How does hunting help you mentally

[gjs4]

It makes things exponentially better or worse. I take it too seriously and recognize that is a choice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EricS]

I wish I could tell you something astonishing that would alter your outlook on life. When I was younger I found peace in hunting and fishing. I said I could solve all the worlds problems sitting on a pond dam not catching a thing. It was very important to my mental health. As I got older how many fish I caught, how big they were etc became important. Same way with deer hunting. So now it’s a stressor that I really enjoy. Last year I lost a half sister and a father in law and between that and having a brother that was terminally ill I just didn’t feel like hunting last year at all. I went some because of what I have invested in it and hoping I would feel different once I got out there. I really didn’t. This year I’ve lost that brother and my dad. Not sure how I’ll feel by this fall. I wouldn’t say I’m depressed but sometimes quiet, still, and dark places aren’t the best places to be. I have been fishing more this summer and spent a pile of time in the woods scouting and trying to start a squirrel dog this spring. Had a blast.
I deal with the low testosterone thing myself. Like double digits low. I take a shot every week. It’s still low. Being overweight and physically inactive doesn’t help. With low t you don’t feel like being active. Its hard to say which is the cause or effect. Am I fat and out of shape because of low testosterone or is my testosterone low because I’m fat and out of shape. Also the shots haven’t been life changing either. Just taking the shots didn’t change my numbers much at all.Taking shots and working out got my numbers to the low end of normal. Some people start taking shots and claim they felt ten years younger but that just wasn’t the case for me.

Also I find my peace in the one that created the deer that drives us mad. He doesn’t make all our worldly problems go away but at least there’s no closed season. With forum rules being what they are I’ll leave it at that.

 

[Robert loper]

@Robert loper, how is your spiritual health?

Not much in my life nor my family. My wife has become pretty stubborn with a ton of things over the last 4-5 years. We have been together for 30.
she believes in tsking care of things kind of in house rather involving anyone else including medical people , friends, or church.
i pray to the lord probably daily.
its just not an option, but im fine with thst because i do it my own way.

 

[Robert loper]

Want to thank everyone for the tips snd advice.
I turned 48 on may 25th and I just feel lost and confused on what i want snd want to do.
Marriage is not a good one after 30 years.
alot of bickering and spats.
tried everything under the sun but it is what it is.
i recently took a job that i feel like im just being used as a mule.
I have a little bit of trade skills but not enough where my boss is confident in my abilities.
I get that I really do.
my boss i love and is an awesome guy but, this is temporary and its not my endgame.
I just am so confused and lost in my life.
so many questions and hurt.
my head feels like its been in a blender for a week.
To be perfectly honest i posted my dilemma to maybe get answers or tips for me and other people who are feeling the same as me.
I know they are out there. Especially men.
for some reason alot of men see depression as a weakness and hold everything in for years and years.
do not do this. I did it for years and now at 48 im lost and just tired.
thnks you all for support snd help provided for me and anyone else out there reading this post.

 

[EricS]

If you’re wife isn’t comfortable sharing every problem in her life I get it and am the same way about many things.
If you can do it on your own in your own way that’s great but few people can. It’s like going to the gym with a group of people vs putting a weight machine in your basement. If we were self motivated enough to push ourselves to be better and grow stronger I wouldn’t be in the condition I am.
I’m not sure of what exactly you meant by “it’s just not an option”. It sounds like you’re forfeiting a battle that’s already been won. I really hope that’s not the case. If you ever want to talk shoot me a PM.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

The more remote you go, the better I feel. I have two properties i hunt that i can literally see and hear traffic on the highway then some properties and public ground where traffic is limited to the few residents and other hunters. Just a different feeling.

 

[BTaylor]

Not much in my life nor my family. My wife has become pretty stubborn with a ton of things over the last 4-5 years. We have been together for 30.
she believes in tsking care of things kind of in house rather involving anyone else including medical people , friends, or church.
i pray to the lord probably daily.
its just not an option, but im fine with thst because i do it my own way.

