Hard Work As A Health Tool

I spent the last 4+ years at a job that had me standing in the same place 8+ hours a day. I spent a lot of time looking at the clock and waiting for the day to be over. I went to the gym but it just didn't make me feel active. 

Many of you know that I recently moved. I made a move across the country from the central coast of California to the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was house and location for us. I wanted a house with land but not in the middle of nowhere. I got one with the option of wood heat. It also has a finished room in the basement, so my bedroom is underground. I plan on writing a blog on this soon, because it is key. I wanted to be in a place far away from major cities. I wanted to be near water. I wanted to be able to use the snow and cold as a natural EMF blocker, but also as a natural shield from increased pollution. Snow keeps weak people away.
 
I have been here a few weeks now. I went from being California poor to Michigan middle class, which is nice. I have been pleasantly surprised at how much summer sun there is here, but also just how wonderful the area is. There are huge green trees everywhere you look. It is far away from  protests or virus drama. I moved here sight unseen and I could not be more pleased. It was certainly a risk most aren't willing to take. I often meet people who want to start a new life but always have an excuse to prevent them from actually doing it. People with far more money and assets than me have told me how lucky I am to be so broke because it makes it easier to leave. I just smile and say "lucky me." 

I am now out of the culture of California, the culture that I never belonged in. But I am grateful for my time in California as I now have a real home to compare it to and contrast is king. I never would have been able to appreciate this life here without having had 10 years of California. I am in a little town that I haven't had to leave since everything I need is 2 minutes away. 

What does all this have to do with hard work? I have been working very hard getting everything ready for my family to get here next week. I had forgotten how it feels to work on my own home. How nice it is to be sore and tired at the end of the day. How much exercise and accomplishment is found in these uncomfortable, grueling tasks. 

The take away: Find something to do that is constructive and requires the use of your hands. I tend to think a lot and have spent a lot of time in my mind in the past, but it has been really interesting to use tasks as meditations. To see that our minds and bodies have evolved in a way that rewards us for doing things. No amount of sitting at a desk or work in the form of making phone calls will fill the basic need for the body to move but ideally to sync with the brain and move in a way that the mind and body are one focused system. The reward is not only accomplishment but health and an ability to do more tasks better. 

Another nice thing has been the decreased need to focus so much on food. I still eat high quality food that is minimally processed, but when I got here I was set on doing intermittent fasting and eating low carb. I wasn't expecting so much sunshine here. As I started working I found myself waking up in the middle of the night. My body was pulling for sugar and I know the feeling well. I started eating carbs and even drinking a protein shake before bed. This immediately allowed me to sleep through the night and recover. When you're activity increases your body is like a dry sponge and can suddenly soak up calories and food more quickly. When you are inactive, those same resources go unused and are stored making us feel fat and heavy. I was mowing my lawn this morning in the sunshine. I am excited about not having to create fake ways of tricking my body into thinking it is working out in nature, because now I can for real. 

Get active. Accomplish something. Something small. Start where ever you are. Don't think you can or should should do the big things if you haven't mastered the small things. There are no cheats in this life. You get what you give. 

I'm working on an Airbnb house that I will share soon if anyone ever wants to take a trip up to Ironwood. The house is furnished. There is a small flight from Chicago or Minneapolis to Ironwood which simplifies the travel to get here. I will share more on this in time. The big cities are in opposition to our evolutionary bodies. Health will become increasingly more difficult to attain in cities. Ironwood has very inexpensive homes, so if you are able, I suggest visiting and maybe getting a second home here to at least have a place escape to should things get bad wherever you are. 

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