As part of my ongoing effort to change many things about my life, I've decided to give myself a new name here and start over with a new profile. I'll let you guess the reference. (Answer: http://eatslikeaduck.com/hot-pepsi/)
Other things I'm doing:
I don't have a TV at the moment. The one I had was doing a poor job of playing anything from the internet so I gave it to somebody who has cable but not an HDTV. I was going to get a new one, but I think I won't. It's been liberating so far. Yeah, I haven't watched Stranger Things or the end of last seasons' Game of Thrones, but I find I don't care. If I want to watch sports, I can go to a bar. I have the MLB, NHL, and MLS packages on my phone/computer. Going to turn that room into a space just for working out. Or maybe something else. Not sure yet.
Doing a lot more hiking in the woods with my dog. I live next to Rothrock State Forest. It's a magical place. Come visit. I'd like to start doing more mountain biking, but I need to get in better shape to handle the trails we have around here. Very rocky.
Am trying to become a vegetarian with a view toward being a vegan. Not easy. I'm very lazy/indifferent to cooking. I realized that I don't need an airtight logical high-falutin logical argument for it. It's just about compassion (and the environment). Yeah, an animal's death isn't the biggest tragedy in the universe, but wouldn't it be better if we didn't kill it? And we're killing zillions and doing it in the least humane most horrifying ways. Some days it's too much to bear so I have to pretend like I don't know that. But...yeah. And I'll probably give up trying to be a fly-fisherman too. Fish, unlike pigs or cows or even chickens, really are very simple and I don't think they feel fear or pain in a way we can imagine, but they do feel stress in some vague way, so I figure it's better to just leave them alone. But if I need to eat something and there are no good vegan options, I'll pick the fish.
Going to try to lose 100 lbs via eating a lot more vegetables, few carbs, and getting back into the exercise routine that I stopped two years ago after my accident. So much quackery out there on this topic. Fortunately, I know enough about how science works - if not actual biology - to sort through it, I hope.
Still only getting about 4 hours a sleep a night, which is ruining my life in many ways, but I'm not giving up trying to fix that. Working on seeing yet another doctor about it. Someday it will get better.
Giving up all social media except a bit of twitter since I have to do that for work and I'll maintain my dog's instagram. If you want to talk to me, we can email or write paper letters or text or meet in a pub. Send me a direct message via this platform and I'll share my email. All of these are much better ways to relate to other people than facebook or twitter, I've found.
I'm going to try to stop worrying about things I cannot control, including the outcomes of sporting events and America's rapid decline into fascism. I'll try to spend my energy, helping animals, immigrants, LGBTQ people, minorities, women, children, refugees etc. Arguing with fascists online is not useful.
Not going to be so judgmental of people who are, well, for lack of a better word, stupid. That sounds really judgmental. Shit. I just mean, you know, that we don't know what journey led to somebody being who they are, even if who they are is somebody doing something evil. We don't know if they're irredeemable. And that's all assuming that they're wrong and I'm right, which is often not the case, I've found.
Still thinking about moving to Canada. But I think it will have to wait...realistically, it will probably have to wait until my parents have passed on. That's a horrible thing to contemplate, but they're 70, not getting any younger. I'm about five hours from them. I don't think I want to put more distance in there. Plus, I like where I live for the most part. I just wish it had a big cold lake and wasn't in a country run by militarists.
Going to keep doing the psychotherapy and a thing called spiritual formation. Ask if you want to know what that's all about. It's part meditation and part woo. I believe that woo is very important.
Going to read a lot more. Especially getting back into philosophy and try to develop my ideas about relational metaphysics and what not.
Still doing the church youth group leadership. It sounds lame, but it's the opposite of lame. There's no doctrine and not really much Bible. It's about creating a "safe space," in the modern lingo, to let kids learn who they are and build a community based on love.
Not sure about this job I have. We'll see. Options are limited.
Chipped my front tooth doing something dumb. It's actually not my tooth but the bit of whatever the dentist put on it to fix the last chip/grind-away. Oops. Need to call the dentist. He's got some other stuff he wants to do in there, so it's no problem.
Resolved not to kill myself. If nothing else, I owe it to my dog.