If your church has life groups or bible study groups that meet at homes might be a more agreeable fit for you and your wife. Might have to try a few to find the right fit but the support and encouragement from a small group is super important imo. My wife and I actually started a new group this year that meets every other sunday one meeting is an outdoor activity with really no discussion related to church or scripture. The instruction for participants is while we are hiking or whatever outdoor activity we are doing, open your eyes and senses to what surrounds you and make mental notes about things that stand out for discussion. As the leader I do the same but carry a camera and take pics of things that stand out to me. Those pics of nature or the activity I then relate to scripture for discussion at the next gathering. The goal of the group is to build relationship with each other and with Christ through observation of the written word, scripture and the spoken word, creation. We are not built to go through life alone. We need people in our lives that will hold us accountable, to pick us up, for encouragement and prayer. Your group should be a safe place where no discussion is out of bounds and no judgement is cast. There is a great deal of peace to be gained by shedding the weight of burden, scripture instructs us to turn that over to God and the right small group is great place to learn how to do that and when comfortable to share, start doing it. We are all broken and we are all sinners. We will be that way until this earthly body is done. Praying for you.

 

[kyler1945]

try to habituate to activities and behaviors that are good for you.

You're not going to suddenly be in good shape, or eat right, or sleep enough, or fix communication problems with your wife, or be good at or enjoy a job, etc. etc.

Easy example - exercise every day. Let's go with pushups. Do pushups every single day at the same time. Doesn't matter how many. Doesn't matter how good your form is. The key is to do it every day at the same time. Why? Pushups are great of course. But motivation is fleeting. Being a person who can do 100 pushups is neat. But it doesn't cause well-being. Being a person who does pushups at 7:30am every day, regardless of the circumstances of their life, can and will cause dramatic changes in well-being in a person. Be the type of person who WILL NOT miss out on doing what you've agreed with yourself to do. The key is not an amount or an intensity. That's dictated by motivation. It's the habit.

Personally, I'd start with sleep. Go to bed at the same time every night, and don't get out of bed until at least 8 hours later with no lights and no phone. You can pick the time. You can pick the bed. You can pick the sheets. You can shower or not. You can do whatever you want before you go to bed. Then lights off at X time, and don't get out of bed until 8 hours later. Form the habit.

Then apply this to all the areas of your life that aren't healthy, satisfying, gratifying, enjoyable, stimulating, etc. You're not going to make massive changes quickly. Form habits that change your general lot in life slowly, and automatically.

Everyone talks about the boiling frog analogy for bad stuff. No one uses it for good stuff. Pretend being boiled and eaten is a good thing. Best way to get there is to turn the heat up slowly, incrementally, and without you being conscious of it....

 

[kyler1945]

The above isn't meant to be a pep talk. It's an anti pep talk. Pep talks work great for singular events. You're not a professional athlete. You've got to install engineering controls in your life to make dramatic changes over time. Not have some dude wearing ball huggers yelling at you.

But, for the moments where you need motivation, I use this:

 

[tarafrost]

...apply this to all the areas of your life that aren't healthy, satisfying, gratifying, enjoyable, stimulating, etc. You're not going to make massive changes quickly. Form habits that change your general lot in life slowly, and automatically.

Robert:

Seems like you have a lot of challenges in your life right now: PTSD, marital problems, work problems, health/fitness issues, lack of purpose, etc. I feel for you....it's unsurprising that you are depressed with so many things dragging you down. It's an overwhelming feeling.

I think kyler1945 is on the right track. You can't fix everything all at once. So reverse the boiling frog syndrome and pick one manageable thing to work on...resolve that....ingrain the new habit...then pick the next. Sleep hygene is a good place to start, since it forms a foundation for almost everything else.

 

[Petrichor]

You cannot fix it all at once. When my life was falling apart about two years ago. There were so many things wrong I couldn’t fix them all. I picked two things to fix. I got right with god and started journaling daily. I started everyday by writing down ten things I am grateful for. A practice I still do today. It changes the way you see the world and the day. The second thing was my marriage. We went to counseling and worked out our differences and learned how to communicate. Now just doing these two things after two months of consistency I felt great and our marriage was on track. Now two years later, we have a life group that restores and helps marriages that are falling apart. Pick the one or two of the most important things to work on. I’d highly suggest the one your 30 years into. Just imo.

 

[PEEJAY]

Cbt?

Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Its something you have to practice constantly every time you get in your head. Not just going to a therapy session once a week. its going to help you SEE why certain situations are triggering your brain to think the way it does. Then you will be able to start understanding that its not normal how you are reacting to things and start changing. Eventually it becomes natural and you cope with things in a more healthy way

 

[Nutterbuster]

So for the original question, hunting helped me for years. It gave me something to throw myself into to forget things that I couldn't at the time deal with effectively. I think it was my first and at the time only experience with "flow state" ie living 100% in the moment and not thinking (with thinking defined as remembering, rehearsing, and speculating). If I was walking in the woods looking for sign or a critter to shoot at, I was doing just that. Not remembering past traumas, judging myself for how I handled them, or painting grim scenes of my personal future and the condition of the universe in general based on a very small sample of experience.

