{"id":900,"date":"2010-06-18T12:48:42","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T17:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.adam-jackson.net\/?p=900"},"modified":"2010-06-18T12:48:42","modified_gmt":"2010-06-18T17:48:42","slug":"an-explanation-of-my-radical-life-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/06\/18\/an-explanation-of-my-radical-life-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 An Explanation of My Radical Life Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 26th, I’ll be 24 years old. I’m no longer “newly able to drink” just as when I turned 21, I was no longer, “finally able to vote.” Most of the modern milestones related to age are in the past and I’m now an adult. I’ve managed adulthood pretty well. I’ve failed quite a bit (publicly) and I’ve made mistakes but we all have. I’ve been happy with what my salary is since I was 18 and held a management job at Apple. I’ve been happy with my accomplishments since I was 16 and was able to secure media passes to popular tech conferences and at 18, I spoke at my first conference and at 22, I got a speaking agent and there are so many accomplishments that I’m very proud of. I’m happy with where I ended up and proud of where my path has taken me.<\/p>\n

However, I risk becoming a still pond.<\/p>\n

Growing up, my philosophy, as taught by my father (Happy Father’s Day, dad!) was that of Budo which is the ancient philosophy followed by the Samurai in Japan. The physical, mental and spiritual training dad gave me had roots traced back to the amatsu tatara in Egypt and he spoke often of the wheel of suffering and how we are in control of our destiny and we are our own enemy. Each year, I grow more aware of the lessons he taught me and things he said to me in our 2 hour daily talks in the car after hard workouts or long sessions at the dojo make more sense as I experience more. Lessons he taught me were first like a cloudy mirror but the decisions I make today are suddenly influenced by what he told me and these mirrors are becoming clearer.<\/p>\n

I’ve lived in two radically different places. Well, three radical places. The first is Florida where I grew up on a farm celebrating life as a cowhand alongside my grandfather learning how to milk cows and operate big\u00a0machinery. It was there that I lost my right little toe which was\u00a0reattached\u00a0hours later with sewing thread by my uncle.<\/p>\n

Then, I spent years on the beach in Florida surfing with my dad, growing my hair down my back (at 9 years old) and bleaching it blond with lemon juice and sun rays. I wore board-shorts everywhere, was thin, happy and received many stitches participating in extreme sports like skateboarding and surfing and martial arts.<\/p>\n

Then, we lived in the heart of Alabama for 5 years where I befriended people who had never left their home town, happy, fulfilled individuals who were commited to their religion, their families and worked one job for 40 years only to retire in the same home they were born in. It was relaxing, calming and slow.<\/p>\n

Now, I live in San Francisco where technology influences my life 5 years before my family in Florida starts using it, where marching down the street because you feel passionate about the banning of plastic bags is common and where weed is no worse for your health than soda or trans-fat (which we’ve banned in restaurants). It’s a progressive culture wrapped in the rat race that is a big city and making best friends has been challenging and I’ve had to be reliant on my roots and my beliefs to remember who I am and not lose myself to much of what makes San Francisco great.<\/p>\n

——————<\/p>\n

After my breakup with Laura, I took some time off from my beliefs. I went on a “binge” of sorts where I tried hamburgers and tried making new friends and drinking a little more and diving head first into some of the technology that I’ve intentionally avoided for the longest time like giving my data to Google or Apple or relying solely on the control of cloud services or using an iPhone for everything instead of my memory. I tried the San Francisco way that everyone lives and I was awoken to a few things.<\/p>\n

I won’t go into details but what I’ve realized is that we are killing ourselves. I’ve written about this before in recent blog posts about the wheel of suffering and how obvious it is to me in the bay area as technology is a huge part of everyone’s lives more than any other place in the world.<\/p>\n

I started doing research beyond the\u00a0philosophical\u00a0lessons my father taught me as a boy by researching the affects of technology, lifestyle, diet, fitness, television, social and anti-social behaviors and simply how we walk and sit and how all of this affects how long we live and the quality of our time here on Earth. It turns out that I was doing everything wrong.<\/p>\n

——————<\/p>\n

August will be one year as a single guy. I’ve been on 4 dates and for the greater part of that time, I stopped attending tech parties and spent more time at home, reading, studying and listening to myself and what my body needs.<\/p>\n

Through the research, I realized that the vast majority of what kills us today is self-inflicted. Stroke, heart disease and even cancer are looked at as “silent killers” and victims of these ailments are given sympathy as it’s just sad and how they are suffering from something they can’t do anything about. I’ve realized that all of the most common killers these days are all related to a story I was once told as a kid.<\/p>\n

The boy is fishing in a calm lake and only small fish are biting. He sits there day after day, grows skinny, lack of nutrition and fails to catch a single fish. A traveler walks past and asks the boy if he’s having any luck and the boy responds no and that he’s very hungry. The traveler picks the boy up and takes him to a river, then with his walking cane, the traveler darts the pole into the water and pulls out a fish ready to eat. He explains to the boy that still water yields no food. Algae and death are attracted to stillness and the water is undrinkable. A fast moving river is alive with fish, clean water and rich plants on the banks that can nourish you and keep you healthy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The same rule applies to life. Sitting at a computer,\u00a0separating\u00a0ourselves from reality with headphones and surrounding ourselves with people who don’t make us better and bring us up will have long term affects on our lives. When you add stimulants like caffeine, processed foods and high sugar diets, other factors contribute and soon your body will be as dead as the lake the boy was fishing in.<\/p>\n

With this stillness, it’s easy and you’re never short of breath, never sore from training, your mind is never numb from solving complex problems and your belly is always full but, inside, your body is shutting down your liver from too much sugar, intestines are having problems processing the red meat you just injected and blood clots are forming in your\u00a0arteries. Diabetes, heart disease and even cancer can be “prevented” and sometimes cured with a radical shift in how you live your life.<\/p>\n

In my research, I started by searching, “benefits of..” and I’d put a food in there like cayenne pepper or mushrooms or spinach and I’d jot down notes then I’d write down “dangers of…” and do the same foods. I’d find foods that benefited key parts of my body but avoid foods that contained more dangers than benefits. I read that people who consumer less than 1 alcoholic drink per day, did 30 minutes of rigorous exercise 3 times a week and avoided red meat and consumed lots of greens were vastly less likely to to test positive for cancer, heart disease and diabetes.<\/p>\n

Others who ate anything that they wanted to but exercised rigorously during their adult life also had similar results despite their diet. Simply reducing trans-fats, simple sugars, sodium and sodas increased the lifespan of those individuals and reduced doctor’s visits.<\/p>\n

In January, I was in the later stages of developing Type II diabetes at 23 years old. I was only 40 pounds overweight and ate relatively healthy but not healthy enough and not enough exercise for a guy sitting behind a computer all day. I made a change and my recent blood work yielded 98% perfect results for blood sugars, blood pressure,\u00a0cholesterol\u00a0and iron and not to mention STD free but I don’t think that has anything to do with eating more spinach.<\/p>\n

——————<\/p>\n

It wasn’t enough though. I wanted to do something radical. I wanted to do something that takes me off my normal “plan” and really alter my life and experience the immediate benefits from it. My goals start with, “don’t do X for one week.” Then, if successful, I’ll up it to two weeks and beyond. Here are a few things I’ve done.<\/p>\n