sci-fi author, beatmaker

Category: Personal Updates Page 5 of 10

Some Personal Updates, and a Request

Unrelated to the post, but Bumblebee was parked in front of my house yesterday.

I got back from my uncle’s funeral service a few hours ago. It was belated for various reasons — he died over a year ago — but the service was well-attended, in a beautiful location, and I feel as if we did right by him.

Both my father-in-law and my uncle passed away around the same time last year. For a few months my stress levels redlined and I had difficulty sleeping, but after I’d had a chance to grieve and the bulk of the end-of-life logistics were handled for both family members, I settled into a more reflective state. It’s been good to consider my own mortality, and the mortality of my friends and family. It’s easier to prioritize what’s important when I consider the relative imminence and unavoidability of death. I frequently let my family and friends know that I love them, I work on my big ideas, and I do the things I would regret not doing were my life to be cut short.

But I hope that my life continues for a very long time, because I’m enjoying it immensely. In terms of external life metrics such as finances and career, I’m doing fine, but what’s really making me happy are the following:

What I’m Grateful For This Christmas

Recently I’ve been overcome by waves of intense gratitude. They usually come on while walking outside. It’s been cold and rainy here in Oakland lately, and the winter light has a crisp, enhanced quality.

My Anti-Aging Experiment

Finnish sauna (not mine)

My health has suffered ever since Trump was elected. Maybe it’s coincidental, but 2017 was one of my worst health years. My foot was in a cast, I got a staph infection, I suffered from severe hay fever/allergies, gastritis (and possibly ulcers), anxiety and depression, and in the first months of 2018 I had terrible insomnia and gained about ten pounds.

Of course Trump didn’t cause my health issues directly, but the background stress of witnessing a full-blown kleptocracy in action, slowly and surely dismantling health care, environmental protections, and civil rights certainly didn’t improve my health. The additional stress may have been the tipping point, combined with my overcaffeinated lifestyle, too many commitments and responsibilities, genetic vulnerabilities, and simple aging, that flipped me from good health to poor health for a period of time.

What I’ve Been Up To (and what I’ll be blogging about in the coming months)

“Starship 44” by Robin Boer

Hello readers!

These past weeks have been full. I won’t say I’ve been “busy” or that things have been “hectic” because that’s not true–I’ve chosen the tortoise pace for this year and I’ve been sticking to that plan fairly effectively. I’m cramming less in each day, and that’s working for me. But even so, there hasn’t been a dull moment.

Plan Your Whole Life

Rock solid.

It’s futile to plan your whole life. Nobody’s life goes according to plan.

Q: How to make God laugh? 
A: Make a plan.

But it’s also futile not to.

I deleted a blog post yesterday. It was all about how I’ve been sleeping better (which is generally true), and what’s been working for me (getting more bright light in the morning, some EFT techniques, herbs to reduce cortisol, calcium+magnesium, and so on). I’d written the post after sleeping a perfect seven hours without waking up at all (without any sleeping pills or megadoses of vitamins). I thought I was over the worst of my sleeping issues.

But then the night before last I didn’t sleep at all. Not a wink. Aside from a late dinner and staying up a bit too late watching Netflix (with f.lux and my amber glasses), I’m not sure what I did differently.

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