Mindful Content: New Direction Reflection

17.09.2020, Blog #4, @homeinriyadh

#marcuscoates, #mcmindfulcontent, #lifestylechanges, #creativewriting, #intermittentfasting, #pescetarianism, #186fastingratio, #webdesign

I looked in the mirror and didn't like what I saw. Instead of heading back to the sofa to watch tv and eat crisps and cake, I decided to make a change.

New Direction Reflection

In my first blog (Mindful Content: Undone by Cheeseburgers, August 9th), I described how an unfortunate incident involving stuffing my face with a plateful of processed cheeseburgers resulted in a spike in blood pressure, a health scare, and the decision to make some lifestyle changes.

Those changes were:

• Give up meat for a month, avoid processed food, and turn pescetarian for a while

• Try intermittent fasting and cut down to two meals a day

• Cut down my coffee intake

• Collect all my various writing projects and store them in one place

• Try my hand at a blog

Here’s the Update:

Out with the meat, in with the fish

Giving up meat felt very weird. Looking back, I’ve probably eaten meat in some shape or form every day of my life for as long as I can remember. When people asked me what my favourite food was, I’d invariably answer with a non-specific ‘meat’. A big lump of dead flesh of any variety at any time of day or night was always my go-to staple. To stick to my goal of giving up meat, I cleared out my cupboards of spam and corned beef and emptied my freezer of processed turkey bacon, hotdogs, and chicken mince. My kitchen suddenly became a meat-free zone!

Strange, but familiar

The following week after my decision, whenever I ventured into the kitchen, I kept opening the fridge and cupboards, in the hope of finding some meat hidden in the back somewhere, half-obscured by lettuce or concealed in the shadows of a bag of lentils … but alas, no meat suddenly appeared to give me an excuse to break my resolution (oh well! It’s there - so I might as well use it up). The feeling was akin to when I gave up smoking sixteen years ago when my wife became pregnant. Back then, I was overtaken at odd moments with an intense craving for a smoke … and now, the latest craving was meat!

I even woke up one night from a vivid dream of eating a wagyu steak to find I was chewing my pillow.

Luckily though, the novelty of walking down the usually avoided aisles of the supermarket and buying exotic foodstuffs kept my mind occupied until my meat cravings subsided: lentils, quinoa, and organic muesli are now sitting on my cupboard shelves; and my fridge is home to sweet potato, fish, beetroot, berries and arugula. I even found myself looking at the food labels the other day … whatever next!

https://www.thekitchn.com/pescatarian-recipes-265176 Here's a link to some yummy pescetarian recipes.

Intermittent fasting – 18:6

Again, this is new territory for me. After reading up on the health benefits associated with fasting, I decided to try the 18:6 ratio and eat two meals a day. Essentially, this involves eating a meal at 10.00 am and then another meal at 1600 hours, cutting out snacks in between meals, and only drinking water and hot beverages - mainly herbal teas. What I soon realised was that because I’d swapped out highly processed food for quality fish and vegetables, I didn’t feel particularly hungry. And although not fasting for weight loss, I’ve lost 9kgs in 7 weeks without feeling lethargic. And when hungry, I just drink lots of fluids.

Swapping coffee for tea

I love coffee! I used to be a Barista at Coffee Republic and drank at least two double espressos every day before I even opened the doors to the punters. And once the doors opened I carried on drinking coffee throughout the day. I mean, what was the point of being a Barista if you couldn’t drink vast quantities of quality coffee and stuff your face with oven-fresh pastries all day long, every day? This coffee and pastries habit I’ve continued for many years. In fact, I’d never stopped to consider how much coffee I drank on average before seven weeks ago, but I’d say, at least eight cups a day … which is too much. I’ve cut that down to two on most days. Still, this is an area of change I have found hard - and an area to work on more. To compensate, I’m exploring the world of herbal teas and lacing my bottles of water with chunks of ginger, which over time, is adjusting my taste buds away from a preference purely for consuming the bean.

Where did all that come from?

My hobby is writing. I have written film scripts, drafts of novels, sitcom episodes, poems, recipes and short stories. Also, I have boxes of cuttings on interesting articles, plot points, character ideas on scraps of paper and motivational quotes in just about every folder and drawer of my apartment. Lots of ideas, but a complete mess. As a means of compiling my work in one place and for motivation, I hit on the idea of creating a website to gather my writing, showcase it, and spur me on to see projects through to the end: www.mc-mindful-content.com.

The benefits of creating a website

This is the first time I’ve tried creating a website and I can say I’d recommend it to any budding writer or serious hobbyist. A website has many benefits: first, it allows you to place all your work in one place. You can then step back and see what you have and more easily assess the direction you want to take it and your life in.

I’ve writing samples I produced twenty years ago; after looking at them over the last few weeks, I see the kernel of good ideas again and have grown excited to develop them fully.

During the creation of the website, in a short few weeks, I also learnt lots of incidental skills about content marketing, search engine optimisation (SEO), building a personal brand, linking media platforms, analytics, webpage design and visual integration. I feel like a Luddite who’s finally gotten over his fear of using new-fangled methods of communication and has realised how useful and empowering tools they are. So go on … dip your toes in; I dare you!

And for those interested, I used wix.com to build my website (I'm not on commission ) - super easy and lots of fun to play around with. In fact, I've already cajoled two friends into creating their own websites.

Blogging

Again, blogging is new territory for me. This is now blog post number 4 and I’ve plenty of ideas up my sleeve to keep me going and hopefully keep readers amused! It’s been very liberating to take a break from my long-form novel and scriptwriting and be able to dash off shorter articles on issues I care about or I’d like to research.

I’ve called my blog and website ‘Mindful Content’ as I realised that much of my day is spent on autopilot and my habits: excessive TV watching, endless snacking, drip-feeding myself coffee and watching my belly grow with a laissez-faire attitude are formed from mindlessness. The same can be said for starting writing projects and then filing them away to be completed for a rainy day.

I lack taking myself over the line and being or creating a finished product. To be more mindful with my time, my habits and my craft is my new manifesto. And what better way to keep on track than to declare it in a blog and support, find support, inspire and be inspired by others with similar interests and aspirations. ”Blogging is fun!” Said the man late to the party.

Mission mindful content new direction reflection completed!

Well, that’s seven weeks of resolutions reflected on. I set myself a goal of 4 weeks and smashed it... well, kind of. Will I never eat meat again? I will at some point, but only better cuts for special indulgent occasions. Will I only ever eat two meals a day and do the 16:8 fast ratio forever? No… but it will be part of my lifestyle moving forward. Coffee? Some days I’ll drink more and some days I’ll explore the range of tea substitutes available and write a blog about it. Will I keep the website? I certainly hope so, as I'm now putting in a steady hour or two of writing every day as a direct consequence. Will I continue blogging? I’ll keep at it, as I'm finding lots of great content, links and ideas out there as I do so. And It's good to share.

I hope this article inspires you to try some of the above lifestyle changes for yourself.

We only have one go at this journey, so let’s make it a quality one. Go on… make a lifestyle change today.

Marcus is a Curriculum Designer who is passionate about creative, academic & business writing. He blogs about lifestyle choices and writing.

If you liked this blog, please feel free to pass it on to a friend, or give me a ‘like’ on the button, drop me a comment or visit the website:

www.mc-mindful-content.com

All images are taken from Unsplash: Image 1 by Photo Boards, 2 David Clode, 3 Jess Bailey, 4 Gareth Hubbard, 5 Anastase Margos, 6 Andrew Neel, 7 Kolleen Gladden