A Few Things That Changed My Life
Some very simple steps... It just takes A LOT of discipline and consistency:
ONLY DRINK WATER. Not “drink more water”. Fuck that. ONLY DRINK WATER. The only liquid in your cup should be water. Want juice? Drink water. Craving soda? Drink water. Having dinner? Water. Want a coffee? COLD WATER. Just drink water. Only. You will be shocked at the overall effect this has on not only your physical well being but also your mental. Sugar clouds your brain. Water cleans it. Choose wisely. (I did this for like a week… then a few weeks.. then on and off for weeks at a time. Now I have to water down ALL juice and rarely drink soda. You have to train your body to do what you want it to do). I treated it like fasting. Now I mainly drink water, tea, ginger beer, or ginger ale. I still drink juice, just watered down 90% of the time. So the majority of the time, my body is taking in water which is better for me long term.
CHANGE MY DIET FOR THE BETTER: CUT PROCESSED SUGAR AND SALT FROM YOUR DIET. EAT MORE RAW FRUITS AND VEGGIES. MORE LEAFY GREENS. this is probably the hardest thing to do but the most significant. Sugar leads to a lot of brain fog and other health issues. Excessive sugar intake has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease as well as an increased risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Excessive salt intake can lead to heart & kidney disease, high blood pressure, and fluid retention. Inflammation can come from taking in both salt and sugar at excessive levels. If you don’t do anything else, just be mindful of the amount of sugar and salt that you take in daily. One thing that helped me for salt was eating pistachios. For sugar, I eat more blackberries, apples, pears, and other fruit like watermelon or cantaloupe.
EXERCISE EVERY DAY. (Stretching is exercise) Some people are going to hate me for this but you don’t need rest days, you need to get your inactive ass… ACTIVE. You don’t need to go hard lifting weights every day. That’s not necessary (that requires resting the muscles you worked). But you should be doing some kind of physical activity every single day. Walk around your neighborhood. Go for a swim. GO TO THE GYM AND LIFT SOME WEIGHTS. Go run a mile. Stretch. Take a group fitness class. Do something every day. Find something even if it’s just you doing squats and pushups or stretching while watching Netflix movies.
STOP LOOKING AT SCREENS AND GO READ. Full stop. Put your phone down and read a book. Bored? No more endless scrolling, go read. Doesn’t matter what, pick a book and get into it. The average American doesn’t read. Most kids today can’t read on level. If you’re reading this, find more time to read, it will put you ahead of everyone around you more than likely. It will add to your knowledge base, expand your vocabulary, and allow you to flex that imagination muscle we all seem to lose as adults. One way to transition into this is to find books of your favorite shows and movies (most of them started as books) and start there. Find something interesting to you and jump in. And resist the urge to look at your phone by turning it off and putting it in another room. That phone is the source of many distractions for people (social media… and distracting people in your contact list) so you can only gain peace by locking it up for a few hours a day. You’ll thank yourself later.
STOP TALKING, FOCUS ON LISTENING. Everyone wants to be heard in every conversation. It’s inevitable. But it’s better for you to listen more than you talk. You learn sooooo much more about people by listening. Sometimes asking questions is too much. JUST LISTEN. Observe what the other person (or persons) is saying. Stop thinking of your response or what you would have done and just LISTEN to what the other person is saying to you.
STOPPED MAKING EXCUSES FOR MY ACTIONS AND BEHAVIOR. I realized that I was in sole control of my destiny and my past only mattered if I let it. I also made it a point to understand that my actions and behaviors are solely on me and not because something happened to me. I learned to look at my past as situations I needed to analyze so that I could make better decisions in my future. For example: why was I overeating and snacking late at night or not able to wake up early in the morning? I had to look at MY behavior and decisions like not eating sufficiently throughout my day or not going to sleep at a reasonable time so that my body could get the rest it needed. No excuses, just analysis and solutions.
I didn’t do all of this at once. I worked on each little by little. It’s all about training your mind each day. I noticed that I had trained myself to do bad things like stay up late and constantly crave and eat candy… Why not push my body to do the opposite? It is very possible. Now I love raw vegetables and only eat my salads with no dressing. I love raw veggies, rarely touch juice (even if I do, I water it down), and feel sick if I eat too much fried food. I have trained my body to crave the good stuff and reject the bad. Too much sugar, salt, or fried food and I will feel it the hard way; headache, stomachache, or sluggish and fatigued. Anyone that knows me off of social media knows I used to drink juice like water, now sugary drinks make my eye twitch and I have to water them all down. I’ve always been an active person so going to the gym consistently has been a habit since high school… and making that an every day dedication was a bit easier than anything else I worked at. I LOVE WORKING OUT. A good gym session is better than pound cake fresh out of the oven.
I noticed I had trouble focusing so I worked on my focus by forcing myself to be a better listener. Now when I talk to people, I mostly let them talk, and take mental notes of what they’re saying so I can ask questions and be an active listener. I also realized that my screen addiction was tied to me not being able to focus, and not being an active listener. It all circled back to HEALTH. All of it was making me UNHEALTHY. The lack of water, the lack of consistent exercise, the screen addiction, the terrible diet… all of that led to my lack of focus.. and being so scatter brained I couldn’t be an active listener… I connected the dots QUICK. Health is true wealth and the key to unlocking all of your life’s desires starts with SELF. You can’t perform like a 2025 Ferrari if you treat yourself like a ‘96 Buick.