If nothing else, life is complicated. At this moment in time, I am being faced with challenges and stressors to the likes of which I have never felt before. Unfortunately, right now, I am not at liberty to discuss any details – but perhaps one day. Essentially though, I think everyone is always going through something, right? I mean, the idiom “when life gives you lemons…” is a very popular expression for a reason. First and foremost, I think, time helps heal. Also, some principles from Stoicism have been especially meaningful to me right now – particularly to “recognize what you can and cannot control.” I want to talk today a bit about some actions I have taken lately to help refocus my thoughts, and try to mentally emerge from a crisis in my life.

My wife found me a life coach, that (mind you, I am only a couple sessions in) has introduced me to a heart-focused breathing technique that helps to neutralize my emotional reaction in the moment and reduce the impacts of stress at the time. I imagine this taps into the same powers of relaxation that meditation does for most people that practice it regularly. Again, I have only within the last few weeks started to incorporate some of this into my daily routine but I will say I find my overall mood has calmed and improved when I start to feel overwhelmed. During our sessions, I am actually hooked up to a monitor that tracks the physiologic effect it has on my body, and yeah – just something as simple as a couple minutes of slower, deeper breathing a few times a day can help neutralize depleting emotions.

I have started reading the book “Die with Zero” by Bill Perkins. To be honest, I did not start reading this because of the adverse event in my life, but rather, to try and motivate my youngest son to read more while he was on summer break. So far it has not worked. Nonetheless, I am enjoying the book quite a bit. It reminds me to try and create memories and have enjoyable experiences now versus trying to always accumulate a massive nest egg and focus on saving for the future. The author talks about “memory dividends” and how we derive a lot of happiness from fond memories of those trips and events and activities we participated in years ago.

“Money can buy many things, but it cannot buy time. Invest in experiences, they will last a lifetime.” ~ Bill Perkins

Yet another thing I have been working on, and this very well may come off as a shameless plug, is that I am helping my kids start a YouTube channel. As of this post, we have released three videos here. I would like to see it do well (so please like and subscribe 😛) but I was more interested in it as a bonding experience with them. Together, we are learning a bit about video editing, thumbnail creation, cinematic lighting, etc.. I find working on projects like this a healthy distraction from what may otherwise be moping and sulking in despair about life’s problems. With each video, we look for new ways to improve the quality; whether it is investing in better equipment, incorporating transition effects, researching YouTube’s algorithm and increasing visitors, you name it – there are endless things out there to keep your mind occupied.

I still find exercising to be my saving grace in trying and difficult times. I need to go more often then I do. If this was a post about health, and where I currently am at physically, I would honestly be ashamed of myself. My diet is poor, the Las Vegas summer heat always brings a sense of lethargy, and having horrible events happen in your life just adds to a trifecta that easily leads to depression. It is hard, it is heavy and it takes a lot to just make it through a day. I will end with one more Stoic premise – “you determine your reaction to a crisis.” Wishing you all positive energy, and thank you for taking the time to read this post!