Wealth building is high on the list of priorities for us at The Money Principle. We believe in personal finance with a twist – we build sustainable wealth for a happier life, and take the friends of The Money Principle with us. We don’t lust after riches, Champaign-filled baths, and island hopping the Mediterranean on yachts.
Wealth building The Money Principle way is about living a life of moderation, contributing to our communities and society, being producers, not consumers, and carefully controlled hedonism.
All that is impossible and pointless without keeping healthy.
(Also my words for 2022 are ‘health and wealth’.)
I have a confession to make – over the last year, I dropped the ball on health a bit.
Yes, to my shame, I have neglected my health somewhat.
I could blame the COVID pandemic. I am not going to do that.
The last two years were hard on all of us. I am sure for many of you, the COVID years were harder than they were to my husband and me.
We felt lonely. We couldn’t do the things we wanted to do like travel and go out. What is new?
When the whole sh*t show started in March 2020, I realised that surviving hard times is about keeping your focus on where you wish to end up. And I promised myself that I would end up lighter, fitter, and healthier.
It was all going well. Until, eighteen months in, my head collapsed. I couldn’t keep my eye on where I wished to be. My life lost its colour and my existence had no meaning.
I have never been depressed but I suppose this is the closest I ever came to it.
Let me ask you, what do you do when your existence has no meaning?
Yes, I hear you; you escape.
I did the same. And escape is often not healthy.
Some drink to forget.
Some do drugs to lose themselves.
These are not the weaknesses in which I retreat. My escape is fiction – books, movies and dreams.
I moved less, ate more chocolate, and escaped (some of the time) into imagined realities to avoid my fears and angst.
This is not a lifestyle I enjoy.
Getting my stuff together or the road to recovery
Over the last several weeks I have been thinking about how to interrupt this downward spiral.
I don’t like myself being destructive.
I like myself creative, positive, and active.
After researching the matter (understand reading again ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, and reading on depression, stress, psychological frailty, aging, etc.) I have designed an experiment for myself.
It consists of three elements.
Keeping a wealth building and health diary
Photo by Marc Schaefer on Unsplash
I started keeping a wealth building and health diary. Every evening, I write my thoughts on the day that has passed.
I don’t document what has happened – I don’t believe this is important.
It is not important what happens to us but what we make of it. Hence in my diary I don’t record events but my reflections on these events.
It is amazing because writing in my diary always leaves me feeling more upbeat about life and all.
(I also have a five-year diary but have not started it yet.)
One month from returning to Manchester on Monday, I’ll let you know how this is going and how it has affected my life (if at all).
Use Sensate every day for a minimum of ten minutes
Okay, this is one of the gadgets I bought earlier this year.
A Sensate is a pebble-like gadget that links to an app. You place the pebble on your chest and it vibrates while you listen to calming sounds.
My husband calls it a ‘chest vibrator’.
What does it do?
Sensate uses sonic resonance to calm down nerves, increase stress resilience (how we react to stressful situations), and increase heart rate variability which is a sign of health and longevity.
The vibrations connect with the vagus nerve at the core of the nervous system.
Now, when I first read about this I thought is one of these urban myths designed to make you part with your cash. (And Sensate is not cheap at $249.)
But desperate times and all…
I bought it and after months of using it only sporadically – and feeling great after each use – I decided to use it every day for a minimum of ten minutes per day.
Will keep you updated on how this one is going.
Exercise at least thirty minutes per day
This was the hardest one to jumpstart.
I had many false starts – a shame for a former marathon runner.
Hence, I have been using our time on Skiathos to swim every day.
Hopefully, two weeks would help me build a habit.
So far, I have missed one swim because I had a cold.
And I feel fantastic.
***
Look, I have a choice.
Either I continue on a downward spiral of escapism, chocolate, and no movement, or change.
And if I have to try a strange gadget alongside tried and trusted methods, so be it.