of 2650 miles.
She finally did the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), which runs for 3100 miles from the border with Mexico in New Mexico to the border with Canada in Montana.
Completing all three earned her the thru-hiker triple crown. For many of us that may never be able to do this type of hiking, it has earned her our gratitude and love for her dedication and hard work, not just to hike that many miles (about 8000 trail miles), but to record it and offer her experiences for free so that we can all enjoy the journey and destinations. Along the way she brings amazing photography and video, humorous and interesting commentary, and a warm reflection on the nature of humans, on having and achieving goals, on being scared and being mesmerized … in short, reflections on the beauty of being alive and doing what you love to do.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial planner/adviser nor do I claim this commentary as financial advice. I am a widower and single parent of two teenagers, and I have experienced financial hardships and continue to struggle with managing finances in an effective and responsible manner.
Today, we celebrate "National Get Smart About Credit" day. I think it is an important celebration, perhaps one we should observe every three months, a call for all of us to become more informed about the credit industry and how it affects (some would say, destroys) our finances and our lives.
Let me be blunt: credit is evil.
One more time: credit is evil.
It really is worth repeating: credit is evil.
Credit is evil in many ways. First, it makes it easier for us to be irresponsible. That is, it makes us less able to respond to our long-term financial needs. Why? Because it makes us incredibly dependent on others for our needs and wants.
Second, credit has made it possible to bypass the process of saving for something that we need or want, and we have lost the willpower, discipline and skill to work, save and plan for those things.
Third, getting things quickly and easily has diminished the value of those items, and has lessen our enjoyment from acquiring them.
Finally, credit has enslaved us financially, turning our present pleasure into future suffering.
Credit is used in many scenarios:
The poor use credit to get things they need. Using credit ensures they remain poor and/or makes it harder for them to get out of poverty. This is financial/economical slavery. This is what slave/plantation owners and early industrialists used to do: force workers to buy from them on credit so that they were forever indebted and could not leave. Slavery.
People use credit to get things they want. We all fall into this trap.
We want a new phone: sign the credit contract and it is yours. Except we pay a lot for that new phone in charges that we otherwise would not.
We want a new car: get a loan. If we look at the terms (especially the things that they try to hide from us) we can quickly see that loans can be very expensive. For example, when I bought my latest car (back in December 2012) I got tricked into buying an extended warranty that I normally would have not opted for. How? The finance manager altered the interest rate to make the payment stay "about" the same. Except he could have given me that better interest rate to begin with and not add the extended warranty (which is, as many of you know, pretty useless and pretty expensive). Extended warranties are free money for car dealers, so they always try to sell you one. And so does BestBuy and Walmart and everybody else.
We want a new home: get a loan (with no money down) that includes much more than just the home (IE., appliances, fences, etc.). Since the 2008 financial woes, the minimum down payment has been enforced more closely, but many builders still lure buyers with "no money down" deals. I have fallen twice for that. The first time was a total disaster, and the second time could have turned out poorly if not for extenuating circumstances.
We want to go to (or send our kids to) college: this is one of my pet peeves: another form of modern financial slavery. So many fall for the false paradigm that we have to start college immediately after high school, pay for college with loans and finish our college education in x number of years. None of those are true. Don't fall for that story line. High schools and colleges try to sell you on their plan, the one that is in sync with banks and lending organizations, so that they can slave you for decades. Just say no. Do it some other way. Work part time and go part time to school; find a trade and have fun with it — you can make lots of money and be debt free. A good carpenter, plumber or electrician can have a much higher net income than that of a surgeon over their lifetime. Look into it and think about it. Don't buy into false promises and lies.
The wealthy use credit to finance projects with other people's money, promising better returns on investment than they would get from other sources (such as the stock market).
The government (at all levels) uses credit to finance projects, which most of us end up paying in the form of increased taxes — unless you are wealthy or a corporation because then you can get away with paying no taxes and forcing the middle class to foot the entire bill.
