I am in the middle of opening a few more challenges. So far I have been doing 16/8 intermittent fasting on 5 days a week; now I want to add one full fasting day. To buy fewer things and not be constantly distracted by so many of them, there is an "Enough!" challenge. And to get fitter again, I want to ride the e-bike once a week the 40 km (one way) to work and back.
But why, actually?
For a long time I thought freedom meant the freedom to be able to do something. But I am finding more and more that the freedom not to need something or not to have to do something is more important!
It has become clear to me that a not inconsiderable part of the stress I am exposed to comes from wanting to meet expectations. Or worse, from feeling that I have to meet them. These include external expectations, such as giving good lectures, but also, and these are the important ones here, my own expectations of myself. I should do more sport, I should finally do this or that. And many of these expectations come from having too much.
Too many activities that I want to be part of or think I should be part of. Too many things that I own, which then make me feel I now have to use them, since I spent money on them. All of that demands attention and energy from me. Less helps. If I don't have a book lying around that I think I should still read, but only the one I am reading right now, then it is easy to decide what to read in the evening. And when it is finished, the next one can come. If I have a short list of songs I want to practise, it is easy to start. If I first have to think about what I could do, I often do nothing.
It is exactly the same with food. Out of worry that I might not be able to have lunch because there isn't time between a lecture and appointment A, I quickly grab something in the morning. I then eat that in between to relieve stress and still go out for a meal. In the end I have spent time and money to eat too much. Since the fasting day I have already been subconsciously aware that I can manage a day without food and that it is even quite pleasant, now and then. The pressure to want to eat something because otherwise you won't get anything is gone.
With sport it is similar; here simplicity matters more than doing little or a lot. I never manage to do enough sport. With the challenge I ride to work once a week. If I have to be on site several times, I drive the rest by car, no pressure. But at least one of the trips. Currently that means 50-100% of my trips by e-bike.
Normally I need 50-60 minutes from Meersburg to Weingarten. On the e-bike in eco mode quite consistently 1:45, so there and back 3:30. So for 90-110 minutes of extra time I get 3:30 hours of exercise. And that is such a nice amount that for the whole rest of the week I no longer worry about my exercise. And the fact that I don't need a car for the route feels very liberating. I can do without. And if my wife needs the car, I can simply ride the bike. I realise that this is not for the 8:00 lecture, but the feeling is liberating all the same. And as a challenge my goal is to manage it, but it doesn't stress me out.
