As health professionals and research have been reciting lately, forget the celery juice and biohacking, the basics are back in trend: sleep, sunshine, movement, nutrition, and relationships/connection.

It’s about mastering the long game.

Thank god.

Because if I see another overly expensive and complicated cure-all I’ll lose ma’ mind. I mean, not really, but it was getting a little…much.

And this is said without judgement, because I’ve certainly done-all-the-things and bought-all-the-things in the quest for better health. While it’s sometimes been helpful, it has mostly been exhausting.

Focusing on the basics, first, now that I can muster.

What Makes The Basics Hard

Hi, it’s me. I’m the problem it’s me. Besides being famous Taylor Swift lyrics, it’s humbling to think that the things that serve us best a) aren’t the attractive quick fixes but the small compounding perspective and behaviour changes, and b) often not what we want to do. While I joke about the problem being us (it’s so much more than that, I know), the good news is that the solution is as well.

What Makes The Basics Easier (For Me And Maybe You)

If I need to implement small yet powerfully compounding change in my life, then it helps adopt the identity of a person that embodies the desired changes. Think “I am a person who…XYZ”. I am a person who wakes up early. I am a person who walks daily. I am a person who takes cold showers. I am a person who lifts weights. I am a deep connection friend, vegetable eater, solid sleeper, sunrise seeker, and athlete-in-my-own-right kind of person. I just…AM.

In addition to adopting the persona of who I want to be (and therefore am…there’s a longer conversation for ya), here are some added perspectives/habits that help:

• don’t have to love everything that’s good for us (like broccoli)

• increase understanding with books and podcasts

• view emotions as data and sit in awareness with them

• take an ‘eat the frog first’ approach (do things you like least first)

• create a path of least resistant to goals

• set up the home environment to match new habits

• work with professionals (sports clubs, therapy, nutritionists, mentors)

• stay motivation by reviewing trends over time

The basics (sleep, sunshine, movement, nutrition, and relationships/connection) are simple, and it’s ok that they aren’t always easy. We can do the hard things, and hard things are part of life overall.

Anna Lembke, MD dives into addiction in all forms, whether it’s Netflix, drugs, sugar, shopping, food, sex, social media or other. She has both a compassionate and straight forward approach in this easy to read book on understanding and finding balance in an age of indulgence.

Michael Easter explains why it benefits us to be uncomfortable from time to time, he talks about cold water immersion, nutrition, rucking, and misogi in this popular and well loved book.

Dive into neuroscience with this article on “How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain” Not only does it describe the ‘why’ but also highlights what can be done about it.

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