I am sure there are other scenarios in which credit is used, rarely responsibly, mostly carelessly. And in almost all ways I can think of using credit, I think we are better of saving the money and being disciplined to live within our means and only buy what we can afford, what we can pay for right now, not next month or next year.
Shakespeare said it best: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."
The firt day of the On-the-Road experiment was a resounding success and an absolute blast. It actually started Thursday evening as I drove from home toward my ultimate destination (Mountain City, TN) for the 12-hour BooneDoggle Contra Dance held yearly there. My plan was to stop for the night in Lincolnton, NC. I chose Lincolnton because it was exactly halfway between home and my destination, and because there was a Walmart and Lowe's right off the highway.
The drive started with a scary thunderstorm that produced dangerous amounts of rain. Fortunately, that stopped after just 20 minutes or so, and the rest of the drive was uneventful. It was unusually quiet on the road, with very few vehicles anywhere. Maybe Thursday nights are quiet nights for travelling.
I arrived in Lincolnton and chose to park at the Walmart location. I went in, bought some groceries and came across some awesome deals I could not pass. The deals turned out to be more amazing when they worked out better than planned for a vehicle project I am working on. And then I settled for the night, the first night sleeping in the car using sleeping mats (similar to Yoga mats, but thicker). I was able to stretch fully and fell fairly comfortable. The parking lot was quiet until around 4 AM when someone driving on a near-by road starting yelling obscenities and acting up. That was disconcerting because I did not know if they were heading my way or away. Fortunately, it was the latter. That was a good lesson about parking in these lots: be aware of how close to a road you are.
I was up and about by 4:30 and headed to a park I had spotted on the map that had what appeared as a nice trail I could use for jogging. I got there around 5 AM and the park gate was open although the posted hours were 8 AM - 10 PM. I proceeded to jog for 2 miles around the various parking lots inside the park. And then I headed out, back on the road, ready for a great day of volunteering to bring the BooneDoggle dance together. The day was a nice mixture of helping with dance tasks and working on re-packing the car to incorporate that morning's Lincolnton purchases. The window sun shades I bought for $4 and $5 fit perfectly to provide privacy at night and sun shielding in the day. The only fitting problem was with the front windows, and I will need to work on that at some point. By 8 PM I was ready for some sleep; the combination of hard work and little sleep the night before took its toll.
HEALTH & FITNESS
I was delighted with fitness and nutrition for the first day of the on-the-road adventure. I did some body strength training before jogging in the morning, then logged 2 miles, and then the rest of the day was super busy and I walked and lifted and pounded enough to make it a very good activity day. I logged 9367 steps and walked/jogged 3.8 miles.
Nutrition was good, with a nice mix of fruits and veggies along with a protein shake and chili for dinner.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
This was a perfect example of having a dream or goal, and breaking it up into smaller portions to move forward with its attainment. The dream, of which I will write about later, requires being able to live out of a car for extended periods of time. Today was a perfect opportunity to learn lessons that will allow that to happen.
STREAKS - For the record (updated)
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 30
Blood Pressure Readings: day 16 (exempted from reading because of road trip)
Logging to SparkPeople: day 0 (missed logging in during the trip)
Daily Exercise Routine: not counting for now
Cardio: Yes (jogging in the morning, lots of walking all day)
Yoga: Not really
Strength Training: lots of lifting and pounding, so yes
I had a super fun jog this morning, logging 2.47 miles in 44 minutes. I used Podrunner's "140 BPM - Superconductor." My strategy this week is to vary my pace everyday aiming to increase my speed a little over time. For the month of September I want to at least be able to jog at around 145 BPM once or twice. In October I want to inch up a little, maybe as fast as 150 BPM. I am actually not too hung up on the actual number as long as I keep making progress and, most importantly, remain injury and pain free.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
The multi-factor approach to fitness metrics (having four requirements that need to be met in order to qualify for a "successful day") may not be working the way I had intended. This is not a surprise. Growing in anything we do means making adjustments. Life is like one big project made of a myriad of smaller projects; when we follow the project management cycle (plan, implement, measure/ review, adjust) we can ensure success in whatever we try.
