Coming back to the mining lifestyle after 4 weeks off gave me a chance to regain composure and set some intentions for what I want to achieve and maintain this time.
Last time I made some poor health choices that left me feeling like I was trading more than my time for money.
This time I was intent on not letting my healthy habits slip and decided to hit the ground running foregoing the usual period of relaxed discipline to compensate the long 84 hour work weeks.
My intentions for this round were:
✔ Hone Discipline
✔ Improve fitness / Improve body composition
✔ Empower Self
⚖ Side Note:
When it comes discipline I see it as a choice between; moving towards where you want to be vs moving away from where you want to be.
In the moment of choosing that is felt as:
🤪 short term gratification
(pleasure, convenience, boredom)
vs
😇 delayed contentment
(reaping the rewards later)
🍔 First challenge: Food 🥗
⚖ My Version of Optimal Food Choices:
▪︎ low gi
▪︎ unprocessed
▪︎ nutritious
Resistance: Initially less appetising (concept, appearance, taste)
Examples: Grilled Chicken, Broccoli, Potato, Veggies with minimal sauce
Vs.
⚖ My Unhealthy Food Choices:
▪︎sugar
▪︎refined carbs
▪︎empty (high) calories
Temptation: Visually appealing, Intenser flavours
Examples: Desserts, Pizza, Soft Drinks
When I first get to site, it is tempting to explore all the foods on offer and especially this site where the desserts look amazing (tiramisu, vanilla slice, etc).
I was determined to not give them a chance to enter my decision making process though!
⚠️Results ⚠️
✅ On Day 5 I can say that I have chosen in alignment with my intentions ✅
Note: While I decided to have dessert on day 2… that tiramisu was too tempting 😅
Even then that wasn’t seen as a failure.
It was a conscious choice to have it, enjoy it and then choose healthier options thereafter.
After enjoying it I don’t feel the need to have it compulsively.
I’m content to treat myself every now and then but keep it as just that…a treat (maybe once a week or once a fortnight depends what I’m feeling).
🤔 Thats probably the hardest thing determining what your mind is telling you want and what your body actually wants.
💫 Conclusions: 💫
💢 After just 5 days of eating clean my palette has reset and I enjoy foods I would have considered plain before.
➡️ Disciplined action isn’t enjoyable in the beginning but becomes far more rewarding than the pleasures short term gratification can offer.
💢 In a new environment make the choices in line with your intents from the beginning and minimise choices against.
➡️ Making comfort decisions at the start create neural pathways that make it an easier choice to fall into next time.
💢 Seeing each meal as a choice between short term gratification and long term contentment made it easier to choose in alignment with my intentions.
➡️ There is a sense of weakness that comes with choosing things that are momentarily pleasurable but ultimately have long term negative consequences.
I’m sure that is one of life’s many paradoxes, as the opposite is true of delayed gratification – it isn’t pleasurable in the moment but it provides long term positive benefits.
I could go on about short term gratification vs long term contentment…and probably will in future posts 😂 for the meantime there’s some food for thought 😉