Sunday Sum - 16th July 2023

Hey , welcome back to

The Sunday Summary

, a collection of insights and my behind the scenes from the past week.

✍🏻 A practice that is enhancing my life:DayOne - JournallingThis weekend I went camping.  It’s a small annual biking festival in Chelmsford that’s a regular fixture in the calendar. But before going, I used a journal to good effect in a couple of ways.  Now I’m not normally a journaler.  At first it was a case of “Why am I journalling?” “This feels like a diary” “is this even relevant, I make a newsletter every week, that’s basically my journal”.1st example is something that some refer to aptly as a; “brain dump”.  You effectively dump thoughts or open loops of concern on the page.  There you can trap, isolate them and often resolve this.

Here are some of my examples.

• You have a deadline next week! (self imposed)

• You should spend more of your working hours on YouTube!

• What if you go broke?

• Why are you taking the weekend off? You could be out in the cab working!

• You aren’t enjoying living in the present, what is this all for?

Listed as questions, it’s quite easy to address these succinctly. Once complete and I couldn’t think of anymore, my mind was free to enjoy the weekend.

2nd example. When it came time to pack and plan my weekend of camping, I remembered I left a journal from the year before.  It’s a festival I’ve probably attended nearly 10 times, and the set-up is practically the same every year.  But it’s incredible how much detail is missing from such an event I crave.Looking back at my 2022 entry I was able to see that;

• I turned up too early

• I packed way too much stuff

• I recommended bringing ear plugs

• I was knackered by the Sunday.

These 4 little insights easily slipped my mind from the year before, just having these triggers ensured I got the most from the event.  For the first time I enjoyed sleeping in the tent, and managed to regulate my energy level on the bike the whole weekend.

Here’s a few examples I would really recommend if you want to take up journalling.

Holidays.  What worked well?  Was there anything you was confused about prior that you managed to overcome, and how did you overcome it?  What were your energy levels like?  What insights did you get from being able to experience them real time. The journal is the best tool to assist in this process as you get to capture your exact thoughts and feelings live.  Not trying to predict them or draw upon the memory which is often edited.

Eating out.  What was so magical about the experience?  What did you enjoy talking about?  What was your most treasured memory from the experience?

Some people like to take photos that they can go back to, I personally find that this works to a degree, whereas a short journal can provide so much depth.  A photo is like summarising the experience in 1 word where a journal can really dive deep.   It’s often why I prefer reading to say watching TV, so much more value and information can be extracted from a page of words than 1 hour of moving images.

So what are you going to journal about?  I’d love to know! (This isn’t sponsored by the way).

😭 💊 My acne will probably come back:Numan - Fear Nothing Blood testI have periodic blood work done, my usual go-to is Thriva.  It’s a bit of a game, finger prick, get the results back and then optimise my health and diet before testing again to hopefully see improvement!This time I switched to Numan as they have a comprehensive blood panel rather than picking individual markers.ALT.  Something I haven’t tested for before.  An enzyme found in the blood that gives an indication of liver damage.Well.... mine came back disastrously high! 🤯  Possible liver damage.  I was astonished.  As someone at a healthy BMI, semi active, and non-drinker, I was scratching to find an answer.My best guess… antibiotics, specifically what I take for my acne.  So off those, and test again in a few months. It’s a bit of pre warning, my acne will probably make an appearance in future videos.  In a similar vein, if anyone happens to be a gastroenterologist or can recommend one specifically for acne, that would be amazing!💿 On heavy rotation:Sky+ EPG Guide MusicChild of the 90's?  This will take you back!Years ago I managed to download the episode guide music from Sky Plus/Digital.  Wow this will take you back! It’s instrumentals of a variety of genre’s and tempos.  Perfect laptop work playlist that also sends shivers down the back of your neck.Turns out someone has made an EPG simulator online 😂. You can choose the various era's of music, 2003-2004 is my fav!

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Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Please feel free to reach out to me with your; comments, concerns or just general conversation.  

I'd love to know what you're up to or what you might be working on!

 📝😁

Have a great week everyone!

Tom

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