These days the internet is full of all kind of charlatanry on how to instantly improve your health and solve all your problems. I don’t believe in easy shortcuts, but here are a few steps you can take that I believe can improve your health and quality of life.
1. Support your Local Farmers
Get your food from local farmers as much as possible. Even better if you grow it yourself, but that’s a different story.
This is a great way to get a quality product and support local small businesses who care rather than huge corporations. Buy from your farmers directly or hit up a local farmer’s market to avoid middle-men.
Since they are likely to eat their own supply and work their own land, you are likely to get better quality food with less negative environmental impact. I’ve talked to lots of farmers in my area that have been switching to regenerative farming methods.
This is very different than factory farming, where the bottom line is the almighty dollar and you can bet the CEOs don’t partake in their own goods.
Another benefit is fresher food that doesn’t have to travel far to get to you.
Plus your local market is less affected by “supply chain disruptions.”
I don’t care what kind of diet you follow, supporting your local farmers is always a great thing to do.
2. Walk Every Day
I believe that walking is very underrated, both as a form of physical exercise and as a meditation tool for increased mental clarity. I often get some of my best ideas when I’m out for a walk.
If simply walking is not intense enough for you, there are many ways to add some spice to it. Sometimes I like to do different breathing exercises/patterns or incorporate breath holds during my walks. Sometimes I’ll add some calisthenics or jog/sprint intervals. Sometimes I’ll carry and use another fitness implement like a tennis ball, ring, rubber band, club, rope, etc. to kill two birds with one stone.
However you do it, I recommend daily walks.
3. Spend more time Barefoot
I used to be that weird kid who would always walk around barefoot, even in the winter. I didn’t do it for any particular reason back then, I just disliked shoes. In retrospect, I was completely right and I am happy to have stuck to my guns all these years.
Most modern shoes are build like prisons: they either compress the foot and take away its ability to move, or numb it to create a kind of sensory deprivation.
The feet act as a sensory organ taking in information about the world. On top of that, they are an impressive feat of engineering, able to bend, conform, absorb, and redirect force in different directions. Walking barefoot, especially on a variety of surfaces gives your body valuable stimulation and allows you to use your feet to their potential.
Of course you should be safe, but try to walk barefoot when/where you can. Yes there are many good minimalist shoe options out there now, and they are great, but still try to go completely barefoot.
4. Learn Something New
As an adult, how often do you try to learn something new? Kids are literally learning machines, but it seems like it’s something we lose as adults. I believe it is doing a disservice to yourself to not continually try to learn new things. Keep in mind, how good you get has very little to do with the actual learning process.
Sharing a personal experience, I recently rented a car with a manual transmission for a few days for the practice. It’s not a completely new skill for me, but I have not had much opportunity for training and needed to log some hours to get more confident.
I was nervous at first, and definitely stalled out a bunch of times which was frustrating. By the third day I felt completely secure and confident driving a manual transmission in a variety of driving conditions.
This reminded me of the value of doing things that make you nervous, as it gives the opportunity to step up and grow.
5. Seek Discomfort
We have access many modern comforts that we take for granted; many things that we consider standard, our ancestors would not have dreamed of.
No, I’m not saying you should live like a caveman to offer tribute to the ancestral ways, but I think it’s beneficial to not always seek out the most comfortable option right away.
It’s cold? Let yourself be cold for a while. Hot? Same thing. Hungry? Experiment with fasting, feel the hunger. Uncomfortable being alone? In a crowd of people? Do it once in a while for the experience.
Discomfort allows for adaptation.
6. Maintain a Ratio of Creation and Consumption
Do you create as much as you consume? I think one cause of overall unhappiness in people is overconsumption without sufficient creation. Now, the idea of “creating” doesn’t have to be taken literally. The basic way I take the concept is doing something versus watching someone else do it.
Creation can take many forms, and I think there is a huge benefit to adding this concept to your life.
Nothing revolutionary here, but it’s what I consider doable advice that I try to follow myself. Maybe a little bit too realistic to get much traction with today’s clickbait standards, but I prefer a bit of realism.
Let me know your thoughts.