Team Apocalypse Homework Assignment # 1
If you caught the Team Apocalypse Livestream # 1, or if you at least read the Livestream Wrap-up, on our FB Group Page, you’ll know that I challenged the group to take up a few homework assignments.
Today I’ll cover the 1st homework assignment, “Begin Becoming Better”, which was obviously stolen from the 2020 Democratic Party slogan, but which I felt was a much better attempt than, “Make Americans Great Again… Again”.
And really, you shouldn’t need the threat of a worldwide depression, World War III, or fear of food shortages to make “Begin Becoming Better” a personal slogan!
The model I’m going to use to kick off your “becoming better journey” will cover 4 major areas:
Maintaining Your HEALTH
Finding and living out your own unique PURPOSE
Creating and refreshing your SOCIAL SELF, and
Building FREEDOM inside your own head
And it’s the absolute most important thing to remember that I DID write a book regarding these very four topics and you really should buy at least 5 copies for yourself and all your friends and family when my store is up and running next week (June 22, 2022).
But because I know you can’t wait that long, we’re going to cover all 4 of them in a very cursory way as time goes on, beginning with the HEALTH peice today.
And if you’re anything like me (and I KNOW you most likely are) as you begin actually PRACTICING these 4 concepts daily, you will see a dramatic positive change in the direction of your life. The bad part is, you have to actually put in an effort to see results. Not fair, I know, but, there it is.
Before we dive into the first of these 4 areas, I’d like to explain WHY it’s important to work on ourselves first before we deal with anything else pertaining to prepping.
It’s basically this; the number one commodity you possess when times get tough isn’t food or water or money or gold bars or even team members. Your number one valued possession is YOU; your mind and your body. If you’re a fit, intelligent, educated person; not only will that help you out personally when life gets hard, it makes you more attractive to preferable groups of people who possess better resources when resources get scarce.
And let’s just face facts here, in a SHTF scenario, the rich will be hit much less hard than the poor. It’s going to be the richer folks you want to bunk out with; folks with resources and ways of obtaining resources. The people they’ll want in their company will include doctors/nurses, ex-military, mechanics, expert gardeners/farmers, intelligent thinkers and go-getters.
Sadly, in a survival situation, the lazy, the uneducated and those unable to learn or listen, need not apply to the groups most likely to make it through a SHTF situation. The good news is, in desperate times, a beautiful face and nice rack aren’t going to have the same value as a hard working, intelligent average looking, woman. Justice and common sense prevail in a SHTF world. Good news at last for us average-to-below-average looking people!
Now, lets get to work on ourselves and increase our value, not only for the benefit of others but to that very important person in the mirror!
1, HEALTH
You cannot underestimate the value of good health. Experts have told us for decades now that we cannot separate our mind from our body. If your body is healthy, your mind, under normal circumstances, will follow shortly, and vice versa; a healthy mind will demand a healthy body.
So, you wanna start beating that depression and lethargy in your head? Get in the gym 4 to 5 days a week, work your body hard, and KEEP doing it! I know, I know - when your depressed and lethargic, you don't WANT to go to the gym! Understood. Take baby steps and start thinking and dwelling on all the benefits of going to the gym. Soon, coupled with my incessant nagging, your body will follow your mind there.
And lemme give you a pro tip; housework, walking, yardwork, even working in a physical job all day, are all great starts, but they are not the type of exercise that will keep you fit. In order to gain benefits from exercise, you need to be breathing hard! You need to break a sweat. Your heart needs to be pounding in your chest for at least 15 minutes and then, when that gets too easy, you’ll need to work it for longer periods of time.
You need to be asking yourself, “Oh my heavens, (pant, pant) what am I (pant, pant) doing here?” You need to push yourself way beyond your comfort zone in order to begin to see any benefit from exercise. And you need to do it regularly, not once a month or even once a week.
That’s why you’re not losing weight from a walk around the block, or even from working 8 hours a day in a physical job. It’s not the same as pushing your heart rate into uncomfortable levels for long lengths of time. And, as always, check with your doctor to see if strenuous exercise is right for you.
With that level of effort in mind, you really need to find exercise that you somewhat enjoy and that you can repeat 4 to 5 times a week. That’s why the gym is perfect for most people. Yoga is a great low impact health technique as well. Bicycling is good (but can be dangerous with cars running wreclessly about), kayaking and water sports are great if you live near water, running is good - but certain studies have shown that long distance running can actually hurt your body if you’re not careful.
A 2012 editorial in the British journal Heart co-authored by cardiologist James O'Keefe stated, "Exercise may be the most important component of a healthy lifestyle, but like any powerful drug you've got to get the dose right. Excessive running may thicken the heart tissue, causing fibrosis or scarring, and this may lead to atrial fibrillation or irregular heartbeat. Prolonged exercise may also lead to "oxidative stress," a buildup of free radicals that may bind with cholesterol to create plaque in your arteries.”
To be balanced and fair, other major studies have not come up with the same conclusion, and most doctors would tell you that the health benefits of running - short or long distances - are so overwhelmingly positive that they swamp potential dangers and that, “Every runner should listen to his or her body and slow down and stop if necessary.”
Some other benefits of regular exercise are the self discipline it builds into your life, and the humility it teaches you, Strenuous exercise also allows you to hone the skill of listening to your mind/body connection and it also sets your mind toward always and constantly improving.
See the obese guy at the end of the bar who makes minimum wage and will be single and lonely til the day he falls over and assumes room temperature? He doesn’t exercise, has no clue why he’s depressed, and can’t possibly improve his life because he currently knows everything and will tell everyone within earshot that he doesn’t need to change. My man!
I haven’t even touched the subject of eating healthy. We’ll discuss that later but I will leave you with this. No matter how hard you work in the gym, or at bicycling, or running, or yoga, you cannot possibly outwork a poor diet. 30 exhausting minutes on the treadmill is equal to eating one donut! ONE! So the obvious answer here is, DON’T EAT THE DONUT! I know… totally unfair. Why does life have to be this way? Why can’t I live in a world where donuts build muscle? Why don’t candy bars strengthen the enamel around my teeth? When will they invent a fat-burning beer???
Sorry. We have to work within the world we have, not the world we want. And work, we must!
So, my challenge to you during these tough times is to become tougher than times you’re living in by focusing on your health through exercise and diet. This is tough for most of us and it would be a huge help in or lives if someone would guide us in this area and help us maintain discipline. If only I could form a small group of people around me who were interested in my life success…
Hmmmm…
Doc Dan,
Team Apocalypse
