Addiction is a powerful word full of emotion. To me it is any unhealthy habit we do for a short term relief or pleasure that in the long term weighs negatively on our lives and despite this result we continue our active addiction. I am by no means a doctor, clinical specialist or anything of the like. I have however lived with an addiction to alcohol and marijuana for several years and understand how powerful addictions can become. Six months ago I had an epiphany while climbing South Sister in Central Oregon that has literally redirected my life. Life had gotten out of control and I was falling deeper into my addiction. It was miserable, unbearable and I felt alone in a crowded room. In the days, weeks and now months that followed I took action to create a more fulfilling life. A life that I had only dreamed of. I am here to give you some hope. Whether you or a family member are struggling with an addiction to drugs, sex, shopping, consumerism, video games, TV, food or anything else; freedom is possible. My goal is to help you create healthy habits and break the pattern of unhealthy habits in your life so you can begin truly experiencing your full potential. I have begun to understand what led to this horrible but necessary life experience and more importantly how to replace my unhealthy habits with healthy inspiring daily habits. Remember, we are trying to retrain our brain to follow healthy lifestyle changes in an effort to replace unhealthy habits. These are some but not all of the steps I have taken to manage this deadly, draining disease known as addiction. "The secret to changing is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." - Socrates Start with the Five I’s
Additional Tools to Create Positive LIfestyle Changes There are other things I have done to overcome my unhealthy addictions. Many of which Leo Babauta wrote about in his article The Habit of Change Cheat Sheet. The ones that I have found most useful and imperative to my success are the following:
“My past has not defined me, destroyed me, deterred me, or defeated me; it has only strengthened me.” Dr. Steve Maraboli If we truly want to stop an unhealthy habit then we must begin paving new neural pathways in our minds one small step at a time. Start today by taking the first right step. Identify what you want to change. This is by no means an exhaustive article on how to cope with what you may be dealing with, but I hope you found it enlightening and inspiring. Fear not change, fear no change at all. If you are struggling with an addiction at this time and would like to talk then please feel welcome to contact me. I would be happy to share more tools that might be of help to you. Summit as Friends! Scott Think for a moment about how much time you spend sitting each day. I was sitting more than 10 hours a day before committing to a stand up desk at work. I sat for an hour or so in total for to eat each day, roughly eight hours at work, an hour watching TV at night and there was likely an extra hour in there as well. This means myself and others are sitting more than we are sleeping, exercising, spending time with our family and doing things we love. This did not used to be so. We used to spend the majority of our waking hours on our feet hunting, tending to our crops or walking from place to place. The evolution to a sedentary work life and lifestyle is very unhealthy for us. In the long term individuals who spend the majority of their day sitting will experience an increased risk of heart disease by roughly two fold, higher chance of obesity, lower energy levels and poor posture. For many of us sitting eight hours a day is something we cannot imagine avoiding. I am here to let you know that is not the case. For these health reasons and others I made a conscious decision to stand up at work. My Experience Standing At Work Roughly nine months ago I started a new habit of standing at work. Sadly, this took over a year and a half of sitting to make the change. I work full time on the internet and knew that this eight hours of sedentary time per day was going to weigh a huge negative impact on my overall health. As I noted in my post from the first day I started standing at work - “This decision is going to bring many benefits to my mind and body. I know it will improve my posture, give me even more energy, increase my productivity and ultimately make me a happier person.” Months later I am happy to report all of this has been true. At times standing is hard, especially after running a marathon or climbing a mountain. After these events I do take a break from standing and sit to allow my body recovery. Benefits of Standing At Work
“Get up stand up, stand up for your life.” I stumbled across this info graphic recently which inspired me to write an article about stand up desks. I hope it inspires you to stand up more, move your body and use it how it should be used. Jeff Sanders wrote an excellent article on how he built a stand up desk. I simply found an old school desk to stack on top of my standard office desk and cut the legs to the appropriate height. Please comment with your questions and experiences. I love to hear from readers. Summit As Friends! Scott Rowley |
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