My biggest challenge has been missing weight training. It appears I may want to split the four into individual action items and once all four, separately, are achieved, then the goal will be achieved. As I pondered this point I realized that there may be an elegant solution to this: Yoga. Having a daily or regular Yoga practice can help us achieve balance in all four areas I have listed. When I practice Yoga regularly my running also improves. So that is my new fitness goal: at least 10-15 minutes of Yoga everyday.
Here is the Yoga routine I will start tomorrow morning.
For those of you that think Yoga is not something they can do, please watch this short video:
Yoga is something best started with a teacher. A teacher will take care of you, the whole you: the physical you, the mental you, the emotional you, the spiritual you. There is a difference, sometimes a huge difference, between a teacher and an instructor. The latter usually deals with form and technique but may be unable to help with the other aspects of a Yoga practice. Once you learn the basics from a teacher, then you can work with instructors or even videos. I was truly blessed to have started my Yoga practice with an amazing teacher; her name is Juliet Hewitt. There is not a time that I step on my mat that she is not present even if she is not physically there. So, find yourself a teacher, learn the basics, and then take it from there. As Juliet always says, start from where you are right now.
PERSONAL GROWTH
Clutter is a sign of trouble. If we look around, clutter is all around us. For many, it is in our homes, our offices, our cars. Clutter has become a huge industry in the USA. All we have to do is look at all the self-storage businesses opening in almost every neighborhood, or the incredible growth of thrift store chains like Goodwill. Look at this video and you can get a glimpse of the problem.
Soon I will share a bit of the purging I have done at home.
TIPS & TRICKS
The nice hand-written to-do lists I wrote about a few days ago have matured a bit. I moved to a digital version using the "Notes" app on my iPhone. The main advantage I see is the time saving from not having to re-write things left to do at the end of the day. The disadvantage, as I have experienced in the past, is a significant disconnect with the list; it is easier to forget to check the list as often once it is in digital form. Having handwritten notes makes the connection with your brain a lot stronger. However, using digital notes can be just as effective with some discipline. Whichever you choose, having a daily to-do list is a definite must for improved productivity (at least for the majority of us).
PODCASTS / VIDEOS
Chi Running is a running methodology designed to eliminate injuries and improve anybody's running efficiency. I have read parts of the book and love the concept. Here is a video explaining the basics of Chi Running.
INTERESTING TIDBITS
Not all cookware is safe to use. Here is a video about some popular but not so safe items we may have in our kitchens.
STREAKS - For the record
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 21
Blood Pressure Readings: day 8 (down to 111/71)
Logging to SparkPeople: day 11
Daily Exercise Routine: day 0
Cardio: Yes (2.47 miles in 44 minutes)
Strength Training: No (see above)
Stretching: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Meditation: day 8
Number of tabs open: day 4 (still working on this — today was more of a challenge than in days 1-3, but it is definitely better)
The rain stopped and I finally got to use those old ASICS shoes that I wanted to try again. I had a nice 2.1 mile jog this morning. It is so good to be back on the road! Today's session was to the tune of Podrunner's "140 BPM - Swift Kicks." Indeed, it kicked me a little about mile marker 1.75, but I pushed through it and ended the session feeling strong.
And I finally achieved a full fitness day. I was able to put a good 35 minute workout this afternoon at the fitness center. I did not get a chance to finish the whole workout I had planned, but it was better than nothing.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
Rather than listing all the streaks I am tracking (which you can see below), I am going to focus on one habit per week. I will share my struggles and triumphs as I try to make each activity a ritual, a part of my daily behavior, so that it can become a habit and then help me achieve a goal or series of goals.
