In Control or Out of Control? How Shaking Things Up Can Boost Your Energy
Could balancing the comfort of being in control and the discomfort of letting loose be the trick to having consistently high levels of energy and drive to reach goals? Or to renewing awe and fascination with day-to-day life? In the self-development world there’s a lot of talk about routines, and there’s talk about pushing outside the comfort zone. What’s the deal?
Letting go of being perfect
Ever hear of hedonic adaptation? It means our longterm happiness is not significantly affected by impacting events. We adapt to whatever happens and find our “happiness set point.” So we can chill out and stop being so tough on ourselves.
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.”
Did anybody out there manage to get back into a settled routine post-confinement only to have it tossed to the wind with the arrival of summer, the call of the outdoors, longer daylight hours, kids out of school, vacation time to plan/replan, in-laws, and what all?
It seems that every time I get a routine going, before I even get comfortable, something else changes. More than ever now, with the world shaking things up for us all. I definitely want this to feed my energy rather than drain it. But how?
The short answer
Shake things up yourself. Make breaking your own rules fun. It rubs off and makes it easier when you’re not at the helm of the upheaval.
Fickle by nature
I love routines, but I’m also fickle about them. When I get comfortable, I get antsy. I’m drawn to novelty. Sure, it’s the dopamine rush. Our brains love what’s new, giving us the same satisfaction as a fine meal or a roll in the hay.
Routines, on the other hand, help us be more productive by saving energy and providing a comfort zone, a notion of security. When we get uncomfortable, that space of minimal stress and risk draws us back.
It’s like a see-saw.
We need both. We want both. Call it fickle, capricious, out of control. Or call it empowered. It’s your choice. I suggest owning this back-and-forth and making it work best for you.
Too much of a good thing…
I love my Bulletproof coffee—my own version of it, made from organic, pure arabica CO2 decaf, with (and sometimes without) raw cacao and cacao butter in addition to pure C8 and butter, and occasionally a pinch of cinnamon and/or vanilla powder. It’s my go-to breakfast. Sometimes I’ll have some protein in addition or as a replacement.
Just yesterday, though, I had the total opposite. I sliced up a ripe yellow peach, diced an apricot, added blueberries—all organic, all fresh, all in season. Then I drizzled on C8 and sprinkled some powdered bourbon vanilla and ground black pepper over the top. The experience was, well, new… and I’m still feeling ripples of pleasure from it, along with some excitement and overall energy just at the thought of it.
When you do the same thing over and over, your brain zones out, your body adapts, calling out for something unfamiliar. Do something new, and when you go back to the old, it’s feels as if it were new again.
Whether you use binaural beats for meditation, do a 7-minute workout everyday, eat keto or drink Bulletproof coffee, the key to renewing awe and fascination with day-to-day life lies in switching things up from time to time.
Use it to your advantage
Here are a few ways getting out of control can give you more energy:
On and off. Anyone who drinks coffee every day knows that over time you need more just to feel like your normal self. My number one trick to re-energizing the morning is to cycle on and off caffeinated coffee. I used to do two days on and two off, and then I didn’t need coffee anymore to feel human. Now, when I want an extra boost to the day, I only need to grind a few grains into my decaf to hack my whole day.
Winter and summer. In winter I never eat fruit, and right now it’s summer, so I’m gorging on peaches and apricots (not only for breakfast), without a care in the world for their glycemic index. I’m also thoroughly enjoying heirloom tomatoes, despite a slight allergic reaction. The season is short. The pleasure is great. And soon I’ll be looking for something new. Eating seasonal foods is a no-brainer method to get essential nutrients and some variety in the gut microbiome, which results in more energy.
Feasting and fasting. We evolved to eat when there was food and fast when there wasn’t. For most of human history, this back-and-forth never followed a strict 16-8 schedule (16 hours fasting, 8 hour eating window) or weekly 24h fasting regimen. In a world where a good number of us always have food around, structured fasting times can help create a habit. It can also be tossed. Fast sometimes. Feast sometimes. Eat until you’re three-quarters full the rest of the time, because we are actually wired to keep eating as long as there is food, just in case tomorrow there isn’t any. But tomorrow you are likely to still have some. So regulate. This only really works if you are eating whole, unprocessed food and if you don’t go to far to either extreme.
Hot and cold. In the days when we could go to spas without worrying about viruses, my criteria was that it have a frigidarium: an ice-cold pool. I would go to the hot pool or sauna, then lounge—yes, that is the right verb—in the cold pool, going back and forth until someone dragged me away. It turns out the body loves hot-cold body temperature fluctuations. They increase blood flow to the brain, cell longevity, and fat loss, among other benefits. There’s no need for a spa. A five-minute shower alternating 20 seconds cold water, 10 seconds hot (do it 10x) morning and evening does wonders.