Fred Aiken Writing

Tag: health

Health-ish, Well, I’m a Being

Daily writing prompt
What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

None whatsoever. I sometimes like to think that I have a strategy to maintain my health, but I’d be lying. I’m horrible at maintaining anything resembling a diet or consistent exercise routine. If anything, the one thing I do fairly well and consistently is walk every day for thirty minutes during my lunch break. And, not to brag, but I am pretty consistent with eating three meals a day rather than starve myself for some ghastly reason.

But my gastrointestinal engorging would probably be classified as unhealthy. Not terribly unhealthy. But I’m sure most, like 9 out of 10, would agree that I need to eat more vegetables. Not fruits. I eat plenty of fruits. Perhaps too many fruits. I have a horrible sweet tooth, and fruits, if anything, are the one thing I do not need to be convinced to eat more of.

It’s mostly just a lot of processed type of foods, though, that I would imagine a dietician would tsk-tsk me into guilt and shame until I stopped. I did attempt to do that whole literary exercise of reading the packaging labels of the foods and beverages I consume, but I find the whole exercise terribly boring, terribly laborious, like the food labels were written by Herman Melville and the sole purpose of food labels are to bore me into submission or, more than likely, bore me into hunger, especially since I am very quick and prone to be at my hungriest during the day when I am also at my bored-est.

I did go through a period of purchasing quite a few pieces of home gym exercise equipment, like a treadmill and a weight lifting bench and a pull-up bar. But alas, I feel as if the dead skin flotsam has a better exercise than I, and I often find myself apologizing to the exercise equipment for their state of un-use as if it were some sort of abandoned child left out in the elements to fend for itself.

I would probably classify myself as being a perpetual starter of diets and exercise routines, but in terms of any sort of long-term strategies, well, that I unfortunately tend to fall rather flat on my face due to the lack of upper-body strength I have in my mid-thirties.

Though I suppose I’m not all too bummed about my lack of physical health. In a way, I guess I’ve devoted the time and energy I should have been exercising and eating right to more so doing the things and activities that I enjoy most, like reading, playing chess, and watching movies. And eating a lot of ice cream. Perhaps a unhealthy amount. But considering my general practitioner hasn’t said anything about it during my annual physicals, I guess I’m alright.

So, I guess one could say that I have bit of the old cognitive-smognitive sort of health. The ole happy-and-I-know-it so I occasionally-clap-along-to-the-tune-in-my-head sort of health. What I’m saying is, my strategy to maintain my health and well-being is to never listen to an advertisement, spend virtually no time on social media, and try in every possible way to do the exact polar opposite of what Elon Musk would do each and every day. And that, in short, makes for good livin’.

gone fishin’//into the future

Daily writing prompt
What are you most excited about for the future?

I’m looking forward to having the freedom to explore my passions and interests without the constraints of a 9-to-5 job. Imagine waking up each day with the possibility of doing something you love—whether it’s traveling, spending more time with family, pursuing hobbies, or even starting a small business just for fun. The idea of having the time to truly live life on my own terms is incredibly appealing.

Of course, financial stability is a big part of the equation. I’m actively working on building a solid retirement fund to ensure that when the time comes, I can enjoy my retirement without financial worries. It’s about striking the right balance between living for today and planning for tomorrow.

But I’m hoping to not be annoying about my investment strategy. Nothing like Wallstreetbets or a hedge fund manager, but rather just someone that consistently doesn’t spend money on things I don’t need, but rather puts it away in a savings and/or retirement account. I think my favorite thing to invest in is bonds. Not you junk, corporate type bonds. But rather those grade A, always going to pay a consistent percentage more type of bond. I also like bonds as an investment strategy because when you tell someone you’re buying a bond, it doesn’t lead to a vast amount of questions about why you’re buying those bonds, and in fact is an easy way to get out of a conversation you don’t want to be in. Try it next time you’re in a conversation you find annoying. Just mention the fact that you are thinking about buying government bonds(it doesn’t matter which government), and that will immediately end the conversation.

I suppose healthcare is another consideration for the future. Staying healthy and active is crucial for making the most out of retirement. I plan to prioritize my well-being, embracing a lifestyle that includes regular exercise, a balanced diet, and regular check-ups. At least in theory.

I probably fall short of taking care of my health as I would like most days. I tend to forget to get an annual physical done for reasons that are usually not sufficient. I still eat way too much sugar and processed foods due to how easy and accessible they are. And it doesn’t help that I don’t particularly like cooking. It’s not like I won’t cook. I will still make my own food rather than go out to eat, especially rather than going out to fast food. But I would definitely take a wild guess that most doctors would still classify my diet and eating habits as being the dreaded ‘room for improvement’.

But I suppose it’s all about making strides for improvement when it comes to personal health, both physically and mentally. Compared to my health in the late teens and early twenties, I know I’ve definitely gotten better. Unfortunately, I used to smoke, drink, and consume quite a bit of energy drinks. All of which I stopped doing when I turned 25 because I could no longer justify the shitty feeling I had whenever I woke up from doing those things. Granted, I didn’t immediately quit cold turkey, but rather it was a slow process of weaning myself off of each of them over the course of several months.

