Feel-good Friday #9
Health and wellbeing wisdom to help us all feel less sh*t
Hello hello,
I was listening to Tim Ferriss, who is one of my favourite podcasters, talking about fear-setting recently. This is the opposite of goal-setting, whereby you set a goal and then set out positively, boldly determined to achieve your aspirations. Fear-setting is about outlining worst-case scenarios and really interrogating what it would mean if you did, or didn’t, act.
The main point he makes, which I think is the most interesting, is about what is it costing you — financially, emotionally, and physically — to postpone action? In his words, ‘Don’t only evaluate the potential downside of action. It is equally important to measure the atrocious cost of inaction. If you don’t pursue those things that excite you, where will you be in one year, five years, and ten years? How will you feel having allowed circumstance to impose itself upon you and having allowed ten more years of your finite life to pass doing what you know will not fulfill you? […] Measure the cost of inaction, realise the unlikelihood and repairability of most missteps, and develop the most important habit of those who excel and enjoy doing so: action.’
Sometimes taking the risk is worth the consequences. But if you’re not sure, try the fear-setting exercise. I hope it brings clarity if you are trying to make a difficult decision. I have found it really helpful.
I hope you enjoy this week’s links, tips and cool, interesting stuff to help prevent you from falling apart, below… and if you do, please share this Substack with a friend!
There’s a theme to today’s newsletter. Sea if you can guess what it is…
Thanks for reading —
Liz
Vitamin sea. I spent three nights camping in Cornwall last weekend with my family and some dear friends, and it was such a tonic. We were on a campsite that overlooked the sea, and it was wild, beautiful and very freeing. It has been proven that time spent by water is good for you: in 2011 researchers investigating the wellbeing of individuals discovered that people are happier outdoors in nature, than in any kind of urban environment. While this stat in itself may not be a huge suprise, confirming what we already know, another study in 2012 built on this picture, revealing that participants who recorded the highest increase in happiness in an outdoor environment occurred when people were near water. In fact, being in marine and coastal regions added 5.2 percent to a person’s level of happiness. (All these stats and more are from the fascinating book Blue Mind: How water makes you happier, more connected and better at what you do, by Wallace J. Nichols. A fascinating read.) Certainly, I love being by the sea, and feel a deep emotional connection to it. Nature is an incredible healer, so get yourself to the coast for a cleansing wellbeing walk.
Quote of the week. I spotted this greetings card this week in one of my favourite shops in London: Daunt’s on Marylebone High Street, and had to buy it. It taps into the idea of letting go, which I am trying to embrace. What are the stories you tell about yourself? What beliefs do you cling to? What do you tell yourself the future is going to look like? How do you know that’s true? In fact, we don’t need to know the future, we just need to know what’s happening now. And we can adjust ourselves only: nothing else. Nothing else is in our control. So try to live in the now. Adjust your breathing, maybe meditate more, eat healthy food. You cannot direct the wind.
We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails
Book of the week. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. It’s an oldie now, first published in 2018, but such a goodie. I love this book so much, and read the paperback (as seen in the photo) in one sitting on an aeroplane in 2019. The first time I think I have ever done that. After my time in Cornwall, when I walked a very short section of the South West Coastal Path with my friend, I am re-reading it. It tells the story of Raynor and her husband, Moth, who having lost everything dear to them, including their beloved farmhouse home, and with Moth recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, set out to walk the South West Coastal Path together — all 630 miles of it. It is a story of love, despair, hopelessness, hope, joy and a testament to the power of nature, movement, walking and connection. If you haven’t read it you are in for a treat. It will buoy you up, no matter how low you are feeling. Let me know if you’ve read it and if you enjoyed it!
I’ll leave you this week with some words I found jotted in a notebook of mine. I am not sure where they came from, but they are really speaking to me this week as I wrestle with all kinds of decisions about my life.
Have a good weekend and see you next Friday for more —
Liz
‘The hardest thing is to decide. After that, everything falls into place somehow.’