Chris J Wilson

I’ve never seen a twinky, so they can’t exist. Sure, sometimes one appears on TV in a fictional series or on the news but that doesn’t mean they are actually real. Many of my friends have never seen a twinky either and I suspect those who say they have seen a twinky really saw something else. Even if twinkies were real, which they are not, just because there are some twinkies doesn’t mean all food is a twinky and I’m definitly not a twinky eater. And really, even if there are some twinkies out there, that doesn’t mean I should do anything about it. After all, I’m not a twinky eater. The real problem is those anti-Twinky advocates and protestors. They are the real twinkey eaters and if only they’d shut up about twinkies, maybe we could finally live in a world without twinkies… In summary, twinkies don’t exist.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I refuse to stay silent and I choose to act. I don’t have a perfect plan but I can start. I’m volunteering for a local refugee group, I’ve ordered “so you want to talk about race” and I’m looking at some other measures.

I’m also sorry for times even within the last year where I haven’t challenged racist comments. I stayed safe within my privilege while others suffer from these ideas.

The iPad is both a great focusing device — it heavily favours one app at a time — and a great distraction device — the perfect couch device with all those games, comics, videos, and more.

Increasingly, I find that the later is interfearing with the former.

Maybe I need a work iPad and a couch iPad.* *my wife would not agree.

My wife has a growing interesting in speed reading and related rapid learning techniques. I was really interested in accelerated learning about seven years ago but came to two conclusions.

1. There’s a lot of rubbish out there
2. I was unsure if it led to long term learning. Speed reading was a perfect example. It promised a method to read many times faster and remember everything. I questioned these statements as they usually seemed to focus on short term memory performance and not long-term memory. So I just wrote the whole thing off. But my wife’s interest has re-kindled my own, and I want to do a little experiment. I mean, If I could read three times faster, that would mean more books. So I’m giving it a go, I’m sceptical, but I’ll report back on what I find.

Celebration of Discipline is Richard Foster’s classic look into the timeliess Christian Disciplines. He covers a the inward, outward and corporate disciplines looking at different traditions, the mindset and goal behind each and with suggested practices to start exploring the traditions. It was a hugely influencial book in my early adulthood and I have been rereading it this last year. Shop your local indie bookstore

I am not an expert. I’m not incompetent in many areas either, but I’m definitely not an expert. I have so much to learn in every area of life — work, family, faith, creativity, DIY, finance, generosity — that far surpasses what I do know. Sometimes this makes me feel really out of place in a world of Gurus. When I look at what a lot of other copywriters say about themselves, it’s all boasting about how fantastic they are. It’s like all those businesses that say they are the best at what they do; someone must be lying. I’m sure there are plenty of brilliant and talented people out there. Still, there are also plenty of “fake it till you make it” wannabes who Shakespeare might say “the guru doth boast too much, methinks.”

Most of the time, I feel somewhat inadequate because I’m not an expert, but today I realized it has some advantages.

• As a non-expert, I know I need to keep learning and keep growing.
• As a non-expert, I’m not stuck in “best practices” or “the way it’s always been done.”
• As a non-expert, I sm open to listen to other people and their experiences.

Of course, it’s not really a strict expert/non-expert divide but a scale. At times my ego is stronger and makes me less teachable and more boastful. Still, increasingly I’m trying to embrace sharing my experiments and results as well as listening to other people’s tests. When I do take that approach, everything seems better, and suddenly, many of the gurus look a lot less intimidating.

I haven’t had the easiest transition in the work from home, lockdown lifestyle caused by the roller-covid-coaster. Many of the core habits for supporting my physical and mental health have fallen away and environmental factors haven’t helped me form new ones.

Even before the government mandated restrictions, I wasn’t really looking after myself well. Apart from the walk part of my morning commute – which admittedly did fulfill the advised 30 minutes of brisk walking health organization recommend – I did little in the way of exercise. With my bare minimum taken away, I’ve been left with next to nothing.

The quantifiable evidence if my Apple Watch rings which usually get to around half full for the red ring and a dot for the green ring. Although, there have been occasions like our trips to the farm where I make sure to go for a walk down to the forest at the end of field and close my rings.

Despite knowing the importance of exercise for not just physical but mental health, I’ve let it slide and the effects have been noticeable. I haven’t handled stress as well as I used to, I’ve felt tired at times and when I do meet my Apple Watch goals for the day, I feel sore afterwards, like I had gone to the gym for a workout.

The straw that finally broke the camels back was watching CGP Grey’s fantastic video, spaceship you.

I don’t know why this got through to me after I had read several articles on the topic and listened to podcasts discussing the importance of exercise during the lockdown, but it did. And I’m grateful.

The Plan

I like simple plans as they are easier to complete and so more likely to actually get done. This is what I’ve started so far, and what I hope to add soon.

1. Talked to my wife:

I needed to get her onboard as wrangling our child care arrangements has caused issues. My old habits just can’t work when someone has to take care of our daughter at certain points

2. Started a simple health challenge app

I’ve had the health mate app from withings on my watch for a long time thanks to some old devices. They have a work from home challenge where they send you advice and simple exercises to do. It’s not a full workout, but I’ve already done more exercise in the last couple of days than the previous few weeks.

3. Cut the chips, sweets and beer

The other side of health to exercise is what I’m putting in to my body. I know that sugar and unhealthy foods made me feel more sluggish and lethargic. Sometimes I justify it by my high metabolism but right now I’m burning less calories and so I’ve cut down on a few guilty pleasure.

Stuff to come

1. Trying a new workout app

I’ve downloaded the fitbod app that I’ve heard a couple of people recommend and I’m going to start trying those workouts out. They have body weight exercises so I don’t need any equipment, which is good, as I have none. I haven’t started this yet, I’m waiting for the exercise habit to stick.

2. Taking more compliant walks

Restrictions are lifting here in Poland with parks and forests now open so it’s much easier to go for a walk now than it was before. Still, I will make sure I’m complying with regulations and doing whatever else I can to minimize my risk of being exposed and exposing others.

Action

None of this matters if I don’t take action. I’ve done a few things but I need to keep doing it. It has already helped me deal with some of my physical and mental health issues and I’m sure doing more with continue these improvements.

P.s. I wrote this post this morning and did more exercise today and felt even better.