But, eventually it got to the point where that and beer were about the only 2 ways I knew to deal with negative thoughts and emotions. We throw around the word "obsession" with regards to hunting in jest, but that's not a good word. It made me a pretty good hunter in pretty short order, but at the expense of a lot of the rest of life (family, friends, health, other hobbies/interests, etc.) I fortunately had a "come to Jesus" epiphany (not a Christian, but raised with the background and vernacular I suppose. Most succinct way to put the experience) that made me ready and willing to reevaluate premature conclusions about existence.

Currently, I'm in a happier place where hunting is a fun thing to do at the appropriate time. Last season I hunted less than I have in probably 10 years, and oddly enough I killed more deer-per-hunt than I probably ever have. I also started reading heavily again (college burned me out for years), started gardening and cooking, and made a concerted effort to take my wife fishing and camping (something she loves to do that I just didn't do enough of for several years).

As far as advice, I'd second everything that's been said. I'll add that for me, really trying to understand how those things help has helped me. If you or anybody else is a reader, I'd recommend the following if you suffer from lack of meaning and purpose:

• First, I'd recommend brushing up on our religions. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism cover most of what we've written on that subject over the past 5,000 years. There's definitely more (Jainism and Zoroastrianism are personally interesting, as are musings about pre-historic religions) but those give you the thoughts of the East, the West, and North Africa/Middle-East. For thousands of years and for millions of people, these have expressed the pinnacle of humanness. These writings are drama, poetry, and philosophy all rolled into one, and while some of their ideas about the cosmos are I think rightfully demoted to mythology in light of technological breakthroughs that let us literally see the invisible and weigh the immeasurable, they have served as "wisdom depositories" and remain invaluable.
  • Huston Smith has a really good overview of those "major" religions: The World's Religions. He's not just a well-regarded scholar, he has a palpable enthusiasm and love for the religious traditions he writes on. You can also find the PBS series he did back in the black-and-white TV days if you'd rather do that.
  • Stephen Mitchell has very beautiful translations of the Bhagavad Gita and the Tao te Ching. Those give you the essence of Hinduism and Taoism respectively, and are very brief and surprisingly vivid if you're used to the Christian testaments. You can read the Tao te Ching at lunch, and the Gita in a day or two.
  • Easwaran has a very readable Dhamapada (Buddhism) with excellent commentary.
  • Alan Watts also has very lighthearted and easy-to-comprehend lectures about Eastern thought, particularly the merging of Hindu and Taoist thought that became Zen Buddhism. A lot of them are on youtube, and his son is putting them all out in podcast format currently.
  • Confucius' Analects don't really fall into the religious category to me. It's been argued that Confucianism and Taoism are better viewed as philosophical texts as opposed to religious ones. But...Simon Leys has a very readable English translation. If you read it and the Dao, you have a better-than-average understanding of pre-communist Chinese thought that produced wonderful things for thousands of years and millions of people.
  • I'm assuming you're familiar with the Christian Bible. To me, Genesis, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, the Gospel of John, and Romans are the highlights. John in particular to me encapsulates the stuff Christianity has that took it from just another sect of Judaism to a major world religion that has changed the world in innumerable ways. There are NUMEROUS translations, and a quick trip to Barnes and Noble puts them all in front of you to decide what you like.
  • You can get a good dose of Judaism from the Old Testament readings, but the Tanakh is a cool book to have on your shelf too.
  • The Koran is...difficult. I have not found a good translation for a native english speaker, and I suspect that has something to do with Islam's belief that the Koran is the literal "recitation" of Allah and is meant to be heard, memorized, and recited in its original Arabic. But as somebody whose view of Islam was shaped by watching my morning cartoons change to news footage while I ate Cheerios one morning, it's strange how reasonable and non-jihadi most of it is. Lots of what would have been pretty progressive stuff about caring for orphans and rudimentary women's rights in there, and a general rejection of the tribal violence and superstition that plagued Mohammed's time.
• Western Philosophy isn't nearly as fun as religious texts. I think we made a critical error when we decided the emotions should be a slave to reason. I have some of the Stoics on my shelf (Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius) and a handful of various later guys I've found more or less interesting. But, honestly, there's a great podcast called Philosophize This! that does a wonderful job summarizing 3000 years of thought into a relatively manageable amount of listening time. First episode goes all the way back to the very colorful musings of the pre-Socratics, and he goes all the way up until the present day. I'd say listen to that while reading religious texts, and in a year you could give yourself a very good education in 5000 years of, "Why Universe? Why me ask, "Why Universe?""
• And the icing on the cake is contemporary science. Specifically, I think evolutionary biology and neuroscience are taking up the torch in wonderful ways when it comes to understanding human nature and the eternal battle between our better angels and baser impulses. I personally don't have much patience for a lot of psychology, but I believe that before we developed the tech that made neuroscience possible people like Jung and Freud made big steps forward in that regard. I'm not really scientifically and mathematically literate (working on it) and I assume you aren't either, so just go for the popularizer stuff. I've read and deeply enjoyed:
  • Darwin's Origin of Species and his later work, The Descent of Man. Not very technical, maybe a little stilted because 1800s, but good reads that introduce probably the most important paradigm shift in the west for 2000 years. His journals are fun too.
  • Daniel Dennets', Darwin's Dangerous Idea, does a good job detailing the implications of Darwin's Theory, which continues to upset a lot of what many people got into the habit of presupposing.
  • Either/or/both Dawkins, The Selfish Gene or The Blind Watchmaker. For me, these were the books that made genetic selection "click." Fair warning if you don't recognize the names, Dennets and Dawkins more familiar works are pretty scathing criticisms of Christianity and religion in general. I don't recall the works listed being heavy with that, but read enough and you'll definitely find viewpoints that are likely aggressively at odds with yours. It may or may not interest you to delve into that.
  • Almost anything by E.O. Wilson. Gotta give him some love since he's an Alabama homeboy who went from playing with ants in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta to being one of the world's foremost biologists and THE most influential myrmecologist the world has ever seen. Science is tricky in that what's "canon" today is laughable tomorrow due to the ridiculous progression we're making, but my understanding is that his theories on eusocial behavior and group selection are currently one of the best explanations of how altruism, empathy, and compassion "make sense" from an evolutionary viewpoint.
  • David Eagleman has provided me an enjoyable introduction into neuroscience. The Brain, is a quick and fun read that really puts you in your place and leaves you awestruck at the same time. He's got a lot of content on Youtube as well.
  • Hoffman's The Case Against Reality is a great and humbling read.
  • And finally, anything by good ole Neil DeGrasse Tyson or Carl Sagan is liable to leave you entertained and curious.

