Giving Wings to What Was Caged
Giving Wings to What Was Caged
Who do you want your future self to be?
♫ “Cages or wings, which do you prefer?
Ask the birds.
Fear or love, baby
Don’t say the answer.
Actions speak louder than words.
What does it take
To wake up a generation?
How can you make someone
Take off and fly?” ♫
— Jonathan Larson, “Louder Than Words,” Tick, Tick… Boom!
My love of the film Tick, Tick… Boom! heavily influenced this week’s piece. This song, in particular, has been a massive inspiration for me. For more on why it struck me so powerfully, read my article below.
You can also check out the song, as seen in the film here.
Worth Listening To
This week, there are 2 more outstanding episodes worth your time:
“Your Future Self Needs Your Help Today” — What a title. Dr. Maya Shankar, host of A Slight Change of Plans, interviews Hal Hershfield about his findings when it comes to our multiple selves.
Myopia versus Hyperopia — are you present-focused or future-focused?
Seeing ourselves as multiple selves: our past self; our present self; and our future self. Finding a balance between each self is incredibly difficult.
One example is thinking of how you have changed as you’ve gotten older. Who did you used to be? Who are you now? Who do you hope to become?
This has enormous implications for the way we approach our health!
“I don’t want to work out.” — Present self. But your future self will be eternally grateful to you for doing that workout.
“Dr. Robert Lustig: How Sugar & Processed Foods Impact Your Health” — Huberman Lab is one of my favorite shows. This episode may be my all-time favorite. Here’s why:
It has COMPLETELY caused me to rethink how I view nutrition.
“A calorie is a calorie” is utter nonsense
Glycemic index is B.S.
How important fiber, omega-3s, and protein really are (even more so than I previously thought)
Fat storage. Insulin is the bad guy(?)
The role of oxygen in metabolism (think aerobic)
What is food? (Growth & Burn)
Nutrition will be the theme of the Endeavor 2 weeks from now, so I will go more in depth then. In the meantime, I cannot recommend this episode enough if you want to take an active role with your nutrition. I have already begun making huge changes to my own nutrition.
Conversations with a Personal Trainer
This week, I had a wonderful conversation with one particular client who also owns his own business. He was explaining the difficulty he has when his message is not understood after explaining it for the umpteenth time. Such was his rumination that it was affecting his workout.
At the time, I was thinking of ways I could help, but nothing came to mind. It didn’t occur to me until sitting down to write that therein lies the answer: write it down. “Why is this problem bothering me so much?”
This harkens back to the first podcast recommendation of the Envision Endeavor. Arthur Brooks uses writing as a tool for understanding our own emotions. Hopefully, you’re reading this.
Persistence
Eight years. That is how long Jonathan Larson took to write his first play, Superbia. It failed (at least in a traditional sense). Superbia was never produced and never made it to the stage. It did, however, set him up to write one of the most memorable plays of the modern era.
Nine and seven. That is how many years Lin Manuel Miranda took to write In the Heights and Hamilton respectively. From his performance of “Alexander Hamilton” for the newly inaugurated President Obama in 2009, Hamilton would not open on Broadway until 2015. It was Larson’s Rent that first inspired Miranda to begin writing In the Heights.
Imagine devoting such a massive block of your life to one singular project; one goal.
“Your future self needs your help today.”
“Cages or wings, which do you prefer?”
Had either one of these giants of musical theater said, “This is too hard; I think I’m done.” we would never know their names. We would never have experienced the work of art they created from the depths of their own minds. In the film, Tick, Tick… Boom!, after realizing his eight years of work is not going to end the way he had hoped, Jonathan asks, “What do I do now?” His agent’s response: “Begin writing the next one. And the next one after that.” While yes, it may be a movie, remember who directed it. Lin Manuel Miranda. Lin Manual Miranda — the one person who could relate.
Throughout our endeavor to be a healthier version of ourselves, we face failure after failure. I have failed more times than I can count. However, each time I do, I learn something new about my present self to help my future self prepare. Something I think we all struggle with is when we have those days, weeks, or even months when we don’t want to exercise or do anything health-related. I recently became a parent, followed swiftly by a parent of two. My body fat percentage skyrocketed after my first kid. It both is and was really f***ing hard to find the drive to go to the gym.
Kids do have their benefits though. One such example is observing them as they learn to walk. There’s a 4-step process: Try, fail, cry, repeat. It’s the repetition that is so fascinating. Quarterbacks are taught that if they throw an interception they need to have a short memory. Kids embody this. And, after many repetitions, they succeed. And that is positively brilliant to witness.
Inertia is always the hardest part to overcome. Summoning the drive to begin — especially if you’ve had something before, you’ve lost it, and now you’re starting all over again. But, remember this:
“Your future self needs your help today.”
“Cages or wings, which do you prefer?”
Writing this newsletter is something I’ve been thinking about for months. It gives wings to the previously caged thoughts which impeded new ideas from forming. This edition marks the conclusion of the first month. Yay! I made it one month. One hundred to go.
So, which do you prefer? Cages? Or wings?
Envision Fitness Updates
Referral Bonus! (For current members)
2024 is upon us, and there’s going to be a lot of talk about weight loss, gyms, and health in the near future.
We’d love to meet and help people you know get healthier!
When you refer a family, friend, or colleague, you will receive a $200 credit to your account, if they sign up for a membership or for metabolic testing.
25% OFF all services (For new members)
New members receive 25% off each of our services for their first 3 months (boot camp and personal training).
For metabolic testing, they receive 25% off their first test + their first retest.
This offer will expire on January 15th.
Kyle is putting together a metabolic health workshop that will begin in a few weeks!
It will be a 6-week workshop and more details to come in next week’s post.