This week I will focus on the habit of having a daily exercise routine that includes cardio, strength training, stretching and meditation. In a very real way, those four components are discreet and individual; as a whole, they form the daily habit I want to develop. And this brings up a good point. Complex habits/rituals that have sub-components do not have to be done in sequence. For example, there is nothing wrong with doing cardio first thing in the morning and stretching just before going to bed, with a session of weight lifting in the afternoon and some meditation throughout the day. However, habits (helpful and harmful ones) are formed when we do a certain thing immediately after a trigger happens. For example, we wake up and hit the snooze button — that may not help us achieve our goal. What if we wake up and splash water on our face and do ten push-ups? It is likely that we will not go back to bed then, thus kick-starting our day. The trick is to replace hitting the snooze button with splashing water on our face and doing ten push-ups. Once we do that enough times, the ritual will be established and a new habit formed.
A critical aspect of self improvement is to make small changes. Trying to change everything at once is a sure way to struggle. When we make small changes in the things we do we will, in the long run, achieve far more than we would otherwise. This is one of the reasons people struggle with "diets" — trying to modify our whole lifestyle suddenly will simply increase our natural resistance to change.
If you have followed this blog recently, the one component I have missed consistently is strength training. I do not have a gym at home (just a few dumbbells and a resistance band, which should suffice) nor a gym subscription to a facility near my home. I usually try to do strength training regularly when I am in the office because we have a great fitness center there, and it is free. However, the key word there is "try" — many days I let other things pull me away from working out. These things can be anything from feeling tired to work meetings. Most of them are, in reality, excuses.
I find my biggest challenge for strength training is when I am home (weekends, vacations). I am going to establish a sensible trigger that would initiate the process to do a strength training workout. I will keep you posted.
PERSONAL GROWTH
The fewer-browser-tabs challenge went well today. I feel I was more productive having less tabs/windows open. In many ways I pushed myself to finish one thing before moving to something else. There was a lot less jumping around and a lot less confusion. I like it!
STREAKS - For the record
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 19
Blood Pressure Readings: day 6: excellent reading of 117/79.
Logging to SparkPeople: day 8 (starting to get more consistent in entering data)
Intermittent Fasting: I am abandoning tracking of this habit. I have been doing fairly well without having to track it. I will remove that app from my phone now.
Daily Exercise Routine: Day 1
Cardio: Jogged 2.09 miles
Strength Training: 35 minutes
Stretching: Yes
Meditation: Yes, 30 minutes overall in 10-minute intervals.
(In order to count this one, I am making it a bit challenging. A day will only count if it contains at least 30 minutes of cardio, at least 30 minutes of strength training, at least 10 minutes of stretching, at least six hours of sleep, and at least 10 minutes of meditation.)
Meditation: day 6 (all-time = 40)
Number of tabs open: day 2 (down to two tabs open for more than a few minutes. All other tabs either closed or stored in "Read Later" (see "Personal Growth " below).
Florence passed quietly over the city in the middle of the night. It is still raining today and will continue to do so through Wednesday. Winds have died down to a constant breeze.
TODAY'S NOTES
Today is Independence Day in my native Mexico. This normally is a day of celebration throughout the country, a great excuse to party and be happy. And yet, throughout the last 208 years, Mexico has struggled to free itself from a seemingly endless chain of dictators. Mexico declared its independence from Spain in 1810. A century later, in 1910, the country endured a bloody revolution that was supposed to benefit the masses. Instead, corruption ate through the country so that an elite class, many of them politicians,became the modern version of a dictator. At the same time, the country has been under the dictatorship of its neighbor to the north, being forced to endure whatever the USA wished to impose on them. Political dictatorship, economical dictatorship, cultural dictatorship — Mexico has seen them all, continues to see them all, strives still to free itself from it all. I miss much of Mexico, especially the people. I do not miss the corruption, the immoral inequality between the few ultra-rich and the many poor; sadly, the same is happening in the USA. It all boils down to greed. When those in power are not satisfied with "enough" and instead they want it all, and they want it all for themselves, all the time, for all times. Historically, this is how civilizations begin to crumble.