I know that's a lot of reading, but I'd add regular reading in there with good sleep, good food, and good friends, and good exercise as necessary and important. What's funny is you'll find that all the world's religions, Eastern and Western philosophy, and cutting-edge science endorse those things. But, to use a Buddhist metaphor, they're all just the finger pointing at the moon. At some point you have to get up and do.

 

[Robert loper]

So for the original question, hunting helped me for years. It gave me something to throw myself into to forget things that I couldn't at the time deal with effectively. I think it was my first and at the time only experience with "flow state" ie living 100% in the moment and not thinking (with thinking defined as remembering, rehearsing, and speculating). If I was walking in the woods looking for sign or a critter to shoot at, I was doing just that. Not remembering past traumas, judging myself for how I handled them, or painting grim scenes of my personal future and the condition of the universe in general based on a very small sample of experience.

But, eventually it got to the point where that and beer were about the only 2 ways I knew to deal with negative thoughts and emotions. We throw around the word "obsession" with regards to hunting in jest, but that's not a good word. It made me a pretty good hunter in pretty short order, but at the expense of a lot of the rest of life (family, friends, health, other hobbies/interests, etc.) I fortunately had a "come to Jesus" epiphany (not a Christian, but raised with the background and vernacular I suppose. Most succinct way to put the experience) that made me ready and willing to reevaluate premature conclusions about existence.

Currently, I'm in a happier place where hunting is a fun thing to do at the appropriate time. Last season I hunted less than I have in probably 10 years, and oddly enough I killed more deer-per-hunt than I probably ever have. I also started reading heavily again (college burned me out for years), started gardening and cooking, and made a concerted effort to take my wife fishing and camping (something she loves to do that I just didn't do enough of for several years).

