Beyond “Make Your Bed”—life lessons from experience

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Cortisol (the stress hormone) is important and necessary to us—as a little bit here and there.

  • Chronic stress, and chemical influences such as alcohol, can raise our cortisol beyond healthy levels and keep them there, which is deleterious to our wellbeing. Effects of chronically elevated cortisol levels include:

    • Weight gain especially in the face and stomach

    • Poor skin health, from slow healing to infections

    • Imbalances of other hormones (especially testosterone+estrogen)

  • See today’s video to learn more and avoid/fix these things!

• Attitude is not everything, but it sure can be a make-or-break difference at key moments in life.

  • Check out today’s main feature for a list of attitude adjustments from today’s feature expert voice

• Electric bikes are cheaper, cleaner, and less stressful than cars or public transportation.

  • Today’s sponsor, Upway, is offering substantial discounts on a wide range of highest quality e-bike brands; you should definitely check them out!

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

8 Signs of High Cortisol (skin, hair, and more)

We did a main feature a while back about the causes and effects of high cortisol (and how to reduce it), and think this bears remembering—now in video form for the extra learning/memory boost:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

1. 1:00 High cortisol and weight gain

2. 1:58 High cortisol and skin thinning

3. 2:51 High cortisol and stretch marks

4. 3:50 High cortisol and acanthosis nigricans

5. 5:12 High cortisol and steroid acne

6. 6:23 High cortisol, hair loss, facial hair growth

7. 8:30 High cortisol and slow healing

8. 9:32 High cortisol and skin infections

9. Bonus 11:12 What causes high cortisol?

🛏 MAIN FEATURE

Beyond “Make Your Bed”—life lessons from experience

This is Admiral William H. McRaven, a former United States Navy four-star admiral who served as the ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command.

So, for those of us whose day-to-day lives don’t involve coordinating military operations, what does he have to offer?

Start each day with an accomplishment

McRaven famously gave a speech (and wrote a book) that began with the advice, “make your bed”. The idea here doesn’t have to be literal (if you’ll pardon the pun). Indeed, if you’re partnered, then depending on schedules and habits, it could be you can’t (sensibly) make your bed first thing because your partner is still in it. But! What you can do is start the day with an accomplishment—however small. A short exercise routine is a great example!

Success in life requires teamwork

We’re none of us an island (except in the bathtub). The point is… Nobody can do everything alone. Self-sufficiency is an illusion. You can make your own coffee, but could you have made the coffee machine, or even the cup? How about, grown the coffee? Transported it? So don’t be afraid to reach out for (and acknowledge!) help from others. Teamwork really does make the dream work.

It’s what’s inside that counts

It’s a common trap to fall into, getting caught up the outside appearance of success, rather than what actually matters the most. We need to remember this when it comes to our own choices, as well as assessing what others might bring to the table!

A setback is only permanent if you let it be

No, a positive attitude won’t reverse a lifelong degenerative illness, for example. But what we can do, is take life as comes, and press on with the reality, rather than getting caught up in the “should be”.

Use failure to your advantage

Learn. That’s all. Learn, and improve.

Be daring in life

To borrow from another military force, the SAS has the motto “Who dares, wins”. Caution has it place, but if we’ve made reasonable preparations*, sometimes being bold is the best (or only!) way forward.

*Meanwhile the Parachute Regiment, from which come 80% of all SAS soldiers, has the motto “Utrinque paratus”, “prepared on all sides”.

Keep courage close

This is about not backing down when we know what’s right and we know what we need to do. Life can be scary! But if we don’t overcome our fears, they can become self-realizing.

Be your best at your worst

Sometimes life is really, really hard. But if we allow those moments to drive us forwards, they’re also a place we can find more strength than we ever knew we had.

Keep on swimming

It’s said that the majority in life is about showing up—and often it is. But you have to keep showing up, day after day. So make what you’re doing sustainable for you, and keep on keeping on.

❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE

Upway: Where Electric Mobility Meets Innovation

More than just a purchase, choosing an e-bike from Upway is a transformative lifestyle shift!

You can say goodbye to traffic, parking woes, the high costs of gas, and unreliable public transportation. And all that, with a reduced carbon footprint too.

Their goal is to make e-bikes affordable for everyone, which is why they offer:

• competitive pricing as standard

• discounts of up to 60% off retail

• a one-year warranty

• a 14-day return period

In short, it's cheaper, easier, and better. There's never been a better time to join the electric revolution!

Click here to check out Upway's range and take advantage of their deals!

Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

🌏 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

• Unveiling the truth: tropical hunter-gatherers' diets contradict Paleo diet assumptions

• Is consuming ultra-processed foods associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolisms?

• New study shows common blood pressure meds underused for migraine

• Men experience a long-term drop in semen quality after COVID infection, research finds

• Progesterone shown to decrease night sweats and improve sleep in perimenopausal women

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Getting to Neutral: How to Conquer Negativity and Thrive in a Chaotic World - by Trevor Moawad

We all know that a pessimistic outlook is self-defeating... And yet, toxic positivity can also be a set-up for failure! At some point, reckless faith in the kindly nature of the universe will get crushed, badly. Sometimes that point is a low point in life... sometimes it's six times a day. But one thing's for sure: we can't "just decide everything will go great!" because the world just doesn't work that way.

That's where Trevor Moawad comes in. "Getting to neutral" is not a popular selling point. Everyone wants joy, abundance, and high after high. And neutrality itself is often associated with boredom and soullessness. But, Moawad argues, it doesn't have to be that way.

This book's goal—which it accomplishes well—is to provide a framework for being a genuine realist. What does that mean?

"I'm not a pessimist; I'm a realist" - every pessimist ever.

^Not that. That's not what it means. What it means instead is:

1. Hope for the best

2. Prepare for the worst

3. Adapt as you go

...taking care to use past experiences to inform future decisions, but without falling into the trap of thinking that because something happened a certain way before, it always will in the future.

To be rational, in short. Consciously and actively rational.

Feel the highs! Feel the lows! But keep your baseline when actually making decisions.

Bottom line: this book is as much an antidote to pessimism and self-defeat, as it is to reckless optimism and resultant fragility. Highly recommendable.

Click here to check out “Getting to Neutral” and start creating your best, most reason-based life!

PS: in this book, Moawad draws heavily from his own experiences of battling adversity in the form of cancer—of which he died, before this book's publication. A poignant reminder that he was right: we won't always get the most positive outcome of any given situation, so what matters the most is making the best use of the time we have.

May all your days be full of purpose,

The 10almonds Team