HEALTH & FITNESS
Another wet jog this morning to log 2.83 miles in 53 minutes. I chose Podrunner's "135 BPM - Amplifier" track and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. It was wet, with steady rain all through the jog. I have now removed the NHS Couch-to-5K tracks from my phone. It is obvious I now need to work on improving performance and not simply getting to run 30 minutes at a time.
As planned, I opted to use the Saucony shoes with the improved insoles. It was a great choice. The shoes, insoles and socks got thoroughly soaked. The better insoles made a huge difference in the comfort of these shoes. I enjoyed the run and got back home pain free. Although my shoes were soaked, they only felt slightly heavier than heavier than normal. That was a very pleasant surprise.
Today's run was the second in a row in the rain. With the dampness from the rain and the heat of running (and having a raincoat) my old problem of hives came back both days. In the past I would have opted for anti-histamines and scratched the heck out of every bump on me. For the last two days I simply took a cool shower and did some deep breathing. It only took a few minutes for the intense itching to pass and the hives to begin receding. This condition is called cholinergic urticaria, or heat hives. According to something I read today, I may benefit from using cotton instead of polyester shirts. There is also a suggestion of using a vinegar solution to calm the itching down. Further reading indicates Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) is helpful. I definitely will try it.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 18
Blood Pressure Readings: 5 days in a row. Apparently I missed a reading on 9/11/18. Today's readings are a tad higher than they have been (130/80). Worked on it a little through meditation and got it down to 116/67.
Logging to SparkPeople: 8 days in a row (began entering food and activity data)
Intermittent Fasting: 1 day (I did great last night and fasted for over 13 hours)
Daily Exercise Routine: 0
Cardio: Jogged 2.09 miles
Strength Training: Nope
Stretching: Yes
Meditation: Yes, 30 minutes overall in 10-minute intervals.
(In order to count this one, I am making it a bit challenging. A day will only count if it contains at least 30 minutes of cardio, at least 30 minutes of strength training, at least 10 minutes of stretching, at least six hours of sleep, and at least 10 minutes of meditation.)
Meditation: 5 days (all-time = 40): morning meditation was challenging again today. I chose a five minute meditation and my mind was all over the place. I am going to do at least one more meditative period today.
Number of tabs open: 1 day (down to two tabs open for more than a few minutes. All other tabs either closed or stored in "Read Later" (see "Personal Growth " below).
PERSONAL GROWTH
I am all into challenges. One of the most challenging thing I face everyday is the number of tabs I have open in my browser. I often have dozens of tabs open at once. Some are open permanently (for example, Gmail) and others stay up for months before I get back to them. My challenge for the next 30 days is to keep the least number of tabs open at any one time. This is in line with being a minimalist. Of course, there is always the worry of forgetting what tabs were open during some research. With help with that, I installed the "Read Later" extension in Chrome. Instead of 10-12 tabs, I managed to keep one to two tabs open. I kept Gmail going, and I kept Blogger open to add items to this post. My computer seems much happier this way. And I am managing to get a lot more done without so many distractions. A win-win situation.
INTERESTING QUOTE
"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
I recently came across this video explaining how an old time management system can be adapted to adult, modern life, for increased productivity and improved life joy. I am seriously considering doing something like this for my time management.
WEEKLY SUMMARY
This has been an amazing week. There are many things I am thankful for as we wrap up the week. Top things to be grateful for:
Hurricane Florence was only a minor inconvenience for us. Although the wind and rain were worrisome, we were fortunate not to sustain any damage. Many people in North Carolina and some in South Carolina were not as fortunate. My heart goes out to them.
I was able to accomplish some major cleaning and purging around the house. My bedroom closet is hard to recognize. There is much more to be done, but the progress is something to be grateful for.
I have been able to jog every morning, and have remained pain free. My blood pressure seems to be stable. I feel well. Life is good.
I have gotten into some great habits, especially making a daily to do list and sticking with it. The list is nothing fancy but it has been working well for getting much done; at the top of the list are items (rituals) I want to follow and the rest are items I need or want to accomplish. As a past user of DayTimers, I am delighted with the success. Getting back to a normal routine will be interesting and a true test of this system.
