(Meant to post this the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Forgot. Here it is on the Monday night.)
I completed my first fast this week. It was a 24 hours, water only fast and I did it mostly because my wife did. Mostly because she has this uncanny ability to egg me into challenges she is much better at (see also: ping pong).Fasting is generally considered a good thing. I don’t know the science behind it, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it.
Throughout the day I felt good, maybe a big sharper mentally than normal but not especially so. After our Whole 30 experience my diet is nearly free of processed (lightly and intensively) carbohydrates and I mostly feel good. The fast maybe enhanced that, but that feeling could be participation bias.
The hardest part was being around the kids when they ate. Add in bacon for dinner, after school snacks, and a tiny hunger after my workout, and I did have a few moments that required some willpower to resist snacking. But I did it and learned more importantly that I could.
That’s where the most valuable takeaway was for me; I don’t need to eat. Sometimes it feels (social convenience, boredom) that I should eat. Even right now as I write this, I could eat something. But I don’t have to.
In August I also did a week of cold showers. At first I didn’t want to get in, but once I turned my shoulder and entered the water like an action hero might go through a door, I was fine. After that week I learned that cold showers feel quite good.
What I read and wrote this week.
I finished The Hour Between Dog and Wolf. It’s the story of our biologic reactions in present day settings. It suggested answers to how fight or flight matters in financial decisions and whether or not it’s a good thing.
I’m also reading The Education of a Coach, the story of Bill Belichick and The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.
This was a good week for writing.
– I published notes about Stanley McChrystal’s conversation with Tim Ferriss which introduced me to the idea of “red teaming.”
– I took notes on Joshua Foer’s conversation with James Altucher.
– I also wrote up notes from Michael Mauboussin’s 2014 talk with Barry Ritholtz. Mauboussin is always informative and this was a great hour to listen to.
– Over at Medium I wrote up three things I learned from The Hour Between Dog and Wolf.
Mike Dariano 