You recover quickly from colds. And when you slip, you catch yourself before you fall. You don’t realize it, but you have all-day-long energy many of your peers don’t and a better baseline mood. When your friend asks you to run a charity 10K or join their pick-up soccer league, you can say
This reminds me of a guy named Jeffrey Gitomer I used to follow who said, "most people are unwilling to do the hard work that makes sales easy." same idea, and as you convey it here regarding health, a very important one.
I am a new subscriber and as a former newsletter/blog creator and writer I am really enjoying your writing. To support your efforts I will be upgrading to paid (at least for a while - I am retired).
Hey Larry! Your comment made my day. Thanks so much for reading and supporting my work -- it makes me so happy to hear you're enjoying my writing.
I really appreciate you supporting my work by choosing to upgrade to a paid subscription. I do my best to over deliver with all paid content to make the cost negligible compared to the value subscribers receive. One of the biggest bonuses to going paid is access to the ebooks I've written (four to date, new one coming on March 31). With a paid subscription, you can download PDF versions of each ebook here: https://www.longevityminded.ca/t/ebooks.
Thanks again and don't hesitate to reach reach out (longevityminded@gmail.com) if I can be of service!
Jack this newsletter is bangin, dude. I agree. I got to do more tough things. Was doing some jiu-jitsu here in Mexico City for a while but life started getting in the way. Cheers man. Thanks for commenting on my post.
Hey Thomas! Thanks so much for coming over and checking out my work — much appreciated man. Jiu Jitsu, along with most martial arts, is one of the hardest things. It’s a true mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional test. Glad to hear you’re going to get back at it!
Thanks, Jack. I read the whole first part thinking, "I wish!" Ok, some applies to me, some I'm still working on! But I love the perspective of hard choices making an easy life. It is windy as hell outside, but I'm going for a walk.
Thanks so much for reading and leaving a comment here, Cherie! It’s always a continuous process for all of us, myself very much included. But with hard choices, we can strive for the ideals I tried to lay out in this post. HA! I love it. Have a great walk :)
It was a great walk, and not as difficult as I'd anticipated. Sometimes, often, it seems making the difficult decision is the hardest part, and actually doing the difficult thing is less hard. Anyhow, I'm saving your post to refer to when I need inspiration. Thanks again!
Absolutely, you nailed it. The hardest part is starting. But once you start, you’re always proud you did and feel better afterwards. So glad you saved this post to revisit — you know how to make a writers day! Thanks Cherie.
I loved the style of this piece. I almost felt myself living that life, in those shoes, and inspired to life up to that vision you painted of a life I could have if I made difficult decisions.
Especially loved: “Infusing your days with discomfort has depleted the difficulty of your life.”
Thanks pal, it was a different style and honestly I wasn't so sure I loved it. But when dealing with a 12-hour time zone change this was the best draft I had so shaped it up the best I could and shipped it. Makes me really happy you enjoyed it.
It is a really valuable skill. Back in Canada, I'm readjusting to the cold. Cold outside. Cold showers are actually freezing cold (unlike those in Thailand). It kind of sucks. But I'm learning to just sit with the discomfort. Embrace it. Not trying to run away from it or escape it. Do I fear and dread turning the shower knob to cold? Hell ya. Do I do it anyway? Of course.
This is great! One of the main reasons I exercise. To say yes to races and challenges spontaneously. To this point, I'm running a 30km night trail run tomorrow that I found out about yesterday.
Thanks so much John! Super happy to hear you enjoyed and can relate. And thanks for providing the case study here to aid and assist my shiny dime. The 30km night run sounds incredible. I hope I see a post in my inbox over the next few weeks from you sharing the story and insights from the experience.
...great reminders abound...the easy path, if even available, is not necessarily the correct one...compounded good choices opens doors you won't see any other way...so too with bad choices, but likely a bad place as a result...we make our own trails, and can only build more if we maintain our healths...
Very very well said. Stacking up small daily good actions results in opportunities down line you could have never imagined a year before you started compounding good choices daily. In writing, work, and health. And so true... health, not only because of the additional time it gives us but also because of how it enables us to more richly utilize that time, is the most valuable asset we can accumulate.
Absolutely. With the systems and practices in place, you just wake up and press start. No inner debating, just doing the things you know you need to do.