Though the part of caring for my health that I dislike the most is exercise. I know that it can improve serotonin levels and is good for the body. But it’s the part of health and caring for oneself that feels the most like work, and I have kinda gotten to the point where I really dislike working. So, I tend to do exercises that are the least impactful or strenuous, like walking or stretching. Sure, they won’t get me Hemsworth-like ripped, but I don’t want to look like that either way. I just want to be able to have basic mobility and physical functionality in my seventies without everything hurting all that time.

If you were to ask me what specifically I want to do when I finally retire, I would either have a whole list of activities or hobbies for you, or I would shrug and tell you that I have no clue. I suppose it just depends on the day, week, or month that you ask me. I know I will definitely be reading, but I already do plenty of that already. I would have more time to watch more movies, which would be nice. I might even paint, which I haven’t done on a regular basis since I was a teenager. So, sure, I might not have a definitive plan as to what I will do with my time in retirement, but I suppose I have time, you know, to figure it out.

Ultimately, I look forward to the opportunity to reflect on my life, cherish the moments, and create new memories. Retirement, to me, is not just about stepping away from work; it’s about stepping into a new chapter full of possibilities and experiences. While the future is uncertain and plans may change, the excitement of what lies ahead keeps me motivated and optimistic.

Hi-Ho, The Little Things

Daily writing prompt
What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?

I feel like there is too many to count, but I also tend to be highly critical of myself. In any given day, I never seem to have enough time or energy, or both, to do all the things that I want to get done. Part of the reason is because I’m incredibly ADD, but I’d rather not be on medication because the last time I was on ADD medication it made me super groggy and messed with my head quite a bit.

I’ve mostly been trying to implement little things to rein my ADD, like keeping a calendar and following a consistent schedule. It’s not an overly obsessive schedule, and I do leave room for it to be modified given changing conditions throughout the day. But for the most part, I always reference what I’ve written on my calendar as to what I should probably be doing at any given time.

The problem I usually have is getting sidetracked, or sometimes getting hyperfocused on something that I don’t put it down for hours. That mostly being chess. I play online chess compulsively, and if I could get away with playing it seventeen or more hours a day, then I would. But when I get sucked into playing hours and hours of chess, I never accomplish anything, or at least I don’t feel as if I accomplished anything. Plus, I start to slightly hallucinate chess moves that I should have made in x, y, or z game.

I think the general perception is that ADD means you are always distracted, and for the most part that’s true of me. But, as I said, I can definitely get hyperfocused on one particular thing for long stretches of time, and I find it incredibly difficult to pull myself away from whatever it is I’m doing at the time. Hence, why I feel the need to break my day down into little segments that I put in a Google calendar that sends me push notifications to let me know what I should be doing at any given time.

The problem I face is when I become too critical of myself when I don’t do all the things and tasks that I want to do in a given day. It then feels like the entire day is ruined, and the rest of the night my mood is shot. I feel defeated. What I should probably do is setup my calendar where I focus on only one or two things each day and only tackle those things. Though it’s usually never that simple, really. Most of the tasks I want to accomplish revolve around something creative I do outside of work, like writing, painting, sewing, or they’re something I try to do to improve upon myself, like reading a book, learning a new language, or taking free online classes on topics I don’t know that much about. Some of those things just depend on what I feel inspired to do that day, and rarely is it dependent on what I put on my calendar.

So, I suppose the main improvement I can make is trying not to be too critical of what I don’t do, and more so focus on the things that I have done any given day.

Also, now that I’m older, I need to make improvement on my health. I know I’ve let myself go. I was never a gym rat, so I never built any habits of working out or staying active. Instead, when I was younger, I used to walk everywhere. I’d probably estimate that I was walking 6-10 miles per day, whereas now I barely walk 3 miles per day. I live a pretty sedentary lifestyle. And my doctor has told me so. They’re telling me that I’m right at the precipice of being overweight for my height, which a pretty big bummer.

The doctor gave me a list of simple recommendations that seem easy enough to follow. But I’ve had trouble keeping to eating smaller portions and being even slightly more active. This is probably one of those more major improvements that I need to make, but I suppose the first thing would be making small steps to improving my overall health. Maybe walking a little bit. Definitely eating less processed foods and more fruits and vegetables. I guess it’s mostly trying to make vegetables taste better. I tend to not really like the taste of raw, plain veggies. Fruits I could eat all night and day, but they obviously have naturally occuring sugar in them, so I doubt it’s super healthy to just focus on fruits and not integrate veggies into my diet.

Granted, it’s always super easy to diagnose a problem in your life. But taking the small steps to improve and better yourself is incredibly boring, much like brushing your teeth and taking a shower. Small improvements are a form of maintenance that you tend to not see the payoff until much later, if at all. Though perhaps not seeing any drastic change in one’s life is an indicator that the small improvements are working.