A few of the things I’ve learned over the past 1,000 days

1,000 days ago, I decided to challenge myself to take a break from alcohol. Initially the goal was to go for 60-days but it just continued, and over time it became less about not drinking and more about overall physical and emotional wellness. I’ve gained so much over this period and this post highlights of few of the things I’ve learned and am grateful for.

First, as time progressed, I learned that the ways to improve my sense of peace and wellness were not so much about foregoing something like alcohol but about learning how to take better care of myself. Generally speaking, I’ve always been quite physically active and have had a reasonably healthy eating plan. But I have tended to neglect other aspects of wellness, for example stretching, mindfulness practices, rest and core physical stability.

Second, by personally embarking on (and sticking to) a daily meditation/mindfulness practice, I’ve come to experience such unexpected benefits; these continue to compound as the days, weeks and months progress. Mental focus, both in my professional and personal life, has improved dramatically. In my career I have at times (too often for my managers I’m sure) had errors/missed small details; my personal belief was that this was due to being a “big picture person/thinker”. However, through a daily restorative mindfulness practice, I’ve come to see that a busy and cluttered mind was really the root cause.

Third, by acknowledging the importance of sleep to my overall wellness and developing the discipline to sleep more, the physical and emotional/mental benefits continue to grow. Likely, I suffered from FOMO (fear of missing out) regarding news, current events, social media etc. and tried to squeeze more and more into a day at the neglect of sleep/rest. I now sleep on average 1.5 – 2 hours more each night than I did 1,000 days ago and I know my increased sense of well-being can be directly tied to this.

Fourth, (and directly related to the first three insights noted above) I’ve come to better understand emotional pain, and how it’s very similar to physical pain. I wrote a bit more about this in a prior post but in summary, if we are experiencing emotional pain (think loss, shame, traumatic experiences) we have an innate drive to seek out a source of relief. For example, in the aftermath of, say, an ongoing stressful or powerless work situation or belittling/shaming personal experiences, we may tend to seek out a quick source of relief. Unfortunately, if we fail to address the source(s) of our emotional pain (and develop the tools to manage it) we will likely fall prey to outlets that give some initial relief yet fail to resolve the underlying pain, or likely make things even worse over time.

For me, the past 1,000 days has been a journey of developing new skills that have profoundly improved my physical and emotional health. My relationship with life as a whole has shifted in ways that are difficult to even begin to describe in a short post; I endeavor to write more on these topics in follow-up pieces. Thanks for taking the time to read this and, as always, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or want to learn more about any of the things I’ve been putting into practice in my life.