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5 life hacks you should be doing to improve your wellbeing as a man….

Do you feel your mood is going through a rollercoaster every day? Happy, grumpy, full of joy, sad…up and down, up and down?

Do you feel irritated easily?

Do you have trouble sleeping?

I’ll take you on a journey, sit back and enjoy.

Let’s wind back to summer 2018

The World Cup was on, heatwave was roasting us and beer was flowing…life couldn’t be better, right?

Right….

Back then, my moods were like the weather — absolutely unpredictable.

I had a short temper, was extremely aggressive and lost it at least once day for stupid reasons. Once my headphones got stuck on the door handle…Believe it or not, but to this day, I wonder how my phone didn’t break into pieces after I tried to bend it…

I couldn’t fall asleep most of the time and felt like hit by a train the next morning…

Because of that, every day left me feeling completely exhausted..

So far, doesn’t really sound like a fun story, does it? Well, it wasn’t but at time, I didn’t know any better

So, what changed?

It was one week in July 2018, after the World cup, and like the cup itself, I didn’t coming home for 2 nights.

I was out and about and that 1 pint turned into a weekend long bender.

Fast-forward to Monday morning and there I was, a wreck and shadow of myself.

I dragged myself out of bed, went to work (cool startup, thank god) and the night I got home I said to myself…

“THIS IS IT, I AM NOT HAVING THIS ANYMORE”

To this day, I don’t know what exactly (of all the points) triggered this, but I finally had enough. I felt so disgusted by myself, that I wanted to change…

Because of that, I tried and tested various things and below I will share my top 5 things that I found the most powerful habits that improved my life:

1. OMMAD — I embarked on the journey of Intermitting Fasting thanks to my shredded flatmate. I watched a few youtube videos by
   Dr. Eric Berg DC (youtube him) and started off with the window of 20:4, which means, 20 hours without food and an eating window of 4 hours. One Massive Meal A Day. Sounds badass? Our ancestors could go days without food, so why can’t we anymore?
2. Bye Bye sweet tooth — I cut out sugar, entirely….Like, I am not talking about added sugar (which btw, is in 99% of your packaged food…), I am talking about natural sugar, such as fruits, etc. No “vegan” or healthy snacks…None of that, because if you have one, you want to have more. The craving will eventually fade away. I made sure that there is no temptation in my flat at all. If you don’t see it, it does not exist.
3. Mindfulness routine— I used to work in finance..Do I need to say more? I developed a healthy mindfulness routine, a combination of breath-work and meditation in the morning and in the evening. 10 minutes it enough for each session. I used a combination of apps such as headspace and Asana rebels.
4. Who are you trying to impress? The day I deleted social media, I felt relieved. No more mindless external validation craving, no more mindless scrolling. I felt like I was breaking free. There is a movie called Social Dilemma. Watch it!
5. No more music — Your mind works like an engine. What you feed in, will determine how it will run…When I was sad, I listened to sad songs…Guess what, that simply amplified it. Well, then listen to happy music? Guess what, that will just cause more swings in my mood.
6. Control your inner flatmate — I said 5 tips but guess what, there is another one for you. You can’t stop your mind from thinking but you can work on how you react to your inner flatmate. Write down what you feel, and that’s it. If you feel happy, write it down. You feel sad? Write it down too. Simply get it out of the system.

You might wonder — did he really stop listening to music? Not entirely, I listen to it here and there, maybe 15–30mins a day but I am extremely selective to what I am listening to. Mantras, Soundscapes…

Final thoughts

Is my life boring? Quite the opposite, because I experience it on a different level. For some, it might be boring and I honestly couldn’t care less. You see, once you reach that level of content and happiness, you stop caring about what others think. Each to their own!

I’ve never felt so great because I feel like I am in control again; of my emotions and my life.— I am full of energy, and every day is a gift. I still have my ups and downs but I am able to manage and handle them. I master my emotions, not the other way around.

This has been a process of more than 2 years now, with cycles and its ups and downs but believe it or not — life is a gift and your comfort zone shouldn’t keep you from living it.

You want to know more? Leave a comment and get in touch!