Today is January 31. Nothing special for a lot of us, but for more than 1.4 billion people today is a special occasion. Today is the last day of the year according to the lunar calendar. So that makes today Lunar New Year's Eve. While there are many cultures that celebrate this holiday of specific importance to me is the Chinese tradition because my wife is from Mainland China. Today we will celebrate by making lots of food and watching a Chinese program a lot like the American New Year's Eve ball drop program only there's no ball and the performers are a lot more varied and talented (the American program has gotten pretty lame these last few years with a dearth of variety in the quality and types of performances on display).

Beyond the cultural significance of today, it's also a day that is uniquely special to me. Today is my 31st day of running everyday and eating only meat. I started these little challenges for myself on the 1st of the year for 2 reasons that reflect the 2 separate challenges:

  1. Over the holidays I let my health and fitness routines slip, in particular my diet had gotten pretty carb heavy and I'd taken to drinking quite a lot.
  2. My father mentioned very casually that he thought it would be cool to run at least 1 mile a day for a whole year. And in an effort to encourage him I challenged him to run everyday with me for a month. He didn't do it but I made a declaration of intention and so was honor bound to continue.

So to tackle the first I decided to "reset" my diet and eating habits with the ultimate elimination/cleanse diet. Since I first started focusing at all on my health I've particularly enjoyed experimenting with diet and observing how what and when you eat affects every aspect of your heath. The month of carnivore was not especially illuminating but I'd like to discuss it in details and so I will be writing another post about it soon.

As for the second challenge of running everyday I thought merely that it would compliment the first challenge well and maybe help me loose an extra pound or so. However to my surprise it has turned out to be the more valuable challenge to me.

The criteria for the challenge was very simple:

  1. Run at least once everyday.
  2. Every run must be at least 1 mile in length to count.

It has been a pretty cold January here in Vermont and at the start of the challenge I was lazy and didn't do my runs outside or in the mornings. The first week or so I would consistently find myself at the end of the day having not done my run yet and having to get changed and go hit the treadmill (I hate running on a treadmill) even though I was tired and not in to it. This was a lesson to me. Don't be lazy. Get up and run in the morning it said to me. So I did. Even when it's cold I would get up and run in the morning. Let me tell you something. It sucks. I never want to go out into the subzero world first thing in the morning. But if I don't the punishment is a late night run on a treadmill after I'm tired from the day. And that's much worse.

But it's not all bad. That morning run gives me something important, several important things actually:

  1. A sense of accomplishment - No matter what happens each day at least I did that one hard thing and I can feel maybe not good because that's a lot to feel, but at least confident that I'm working hard.
  2. Morning sun light and fresh air - this one sounds a bit like new age health advise but I really feel a positive difference if I get up and get outside first thing in the morning (well almost first thing... after coffee).
  3. A jolt to the metabolism - doing some aerobic activity before breakfast gets your fire burning and helps jump start your metabolism.
  4. Starting the day out right - beyond a feeling of accomplishment starting your day with a run is beneficial because, if it's the hardest thing you'll do that day it makes all the other little difficult decisions (muffin or banana? Another cup of coffee or some herbal tea? Do the laundry or make an excuse?) seem a lot easier and easier to make the right decision.

There are probably more benefits but I'm not gonna turn this post into a list of them.

What I really want to focus on is this idea of "Doing something everyday" meaning, find one thing and make it non-negotiable. For a lot of us we already have one non-negotiable thing we must do everyday and it is our job. But your job isn't for you in as much as your job is for money which is for food/shelter/clothing/energy which are for you. Your job is a bit of commerce you're engaged in, a trade of your time for some money, and (for most people) does nothing to enrich your experience of life. Moreover I don't have a very high opinion about money. Money is just for spending and only as much as is necessary. Money doesn't intrinsically have value.

Instead you must find something you really want to be doing. You may not have time to do it properly. That doesn't matter. Just find some part of this thing that you can do everyday. Want to paint a landscape but cannot possible do one everyday. That's fine, make your one thing that you must make 2 new brush strokes on the canvas everyday. It might take a while but you'll have a painting eventually. Want to build a house? Make your one thing that you must work in some capacity on that house everyday, meaning show up and do something at the site where the house will be, not sitting at a desk thinking about house building or drawing pictures of houses you'd like to build. Want to write a piece of music? One note a day. Software? One "line-of-code" a day". Walk to China? Well other than the oceans which you'll need a boat for, you can walk just one mile a day (though you might have to take some time off everything else for that).

It can be anything but when you find a one non-negotiable thing you get the 2 most important benefits I listed above:

  1. Accomplishment
  2. Starting the day out right

After a while of having the discipline to do the one thing you might feel confident to add 2 things, then 3, then 4. Before you know it your whole day will consist of you doing just the things that are important enough to you that they are non-negotiable. You might even be able to stop selling yourself for money and instead sell your work for what you need or money to buy what you need (or maybe the things you find important provide what you need all on their own and you can live a life without money, that's the dream).

This past month my "one thing" has been running at least a mile. And I made it non-negotiable. Even when I felt like my legs couldn't take another day of running, I had to do it, and I'm sure glad I did. More over even when I thought I couldn't do it in actuality I could. After 31 days I think I could keep this streak up indefinitely. But I won't. Instead I'm going to alter and add to it. Starting tomorrow I'm going to pick a new one thing and change my first one thing from running to walking.

I like running but it's not really my focus. I did the run everyday for a month more to encourage my Dad and to show him that if I can do it then so can he. So starting tomorrow I'll be doing a strength workout every single day for an indefinite time. I'll also be changing my morning runs to morning walks for 2 simple reasons: 1. It's much easier for me to walk in all sorts of weather (the primary environmental constraint in Northern Vermont) and thus easier to maintain my practice of being outside in the early morning. 2. Walking is much more compatible with my over arching health/fitness goal of 7% body fat than running. (more on that later)

In addition I'll also be getting off carnivore this afternoon when I sit down to eat dumplings with my wife for Chinese New Year. Jumping right back in to starchy grain derived carbs is a terrible idea and I know I'll regret it but this holiday is important to her and I don't want to be a party pooper. After today I'll be back to a clean diet of just meat, fruit, vegetables, tree nuts, dairy, and natural sugars such as maple and honey. I know I can live happily on just meat, so now I'll start adding in what I want to eat. I don't really want to eat grains, they never make me feel good and always just make me feel weighted down and almost stunted while my body works to digest them. I miss fruit and vegetable quite a lot so I'll add those back. Dairy has been valuable to me while on carnivore and so I'll continue eating it as a staple in my diet. Tree nuts I enjoy as a snack and a treat and treats are a useful dietary tools. Honey and maple sugar are likewise are treats to be used strategically. This is just what works best for me right now and is in no way a hard dietary recommendation to anyone.

My health and fitness is very important to me, but it's the easiest aspect of my life to blow off because "more important" things take precedence. Things like building the house you mean to live in certainly are important. But nothing is so important as your health.

Find what is important to you, start with just one thing and make it non-negotiable.