Anyone else doing any big lifestyle changes? Any advice on the above?
Other things I'm doing:
I don't have a TV at the moment. The one I had was doing a poor job of playing anything from the internet so I gave it to somebody who has cable but not an HDTV. I was going to get a new one, but I think I won't. It's been liberating so far. Yeah, I haven't watched Stranger Things or the end of last seasons' Game of Thrones, but I find I don't care. If I want to watch sports, I can go to a bar. I have the MLB, NHL, and MLS packages on my phone/computer. Going to turn that room into a space just for working out. Or maybe something else. Not sure yet.
Doing a lot more hiking in the woods with my dog. I live next to Rothrock State Forest. It's a magical place. Come visit. I'd like to start doing more mountain biking, but I need to get in better shape to handle the trails we have around here. Very rocky.
Am trying to become a vegetarian with a view toward being a vegan. Not easy. I'm very lazy/indifferent to cooking. I realized that I don't need an airtight logical high-falutin logical argument for it. It's just about compassion (and the environment). Yeah, an animal's death isn't the biggest tragedy in the universe, but wouldn't it be better if we didn't kill it? And we're killing zillions and doing it in the least humane most horrifying ways. Some days it's too much to bear so I have to pretend like I don't know that. But...yeah. And I'll probably give up trying to be a fly-fisherman too. Fish, unlike pigs or cows or even chickens, really are very simple and I don't think they feel fear or pain in a way we can imagine, but they do feel stress in some vague way, so I figure it's better to just leave them alone. But if I need to eat something and there are no good vegan options, I'll pick the fish.
Going to try to lose 100 lbs via eating a lot more vegetables, few carbs, and getting back into the exercise routine that I stopped two years ago after my accident. So much quackery out there on this topic. Fortunately, I know enough about how science works - if not actual biology - to sort through it, I hope.
Still only getting about 4 hours a sleep a night, which is ruining my life in many ways, but I'm not giving up trying to fix that. Working on seeing yet another doctor about it. Someday it will get better.
Giving up all social media except a bit of twitter since I have to do that for work and I'll maintain my dog's instagram. If you want to talk to me, we can email or write paper letters or text or meet in a pub. Send me a direct message via this platform and I'll share my email. All of these are much better ways to relate to other people than facebook or twitter, I've found.
I'm going to try to stop worrying about things I cannot control, including the outcomes of sporting events and America's rapid decline into fascism. I'll try to spend my energy, helping animals, immigrants, LGBTQ people, minorities, women, children, refugees etc. Arguing with fascists online is not useful.
Not going to be so judgmental of people who are, well, for lack of a better word, stupid. That sounds really judgmental. Shit. I just mean, you know, that we don't know what journey led to somebody being who they are, even if who they are is somebody doing something evil. We don't know if they're irredeemable. And that's all assuming that they're wrong and I'm right, which is often not the case, I've found.
Still thinking about moving to Canada. But I think it will have to wait...realistically, it will probably have to wait until my parents have passed on. That's a horrible thing to contemplate, but they're 70, not getting any younger. I'm about five hours from them. I don't think I want to put more distance in there. Plus, I like where I live for the most part. I just wish it had a big cold lake and wasn't in a country run by militarists.
Going to keep doing the psychotherapy and a thing called spiritual formation. Ask if you want to know what that's all about. It's part meditation and part woo. I believe that woo is very important.
Going to read a lot more. Especially getting back into philosophy and try to develop my ideas about relational metaphysics and what not.
Still doing the church youth group leadership. It sounds lame, but it's the opposite of lame. There's no doctrine and not really much Bible. It's about creating a "safe space," in the modern lingo, to let kids learn who they are and build a community based on love.
Not sure about this job I have. We'll see. Options are limited.
Chipped my front tooth doing something dumb. It's actually not my tooth but the bit of whatever the dentist put on it to fix the last chip/grind-away. Oops. Need to call the dentist. He's got some other stuff he wants to do in there, so it's no problem.
Resolved not to kill myself. If nothing else, I owe it to my dog.
Anyone else doing any big lifestyle changes? Any advice on the above?
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