As far as advice, I'd second everything that's been said. I'll add that for me, really trying to understand how those things help has helped me. If you or anybody else is a reader, I'd recommend the following if you suffer from lack of meaning and purpose:

• First, I'd recommend brushing up on our religions. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism cover most of what we've written on that subject over the past 5,000 years. There's definitely more (Jainism and Zoroastrianism are personally interesting, as are musings about pre-historic religions) but those give you the thoughts of the East, the West, and North Africa/Middle-East. For thousands of years and for millions of people, these have expressed the pinnacle of humanness. These writings are drama, poetry, and philosophy all rolled into one, and while some of their ideas about the cosmos are I think rightfully demoted to mythology in light of technological breakthroughs that let us literally see the invisible and weigh the immeasurable, they have served as "wisdom depositories" and remain invaluable.
  • Huston Smith has a really good overview of those "major" religions: The World's Religions. He's not just a well-regarded scholar, he has a palpable enthusiasm and love for the religious traditions he writes on. You can also find the PBS series he did back in the black-and-white TV days if you'd rather do that.
  • Stephen Mitchell has very beautiful translations of the Bhagavad Gita and the Tao te Ching. Those give you the essence of Hinduism and Taoism respectively, and are very brief and surprisingly vivid if you're used to the Christian testaments. You can read the Tao te Ching at lunch, and the Gita in a day or two.
  • Easwaran has a very readable Dhamapada (Buddhism) with excellent commentary.
  • Alan Watts also has very lighthearted and easy-to-comprehend lectures about Eastern thought, particularly the merging of Hindu and Taoist thought that became Zen Buddhism. A lot of them are on youtube, and his son is putting them all out in podcast format currently.
  • Confucius' Analects don't really fall into the religious category to me. It's been argued that Confucianism and Taoism are better viewed as philosophical texts as opposed to religious ones. But...Simon Leys has a very readable English translation. If you read it and the Dao, you have a better-than-average understanding of pre-communist Chinese thought that produced wonderful things for thousands of years and millions of people.
  • I'm assuming you're familiar with the Christian Bible. To me, Genesis, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, the Gospel of John, and Romans are the highlights. John in particular to me encapsulates the stuff Christianity has that took it from just another sect of Judaism to a major world religion that has changed the world in innumerable ways. There are NUMEROUS translations, and a quick trip to Barnes and Noble puts them all in front of you to decide what you like.
  • You can get a good dose of Judaism from the Old Testament readings, but the Tanakh is a cool book to have on your shelf too.
  • The Koran is...difficult. I have not found a good translation for a native english speaker, and I suspect that has something to do with Islam's belief that the Koran is the literal "recitation" of Allah and is meant to be heard, memorized, and recited in its original Arabic. But as somebody whose view of Islam was shaped by watching my morning cartoons change to news footage while I ate Cheerios one morning, it's strange how reasonable and non-jihadi most of it is. Lots of what would have been pretty progressive stuff about caring for orphans and rudimentary women's rights in there, and a general rejection of the tribal violence and superstition that plagued Mohammed's time.
• Western Philosophy isn't nearly as fun as religious texts. I think we made a critical error when we decided the emotions should be a slave to reason. I have some of the Stoics on my shelf (Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius) and a handful of various later guys I've found more or less interesting. But, honestly, there's a great podcast called Philosophize This! that does a wonderful job summarizing 3000 years of thought into a relatively manageable amount of listening time. First episode goes all the way back to the very colorful musings of the pre-Socratics, and he goes all the way up until the present day. I'd say listen to that while reading religious texts, and in a year you could give yourself a very good education in 5000 years of, "Why Universe? Why me ask, "Why Universe?""
• And the icing on the cake is contemporary science. Specifically, I think evolutionary biology and neuroscience are taking up the torch in wonderful ways when it comes to understanding human nature and the eternal battle between our better angels and baser impulses. I personally don't have much patience for a lot of psychology, but I believe that before we developed the tech that made neuroscience possible people like Jung and Freud made big steps forward in that regard. I'm not really scientifically and mathematically literate (working on it) and I assume you aren't either, so just go for the popularizer stuff. I've read and deeply enjoyed:
  • Darwin's Origin of Species and his later work, The Descent of Man. Not very technical, maybe a little stilted because 1800s, but good reads that introduce probably the most important paradigm shift in the west for 2000 years. His journals are fun too.
  • Daniel Dennets', Darwin's Dangerous Idea, does a good job detailing the implications of Darwin's Theory, which continues to upset a lot of what many people got into the habit of presupposing.
  • Either/or/both Dawkins, The Selfish Gene or The Blind Watchmaker. For me, these were the books that made genetic selection "click." Fair warning if you don't recognize the names, Dennets and Dawkins more familiar works are pretty scathing criticisms of Christianity and religion in general. I don't recall the works listed being heavy with that, but read enough and you'll definitely find viewpoints that are likely aggressively at odds with yours. It may or may not interest you to delve into that.
  • Almost anything by E.O. Wilson. Gotta give him some love since he's an Alabama homeboy who went from playing with ants in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta to being one of the world's foremost biologists and THE most influential myrmecologist the world has ever seen. Science is tricky in that what's "canon" today is laughable tomorrow due to the ridiculous progression we're making, but my understanding is that his theories on eusocial behavior and group selection are currently one of the best explanations of how altruism, empathy, and compassion "make sense" from an evolutionary viewpoint.
  • David Eagleman has provided me an enjoyable introduction into neuroscience. The Brain, is a quick and fun read that really puts you in your place and leaves you awestruck at the same time. He's got a lot of content on Youtube as well.
  • Hoffman's The Case Against Reality is a great and humbling read.
  • And finally, anything by good ole Neil DeGrasse Tyson or Carl Sagan is liable to leave you entertained and curious.

