Last Drop Blog

I have consumed a fair amount of self help content, occasionally I consume too much of it. The purpose and goal of reading and listening to this content is to utilize the tips and tricks in your own day to day life. At times, I found myself reading a lot of things about optimizing your health and I was not doing much. It in turn was somewhat detrimental to my mental state. I would read a bunch of shit telling me what I should be doing while doing almost none of it.

The one thing that has stuck with me the past few years has been simple but incredibly effective. Getting outside. Getting sunlight. I truly believe there is nothing simpler and better for your overall health than sun exposure. You do not need to go far to see articles, podcasts, books etc. that reference the importance of this.

Huberman Lab is a podcast I tend to go back to often. Here is an article that links quick blips from his podcast about sun exposure upon waking up.

The best part about this is that it doesn’t require much work and you can notice the impact quickly. I personally just try and get outside and spend time in the sun within the first 90 minutes of waking up. If it is already sunny out you really only need 5-10 minutes but if cloudy, I aim for 30 minutes. Being from New England and experiencing seasonal depression, I have not had a hard time getting outside while here in Texas. Even while living in Boston during the winters, I forced myself to get out for a quick walk. It is not always easy, but if the hardest thing you had to do in a day was get outside for a bit you had it alright.

I have 100% noticed a difference in my mental health by making this a consistent daily habit. It increases my energy, my sleep, overall mood, and has absolutely allowed me to get a grasp on my mental health. The underlying message from ALL of these self help tips and tricks is consistency and discipline. In general you will not want to get outside every morning of every day. I am happy that I have made this such a habit/routine that I almost dont even think about it anymore. These little tasks that you assign yourself are so important to complete. It is a way to take control of your own life. In forcing yourself to get out and do the things that you know you should do but dont want to do in the moment you are growing into the person you want to become. You think I wanted to show up to places sober early on? I could hardly get myself to walk out of my apartment to go to the CVS down the street. You think I wanted to pack up and move to Austin by myself in nearly the peak of my depression and anxiety? 100% No. But, deep down I knew I should do it and I stuck with that gut feeling and learned to be disciplined. I am certain there are plenty of times in your own life where you did not want to do something but your gut told you to and you may not realize it but that decision likely impacted your future for the best.

So when I have those days or moments when I really don’t want to do the simplest task of the day (getting outside) I think back to how far I have grown and how far I can continue to grow if I take some control over my decisions. Having been in a pretty bad place mentally at points, I do understand that getting outside daily can be hard. But it is hard to sympathize for those that do not feel well and do not take 5 mins a day to get outside. I vividly remember taking walks in the freezing cold practically wanting to break down and cry because of how I was feeling with my life. You wont think about the benefits of that time outside in the moment but I assure you, if you feel shitty and you make a conscious effort to get outside every single day things will change.

In just teaching yourself to be disciplined and to listen to that inner voice, you will grow. I am coming up on a year of sobriety and those little walks every day played a huge role in my progress. I learned a lot about myself and how strong I was. There were plenty of days pre-sobriety where I wouldn’t leave my house or apartment. Some days I wouldn’t even leave my bedroom. Days where I just sat marinating in my own thoughts, knowing I wanted to do something about my life and mental health but not taking action. So yeah, long story short get outside and feel the sun for 5 minutes a day.

In my own efforts to get outside daily I have learned to love being outside. It is a way for me to slow down and a constant reminder that there is a big fucking world out there and my problems aren’t so bad. Be good to yourself. Speak up if things are bad, speak up if things are good. Open up, there are people that need to hear what you have to say.