It's been three months since the end of my term as President of AIESEC International. It has been some of the best months of my life.
I made a decision last Christmas, that I would consciously not jump into anything straight away after my term. I have lived a life at full speed more or less since 2006 - last five of which in a full time leadership role in AIESEC. I love and thrive with the adrenaline and thrills that come with such speed and intensity. And for sure I will seek such experiences throughout my life. However, sometimes we have to slow down to understand what is there, to understand who we have become and to prepare properly and start again.
Habits of life
One of the key things I realised during the past couple of years is that there were some life habits that I never built for myself which ultimately will make me unhappy and eventually kill me. I am serious. I am talking about three simple concepts - nutrition, exercise and relationships.
Nutrition
I have realised now that I have never eaten well. I found cooking too boring or time consuming, other times I was looking for a cheap and quick fix, and most importantly I didn't know a lot about nutrition. How does your body truly work? What lifestyle are you actually living and what are the facts and myths you "know" (or rather, have been told by your mum, your government and the media) about nutrition? Well, you don't know what you don't know, and I know know that I didn't know anything. I spent around 10 days in the beginning of September literally reading about nutrition, diet, metabolism and biology online the whole day. I was honestly amazed. I mean, it is kind of obvious, but I never really paid attention, but what you put into your mouth, translates into every other aspect of your life - physical, mental, psychological, stress etc. It translates into your ability to live and lead the way you want to as well. Right now I am actually amazed at the performance up until this point in my life given how I have been treating nutrition. After those ten days I decided to make a change for me (note: don't copy any nutrition approach of anyone without reading and understanding a holistic picture - trust me, it's very individual).
I have completely cut or heavily reduced all added sugar (including all sodas, juices, pastries etc. etc), high starch-high carb products (potatoes, rice, pasta, corn and bread), cut all processed food (that's basically more or less everything in the supermarket) and have converted to a low carbohydrate, high nutrition, vegetable and unprocessed meat based diet. I drink water (and tea). In 6 weeks I have lost around 10 kgs, but I don't care so much about that. Much more importantly I feel great. I have stable energy throughout the day and I feel great. I am cooking every single meal myself, from ground up, and the only thing I will basically eat out is salad. Overall, I was amazed to learn so much about food and nutrition, and I think I was shocked at how bad the food we eat actually is (I mean, we all know that fast food is bad, but basically almost all the food we eat is bad!). I am not prescribing for anyone else to do anything in particular, but if you want to know what you don't know which will directly impact your life - day to day and long term - start reading about nutrition.
Excercise
On AIESEC International we had this running joke, that while we were all members of a gym, for many of us (although to be fair, my last team had a lot of impressive peeps that worked out a lot!) it was more like a CSR project supporting Dutch employment through our monthly membership fees. In the past 18 months, converting membership fee to times at the gym, I literally spent more than 100 EUR on average per visit to the gym - wow. Anyway.
I have realised that I am probably never gonna enjoy going to fitness classes, lifting weights or running on a treadmill. That's just me. But I do enjoy playing sports, especially football, and even skiing. I have joined a football team here (no worries, I don't think I will be making any headlines in your local newspaper), meaning I am getting a good run for around 1,5h at least twice a week. Yeah, it's not "working out every day etc etc" but it's definitely a good nudge up from 1,5h per 6 months. I even prepared my skiing equipment and am so looking forward to the first snow falling here in Oslo so I can start skiing again. We used to do that a lot as kids, every winter - especially cross country skiing - but ever since I moved to the States at the age of 16 (and let's face it, that's half of my lifetime ago!) I haven't had a full winter of skiing. Also, I am taking the opportunity to go swimming, especially when I go to Sweden to see my girlfriend.
Relationships
That brings me onto the third "habit", and I will call it a habit. I think many people who have known me for some years will have realised that I haven't always been very good at maintaining relationships. There's probably some deep rooted psychological reason behind that, but if there is one thing I have learnt, it is that you have the power - 100% - to change yourself. I think one of the key learnings I had through AIESEC International, where you work with so many people from collectivistic cultures, is how you define yourself changes. From just an individual in the world, to a part of a group or a family. Literally, your whole outlook changes. And I have changed in this sense, because I now define myself very much through the relationships I am in. I am not investing more time with my parents, my friends, my girlfriend and my brother than I ever have. And it really is very simple- what are you consciously choosing to invest your time in?
---
The reason I am talking about these three aspects - nutrition, exercise and relationships - is because over the past three months I have consciously prioritised them, not only half heartedly or in between, but actually and every day. I haven't prioritised "looking for jobs" or "figuring out what I want to do", because I believe that the best investment I can make in my life, is to build habits in these areas that last for the rest of my life. Three months is not forever, but it's a good start.
I have learnt to cook some meals (and I can tell you, it is quick, and once you are used to it, not really boring), I look forward to playing football (just waiting for that snow!!!) and I am spending time with people I care about.
As a random side project, I have been renting out my apartment on Airbnb when I have been out of town. I am just in the beginning of that, but it's pretty cool. Firstly because you meet people, but also because you start setting really high standards (and habits!) for your own home, and you become the side - benefactor of that. F. ex. what you may consider "ok cleanliness" for yourself, is definitely not the same when you are renting it out for money, or what you consider practical or beautiful changes as well. So as a result I have invested money, and lots of time into my apartment, and I can honestly say I have never lived so well as I am right now.
Yeah, but what am I going to be doing?
Actually, finding balance and structure brings a lot - and I have just last week started my baby steps towards my next steps. I will let you know in due time, but for now - I am happy with reshaping my habits.