I know that's a lot of reading, but I'd add regular reading in there with good sleep, good food, and good friends, and good exercise as necessary and important. What's funny is you'll find that all the world's religions, Eastern and Western philosophy, and cutting-edge science endorse those things. But, to use a Buddhist metaphor, they're all just the finger pointing at the moon. At some point you have to get up and do.

Thsnks bro i will brr we definitely looking into some books and podcasts.

 

[boyne bowhunter]

I think it was my first and at the time only experience with "flow state" ie living 100% in the moment and not thinking (with thinking defined as remembering, rehearsing, and speculating).

Wow @Nutterbuster, almost 1600 words . . . you have too much time on your hands.

All kidding aside, there is definitely something to the "flow state" even if its only a temporary relief. The only thing I've found that completely put me in that state was playing hockey. For me, there's just too much happening too fast think about anything else during the game. In addition the camaraderie with teammates and opposing players helped fill time away from work.

In my younger days (30's) I played pretty much every night, at the expense of sleep. For a few years I was playing in 3 different night men's leagues in different cities over an hour one way drive from home (in opposite directions). Add to that I was always "in" if someone called for a sub or a pickup game. Talk about obsessions. And why? Well the answer is that I was really stressed over work and life issues at the time and hockey (and the associated adrenaline rush) was the only way I found get the constant thoughts out of my head. It worked so well I continued playing into my mid 50's albeit at a lesser pace, something I'm paying a price for now. I eventually developed the ability to leave work at the office but it took quite a bit of time.

 

[neonomad]

honestly, there's a great podcast called Philosophize This! that does a wonderful job summarizing 3000 years of thought into a relatively manageable amount of listening time.

Lots of good stuff in your post, but I’ve never met someone in person who listened to Philosophize This, and it’s an awesome podcast. I’m a bit of a black sheep, surrounded by believers, so don’t find much value in discussing philosophy with anyone, but find great satisfaction in stewing on all the big ideas out there.

Yes hunting and habitat management / tractor time is central to my sanity….

It’s been said before in this thread but because I think it’s so important I want to wholeheartedly reiterate regular cardiovascular exercise… it doesn’t replace community, purpose, sleep, diet, etc but it is a very critical piece of the structure, and could in some ways facilitate the energy and motivation to work on these other issues. Here in my early 40s as an old dad with two young kids I’ve come to believe there is no mood pill or youth serum that science has devised as effective as regularly elevating your heart rate, of course in a safe manner appropriate to your current physical condition. It’s likely you will not feel like doing it, there’s always 100 reasons not to, but for me at least I feel so much better mentally and physically when incorporating exercise into my week. 2 times is better than nothing, but 4 times + is even better than that. All else held constant, I suspect that some exercise and sweat almost always nudges your life’s momentum to a more positive direction. I wish you the best, and for those of us who won’t be retiring for quite some time but wish we could, hope you can find the right mindset to see the blessings and opportunities in front of you, and feel good about where you’re at.

 

[Weldabeast]

Sleep in a room with as little light as possible in it. With the temperature below 70*.

Dude.... thermostat at 70?.....I wish I could afford that electric bill