I wrote last week, with it being the second week of quarantine due to COVID positives in our house, that it felt like a lost week on the getting healthier front. Those concerns were still on my mind, but I with everything going on emotionally and mentally there was less follow through. This week I felt I got back on the train, so to speak. Four times on the treadmill this week (since I work out in the evening, my "week" for these purposes is Sunday through Saturday); that's a new high since I started to get myself back into a habit a month ago, and it is what I want to be my baseline going forward - always 4 times in a week, sometimes more. Nice to take another small step forward on this long journey of building better habits.
On the habit front, I also generally did better on the food choice, probably having my best week overall since starting this. I avoided snacking almost completely, drank much more water and reduced the amount of caffeinated beverages significantly (by about 75%-80%), and hit target goals on 5 of the 7 days, and about 17 of the 21 meals (the only "hiccups" was having some special meals and desserts associated with Jackie's birthday this week, so not something I am going to beat myself up on too much).
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I know many of the past weeks I have been sharing news stories and other long form journalism that has gotten my attention, but I'm not sure if I will be continuing. Usually, I keep notes throughout the week on particular stories; for whatever reason, I didn't have the mental energy and focus to do that this week (and honestly, it may be because of the extra time, energy, and focus spent on the health goals discussed above). I still share things I feel noteworthy or particularly engaging on Twitter (@drsdon), and that may ultimately be a better format for that.
But, as I was thinking about why I didn't have notes on articles, and the extra energy spent on focusing on healthy choices (i.e., planning meals in detail in advance, weighing portions on the kitchen digital scale, using an app to track everything meticulously) it made me reflect a little on the concept of cognitive load. In various books and other writings that I have read, there's this idea that our brains, our minds, can only handle so much input and output, similar to any muscle in the body. Thus, it can be trained to handle more, or fall into disrepair and handle less, but ultimately there is a finite capacity. So, whatever that individual capacity is, one has to choose how to spend it each day; this is, in most of the stuff I've read, increasingly difficult in an era of technology that is constantly pulling at attention, thus constantly draining that capacity to simply stay focused. Therefore, increasing one's capacity is not necessarily simply a function of will power, but of preparation and training - how to avoid activities or pursuits that are particularly draining on capacity and yield low value (whatever one decides to value), and strive to structure each day to pursue high yield activities, knowing that our daily capacities for cognitive activity is limited. For me, it always come back to the struggle to avoid passivity in daily life and activities - to be consciously engaged in whatever one is pursuing.
In any event, ideas I keep coming back to.
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On the book front, I finished Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney, a different sort of historical fiction book set in World War I, with interesting perspective and plenty of commentary about human warfare. I continue work my way through Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, which has been excellent so far, and will likely pick up Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo this week as well.
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