Wellness is such a broad term, let's define it.

According to Dictionary.com, Wellness is defined as:well·ness/ˈwelnəs/nounthe state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal.“measures of a patient’s progress toward wellness”I really like the first definition stating an actively pursued goal. To be a little cliche, nothing good in life comes free, and I truly feel that way with wellness.Today I want to go over how I incorporate wellness into my life. Keep in mind as I go through this, some of the ideas here will be slightly abridged as I have a list of newsletters that will cover a lot of this in more detail, but for the sake of opening your eyes to the wide world of what wellness can be, I want to explain all of the things I do to maintain that actively pursued goal of wellness.

Let's start with the mornings!

Now admittedly this section will be mostly a summery as I will be having a larger conversation about how important the morning is within a months time, but the mornings are my oasis if you will.I do agree that today is built the previous night before bed with preparation, but if you don’t act on anything you set out for yourself, it makes it difficult to get the day going.By nature I am a morning person, while 9-5 is when some people work, I like to sleep on the reverse 12 hours of that. I am blessed that my wife’s job has her getting up at 5am, because that is when I like to get up myself.But before the day begins, I need to find or create a small win.This will always vary in nature, and I like to be pretty loose when it comes to what I consider a win. For example, I am writing this newsletter in the morning right now.

WIN

I have been very active in the gym the last few days so today rather than getting a workout in I am making the win with a more mental approach. I did some stretching, made the bed (more on that shortly), and got right to work on this newsletter over some coffee.

About making the bed.

There are countless studies on this, but making the bed is an easy win if you need one in your day. This is NOT a “because your parents told you to when you were growing up” situation as in my case, I do still live with my parents and my bedroom is also my office, so for me, creating a clean space right away in the morning allows me to get to deep work without any friction.A clean space is a clean mind.Then there is also the theory of “if it takes less than 5 minutes, just do it”. This can apply to making your bed, emptying your dishwasher, throwing your clothes in the washing machine, if it is a task that takes 5 minutes or less and you are standing in front of it anyway, just get it done, you do not want a mental to do list waiting for you before bed as you try to prepare for tomorrow.

But what about the nutrition part of the morning?

This bit is where I will be expanding a lot in a dedication morning newsletter article, but for now I will give a quick synopsis of my mornings:• 5am - Wake Up• 5-6am - Help get the wife off to work, get myself going.• 6-7am - Catch up on (or create) a few pieces of content, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. maybe read a book or do some stretching. (I will even allow myself some freedom to play video games here if I know it will keep the urge away if I am in the office for a long editing day). I also make sure to get some low angle sunlight into the eyes for the circadian clock!• 7-8am - Get the coffee going, get a workout in, take my supplements and get to work.Now the part I want to highlight here are the supplements. I have read books, listened to countless podcasts, and even gone as far as to read peer reviewed studies on individual supplements, not to mention spend more money than I would like to admit trying some out for myself.In short order I will go over what I take here today (I will also include things taken not in the mornings), with a more scientific reason and approach to why in that newsletter, so subscribe if you have not already to see that.Alpha-GPC, Vitamin D, Magnesium (the type will vary), Beef Liver, Turmeric, Zinc, Omega 3 Fish Oil, Essential Amino Acids, an overall Multi-Vitamin, 5-HTP, L-Theanine, Valerian Root, and Ashwagandha. In addition LMNT Water and Four Sigmatic Coffee.Now that is a wide list, and with different days and different needs, I will take or not take certain ones. For example, if I am having a deep work day or a good workout, I will take Alpha-GPC, but if I am just bummin around on a weekend, I will skip it.

What about fitness?

Oh boy, this is probably the topic I am currently learning the most in. As a 29 year old I am quickly learning that the same things that worked when I was running track in high school do not align with how the body works today.Heck I was only the final test away from becoming a certified personal trainer almost a decade ago!I have been listening to a lot of podcasts on this topic from people like Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Peter Attia, and even some episodes from Rich Roll about the body and the science behind what works and why.To start I will say I did spend a handful of years, probably close to a decade, as a mostly sedentary to lightly active person, so jumping right back into 7 days a week is not something I want to do right away, but I do have a strategy that I follow for a lot of habits I want to maintain.

No two days off.

I first heard about this theory by YouTuber Matt D'Avella and I make sure that everything that I want to stick follows this rule.Life can be ever changing and before you know it when you plan a morning workout you have to make a change and then the day gets away from you.It happens.What should not happen is you getting down on yourself because of it.I allow myself different freedoms to this depending on my schedule. Maybe I only can do a 15 minute morning jog, count it. Maybe I am in the gym for 90 minutes, count it. Maybe I do some yoga poses in between work periods, count it.As we defined at the beginning of this newsletter, wellness is defined as any actively pursued goal. Let’s make sure that even if we only do 10 minutes in the morning that we celebrate it for the win it is.

THESE WINS COMPOUND.

As much as I would love to dive into things like workout programs and my specific schedule and lifts here, like I mentioned at the beginning of this section, it is still being built.I will say this however, the ultimate goal is to run (and finish) an ultra marathon, specifically a 100-miler.So stay tuned because once it is ready to go, I will be going wild explaining it all here for you.

And to bring it all together.

Wellness is a broad term, and I intentionally went that route for this newsletter.I covered a few topics today, but I want to go far deeper as we get more into it.We can talk about things as obvious today as fitness or have conversations about anxiety and depression, the effects of SSRI’s on the human brain and why I am no longer taking my medication (I properly took myself off of it, no way was I going to do it cold turkey).This edition of the newsletter was a taste of how I incorporate wellness into my life and maybe can give you an idea or two as well!If you want me to cover any topics specifically in further detail or have an itch of your own I can address in a Q&A newsletter, please get in touch @DidsLive on social media or reply to this newsletter.This newsletter is and always will be for you, so feel free to ask anything you are curious about!

Thanks for reading, and until next time, I’ll see you on the internet.-Dids 💪🧠

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Disclaimer:This newsletter is created with the intent that it is not to be taken as medical advice. For any desire to approach anything discussed within the confines of this newsletter, please consult your local healthcare professional. I am not a doctor or licensed professional of any kind and am not claiming to be with this newsletter. I am only creating this to bring you zero cost information into all things wellness that I am personally curious about. Only you are responsible for your own health. No client patient relationship is formed through the means of this newsletter.Head to this link to subscribe if you haven’t already.​