I made a decision last Christmas, that I would consciously not jump into anything straight away after my term. I have lived a life at full speed more or less since 2006 - last five of which in a full time leadership role in AIESEC. I love and thrive with the adrenaline and thrills that come with such speed and intensity. And for sure I will seek such experiences throughout my life. However, sometimes we have to slow down to understand what is there, to understand who we have become and to prepare properly and start again.
Habits of life
One of the key things I realised during the past couple of years is that there were some life habits that I never built for myself which ultimately will make me unhappy and eventually kill me. I am serious. I am talking about three simple concepts - nutrition, exercise and relationships.
Nutrition
I have realised now that I have never eaten well. I found cooking too boring or time consuming, other times I was looking for a cheap and quick fix, and most importantly I didn't know a lot about nutrition. How does your body truly work? What lifestyle are you actually living and what are the facts and myths you "know" (or rather, have been told by your mum, your government and the media) about nutrition? Well, you don't know what you don't know, and I know know that I didn't know anything. I spent around 10 days in the beginning of September literally reading about nutrition, diet, metabolism and biology online the whole day. I was honestly amazed. I mean, it is kind of obvious, but I never really paid attention, but what you put into your mouth, translates into every other aspect of your life - physical, mental, psychological, stress etc. It translates into your ability to live and lead the way you want to as well. Right now I am actually amazed at the performance up until this point in my life given how I have been treating nutrition. After those ten days I decided to make a change for me (note: don't copy any nutrition approach of anyone without reading and understanding a holistic picture - trust me, it's very individual).
I have completely cut or heavily reduced all added sugar (including all sodas, juices, pastries etc. etc), high starch-high carb products (potatoes, rice, pasta, corn and bread), cut all processed food (that's basically more or less everything in the supermarket) and have converted to a low carbohydrate, high nutrition, vegetable and unprocessed meat based diet. I drink water (and tea). In 6 weeks I have lost around 10 kgs, but I don't care so much about that. Much more importantly I feel great. I have stable energy throughout the day and I feel great. I am cooking every single meal myself, from ground up, and the only thing I will basically eat out is salad. Overall, I was amazed to learn so much about food and nutrition, and I think I was shocked at how bad the food we eat actually is (I mean, we all know that fast food is bad, but basically almost all the food we eat is bad!). I am not prescribing for anyone else to do anything in particular, but if you want to know what you don't know which will directly impact your life - day to day and long term - start reading about nutrition.
Excercise
On AIESEC International we had this running joke, that while we were all members of a gym, for many of us (although to be fair, my last team had a lot of impressive peeps that worked out a lot!) it was more like a CSR project supporting Dutch employment through our monthly membership fees. In the past 18 months, converting membership fee to times at the gym, I literally spent more than 100 EUR on average per visit to the gym - wow. Anyway.
I have realised that I am probably never gonna enjoy going to fitness classes, lifting weights or running on a treadmill. That's just me. But I do enjoy playing sports, especially football, and even skiing. I have joined a football team here (no worries, I don't think I will be making any headlines in your local newspaper), meaning I am getting a good run for around 1,5h at least twice a week. Yeah, it's not "working out every day etc etc" but it's definitely a good nudge up from 1,5h per 6 months. I even prepared my skiing equipment and am so looking forward to the first snow falling here in Oslo so I can start skiing again. We used to do that a lot as kids, every winter - especially cross country skiing - but ever since I moved to the States at the age of 16 (and let's face it, that's half of my lifetime ago!) I haven't had a full winter of skiing. Also, I am taking the opportunity to go swimming, especially when I go to Sweden to see my girlfriend.
Relationships
That brings me onto the third "habit", and I will call it a habit. I think many people who have known me for some years will have realised that I haven't always been very good at maintaining relationships. There's probably some deep rooted psychological reason behind that, but if there is one thing I have learnt, it is that you have the power - 100% - to change yourself. I think one of the key learnings I had through AIESEC International, where you work with so many people from collectivistic cultures, is how you define yourself changes. From just an individual in the world, to a part of a group or a family. Literally, your whole outlook changes. And I have changed in this sense, because I now define myself very much through the relationships I am in. I am not investing more time with my parents, my friends, my girlfriend and my brother than I ever have. And it really is very simple- what are you consciously choosing to invest your time in?
---
The reason I am talking about these three aspects - nutrition, exercise and relationships - is because over the past three months I have consciously prioritised them, not only half heartedly or in between, but actually and every day. I haven't prioritised "looking for jobs" or "figuring out what I want to do", because I believe that the best investment I can make in my life, is to build habits in these areas that last for the rest of my life. Three months is not forever, but it's a good start.
I have learnt to cook some meals (and I can tell you, it is quick, and once you are used to it, not really boring), I look forward to playing football (just waiting for that snow!!!) and I am spending time with people I care about.
As a random side project, I have been renting out my apartment on Airbnb when I have been out of town. I am just in the beginning of that, but it's pretty cool. Firstly because you meet people, but also because you start setting really high standards (and habits!) for your own home, and you become the side - benefactor of that. F. ex. what you may consider "ok cleanliness" for yourself, is definitely not the same when you are renting it out for money, or what you consider practical or beautiful changes as well. So as a result I have invested money, and lots of time into my apartment, and I can honestly say I have never lived so well as I am right now.
Yeah, but what am I going to be doing?
Actually, finding balance and structure brings a lot - and I have just last week started my baby steps towards my next steps. I will let you know in due time, but for now - I am happy with reshaping my habits.
No comments:
Post a Comment