Pursuing Wellness

This may be the best I have felt physically in about four years.  Within the last year or so I have regimented a few things where benefits are emerging.  My treadmill schedule has become fixed to essentially two days on, one day off, with an adaptation to transition of months.  I set a time and speed with a cool down time and speed.  Days missed have been few.  If anything that has created the biggest payoff.  Sleep comes next.  I reviewed current recommendations for sleep hygiene with fixed bed and not bed times.  I've done very well with arising, rarely lolling in the morning seeking more time.  The evening has been more problematic.  Among sleep hygiene recommendations is not to toss and turn for more than a half hour or so but to get out of bed and go someplace else.  My recliner and big screen TV in my Man Cave have come to the rescue.  I usually return to sleep and get up at the fixed time feeling rested.  Staying out of bed at the times other than specified sleep has been harder, as I like to read there.  The overhead lighting is ideal, the temperature better than anyplace else, and reading reclining rather than sitting has been a habit dating to college.  I rid the bedroom lounge chair of clutter and should try that as an alternative to the bed.

Eating and weight control have responded to a few shopping decisions. Snacks are minimized, or at least selective.  No chips or national brand cookies.  No squishy bread.  No soda other than seltzer.  I glass of sherry or port each afternoon.  Coffee more rigidly rationed, with additional liquid via hot spiced apple cider or herb tea.  I've started buying portioned fish which can be taken out of the freezer the day before and made into a quick low fat, low carb meal.  Some starch control still needs attention but this is serious progress, probably contributing to my current well being.

I've given up some medicines, most notably citalopram which I used to be more restrained when among people.  I'm not really among people.  Flonase is gone.  Omeprazole went on an unsuccessful holiday, though.  And I am faithful to daily use of what I should take for cholesterol and for blood pressure control, each with reinforcement when the lab results and home BP readings confirm efficacy.

Despite the physical improvements, my quest for wellness still has some loose ends.  My mind wanders, which has its benefits but I often abandon tasks short of completion.  This is especially true in some of the reading and expression initiatives I've set for myself.

Connectedness languishes, my most serious deficit.  While independence of thought and to a lesser extent of person have been virtues, there are limits.  I assign myself a quest for organization affiliation, never achieving the acceptance I seek.  OLLI has gone virtual.  FB has people but considerable attrition for good reason.  Events like birthdays or my son's wedding get a lot of responses, presentations of ideas and initiatives don't.  Twitter and FB have lost their potential, places that people carry their placards for which others present some slogan as a poor surrogate of responding in thought.  KevinMD rarely has two responses to any article.  My synagogue has become the USY Clique transposed in time with inbreeding and not a lot of curiosity among those of title or the Rabbi on how to maximize engagement.  There are more substantial forums like Disqus where people can respond to articles in a substantial way and others can respond in kind.  I've basically shut them off, except for KevinMD as the responses of strangers too frequently are more hostile than enriching.

If I have a deficit of connectedness to people, I have compensated a little with connectedness to places, and even to things.  This month I've ventured to a few new places, Harford County, MD. the Philadelphia Italian Market, Laurel and Millsboro DE.  Each place has its visual impression, reinforced by wandering around there and peering from my car window en route.  I purchase very little, but early in Covid-19 I went to stores a lot as that was the only venue open.  The novelty has worn off but at least there are people around.  And I drive around the neighborhood or to a park, mainly for scenery.  It's not connectedness but a boost to my spirit, which can often benefit from that boost.

I've given up toxic food and overt sloth with good effect.  I should redirect to a little social butchery perhaps.  FB has attrition because it deserves attrition.  Ditto for my shul. But as my loss of squishy bread acquired a pumpernickel replacement. and undesired wakefulness led to TV time as replacement, I don't have a good replacement for shul or for twitter that would serve a better purpose.  Until that happens, wellness, or at least its social component, remain unfulfilled.