This reminds me of a guy named Jeffrey Gitomer I used to follow who said, "most people are unwilling to do the hard work that makes sales easy." same idea, and as you convey it here regarding health, a very important one.
That's a great saying, thanks for sharing Rick. The hard work makes big things in life easy.
I am a new subscriber and as a former newsletter/blog creator and writer I am really enjoying your writing. To support your efforts I will be upgrading to paid (at least for a while - I am retired).
Hey Larry! Your comment made my day. Thanks so much for reading and supporting my work -- it makes me so happy to hear you're enjoying my writing.
I really appreciate you supporting my work by choosing to upgrade to a paid subscription. I do my best to over deliver with all paid content to make the cost negligible compared to the value subscribers receive. One of the biggest bonuses to going paid is access to the ebooks I've written (four to date, new one coming on March 31). With a paid subscription, you can download PDF versions of each ebook here: https://www.longevityminded.ca/t/ebooks.
Thanks again and don't hesitate to reach reach out (longevityminded@gmail.com) if I can be of service!
Jack this newsletter is bangin, dude. I agree. I got to do more tough things. Was doing some jiu-jitsu here in Mexico City for a while but life started getting in the way. Cheers man. Thanks for commenting on my post.
Hey Thomas! Thanks so much for coming over and checking out my work — much appreciated man. Jiu Jitsu, along with most martial arts, is one of the hardest things. It’s a true mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional test. Glad to hear you’re going to get back at it!
Thanks, Jack. I read the whole first part thinking, "I wish!" Ok, some applies to me, some I'm still working on! But I love the perspective of hard choices making an easy life. It is windy as hell outside, but I'm going for a walk.
Thanks so much for reading and leaving a comment here, Cherie! It’s always a continuous process for all of us, myself very much included. But with hard choices, we can strive for the ideals I tried to lay out in this post. HA! I love it. Have a great walk :)
It was a great walk, and not as difficult as I'd anticipated. Sometimes, often, it seems making the difficult decision is the hardest part, and actually doing the difficult thing is less hard. Anyhow, I'm saving your post to refer to when I need inspiration. Thanks again!
Absolutely, you nailed it. The hardest part is starting. But once you start, you’re always proud you did and feel better afterwards. So glad you saved this post to revisit — you know how to make a writers day! Thanks Cherie.
I loved the style of this piece. I almost felt myself living that life, in those shoes, and inspired to life up to that vision you painted of a life I could have if I made difficult decisions.
Especially loved: “Infusing your days with discomfort has depleted the difficulty of your life.”
Doing hard things is a valuable skill
Thanks pal, it was a different style and honestly I wasn't so sure I loved it. But when dealing with a 12-hour time zone change this was the best draft I had so shaped it up the best I could and shipped it. Makes me really happy you enjoyed it.
It is a really valuable skill. Back in Canada, I'm readjusting to the cold. Cold outside. Cold showers are actually freezing cold (unlike those in Thailand). It kind of sucks. But I'm learning to just sit with the discomfort. Embrace it. Not trying to run away from it or escape it. Do I fear and dread turning the shower knob to cold? Hell ya. Do I do it anyway? Of course.
This is great! One of the main reasons I exercise. To say yes to races and challenges spontaneously. To this point, I'm running a 30km night trail run tomorrow that I found out about yesterday.
Thanks for sharing this Jack. Hard choices ftw!
Thanks so much John! Super happy to hear you enjoyed and can relate. And thanks for providing the case study here to aid and assist my shiny dime. The 30km night run sounds incredible. I hope I see a post in my inbox over the next few weeks from you sharing the story and insights from the experience.
...great reminders abound...the easy path, if even available, is not necessarily the correct one...compounded good choices opens doors you won't see any other way...so too with bad choices, but likely a bad place as a result...we make our own trails, and can only build more if we maintain our healths...
Very very well said. Stacking up small daily good actions results in opportunities down line you could have never imagined a year before you started compounding good choices daily. In writing, work, and health. And so true... health, not only because of the additional time it gives us but also because of how it enables us to more richly utilize that time, is the most valuable asset we can accumulate.
Great outlook. Great mindset. The grind ain’t a grind if you make it a daily practice.
Absolutely. With the systems and practices in place, you just wake up and press start. No inner debating, just doing the things you know you need to do.
I remember those Michigan winter blues well. Tough adjustment!
Indeed it is! Missing the bright blue skies and sunshine.