Crazy is not a strong enough adjective to describe the past year. Insane. That’s closer. Indescribable. Probably the most accurate.
In January I was ontop of the world. Nothing could go wrong. I knew, with certainty, that opening up a gym would be the first step to complete financial freedom and getting everything I ever wanted in life. In May I opened the doors. By August I was struggling to even wake up because of crippling depression.
There were thoughts of driving to the mountains and living out of my car until I was out of cash… and then, well, it wasn’t a pretty thought. Of emptying my bank account and flying off to Thailand.
And then somehow, miraculously, I found the perfect buyers. Sold the gym, got a job as an Accountant, and then worked myself into a position of managing paid online ads for the company.
That’s a short version of how the last year has gone. If you want some more details here’s a reddit thread I made about the gym: http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/2r1jbi/i_opened_then_sold_a_crossfit_gym_story_and_ama/
Some lessons I wish to share
- Never give up. Never ever ever give up. As long as you draw breath keep taking steps forward. The greatest arrogance of man is his belief that he has even an inkling of what the future will bring. We have no idea – so with that in mind no matter how bleak your path looks realize that you’re not seeing the whole picture. Never give up.
- All of the answers to your problems reside in your mind. Take time everyday to sit quietly and ask yourself: what can you improve on, what are the major problems afflicting you in life, and how can you solve those problems? Your mind contains more potential riches than all the vaults of the Earth. It will provide you with as many solutions as you give it questions. Feed it the questions.
- With love and an open heart you can accomplish anything. Don’t let the pains and difficulties of life cause you to shut down your heart.
- Stop worrying. Plan, organize, think. But don’t worry.
- If I can do it, so can you. This is the 8th major depressive episode I’ve made it through now. Each one has successively stripped away negative elements of my personality and shaped me into a better, stronger human being. If I can do it, so can you. Keep going. This too shall pass.
My new theory for depression
I’ve always thought of my depression as just a natural part of who I was. I’ve assumed that I’ll always have highs and lows. But I recently recognized a very interesting trend – each summer, around the May-June time frame my cognitive function would decline sharply. It feels like I’m struck stupid. 8 months out of the year I’m a great conversationalist, writer, speaker, thinker. The other four I may as well be a zombie.
May-June also happens to be when allergy season kicks off in Missouri. And I was told by the nurse who administered my allergy skin-test that she had “never seen anyone as allergic to trees and grasses as I was.”
Briefly, my new theory is that my depression is largely modulated by chronic inflammation. Allergy season creates massive acute inflammation, which then starts a chain reaction of poor performance coupled with biologically caused depression which feed upon each other until I am fully incapacitated. Then allergy season goes away, I slowly recover, and by November/December I feel like myself again and become productive again.
If you want to read more detail I wrote a reddit thread here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/comments/2vngh3/food_for_thought_inflammation_may_be_a_primary/
Here are the steps I’m taking now to keep my overall inflammatory load low and thereby prevent future major depressive episodes:
- Eliminating processed carbohydrates from my diet.
- Supplementing with magnesium, vitamin D, Tumeric, Ginseng, Ashwagandha, Multi-vitamin.
- Meditating daily.
- Allergy immunotherapy.
- Sleep is a top priority, along with naps.
- Exercise(of course!).
- Eating pro-biotic foods(fermented foods, yogurts).
Having taken these steps my brain feels incredibly clear. This entire post has taken less than 20 minutes to write. I started right into it. I’m doing really well at work. Motivated to work on Healthy Gamer and other side-business ideas. All-in-all life is really great, and, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my body is actually functioning optimally.
If you deal with chronic fatigue, depression, lack of energy/motivation… maybe try putting yourself on a anti-inflammatory regime. For me it’s helped tremendously.
Feel free to leave any questions you have below, I’ll be checking back and answering. And keep an eye-out for new videos. The plan is to put out at least 1 workout video a week and then start adding more on top of that.