How does one take care of themselves so you last?
Isn't it crazy how easy and simple it is to take care of yourself? But for some reason, we don't do it, mainly because we think it is hard and that well-doing these things aren't entertaining or rewarding enough for the amount of energy it requires to form it into a good habit.
Eating
Sleeping
Working out
Water
Philosophy/Religion
Friends/Family/Community
Passion/Hobby/Interests
Eating well
I heard an amazing thing from a yogi called Sadhguru. "Most of the things we eat are old" What I take away from this is that an apple in the supermarket is around 6 -12 months old before it hit the shelves. Don't trust me? Look it up! I learned during my advertising paper at University that supermarket layout normally has the short life foods on the outside for ease of access to replace. The long-life produce are kept in the middle of the supermarket, think can's, flour etc. Take a look the next time you go to a supermarket or groceries store. In saying that what we eat isn't fresh. To eat truly healthy we should be eating fresh produce picked that day. But in urban cities, that's next to impossible but we can try.
Sleeping 8 hours
Back to taking care of yourselves so we last. How many of us sleep 8+ hours a day? I know I don't and I struggle to because I've got bad habits that prevent me from going to sleep.
I have this feeling that if I go to bed early I'm wasting time, I'm not being productive or that I'm sleeping away my free time, and when I wake up I have to go to work again. But in reality, if I went to be at 10 am and got up at 6 am I would have more energy and time to spend on myself. Easy to change, hard to implement with all these bad habits that distract me.
Working out
Easier said than done because our brain's job is to keep us alive and to conserve as much energy as possible. So working out goes against our biological nature. Back in the stone age we travelled and worked for our food, and to stay warm. That alone was our workout for the day to keep our bodies working. Nowadays we sit at a desk or sit on a couch at home. We don't walk hours and miles a day for berries or track an animal all day for meat. Nope, now we get in a car, sit down and drive to get food. Very little effort is required. We have evolved the food industry so much that it is beginning to damage our health unintentionally.
Going to work to earn money to then pay for the access of workout equipment at a facility seems kinda stupid and backwards in my mind. And is probably why so many of us aren't physically active in the modern world. Let me put it this way, more people die from overeating than starvation. That is a massive positive feed in human history. And because of this, it tells us that we are not moving our bodies enough.
Water
When was the last time you had a straight-up normal glass of water with nothing else added? For me, I can't honestly remember. Most people believe that we need to drink excessive glasses of water a day or something stupid like that to not become dehydrated. Where in reality our bodies tell us when it requires water. But after doing some proper research. When 1% to 5% of body water is lost you will get symptoms of dehydration. Throughout the day we as humans need around 1.5 to 2 litres or 6 to 8 cups a day.
How many of us actually do this, I definitely don't and drinking water is so very easy to do. But for some reason, we don't do this. It comes back to effort for reward. Drinking plain water just isn't existing or joyful like a soft drink, coffee or fancy double shot cream matcha latte.
Philosophy/Religion
To live a good long life we need guidance and morels. These morels could come in the form of religion, a way of living like philosophy or even a set of laws created by an institution or government. Whatever your choosing morels and a way to live your life. Morels are more important than we realise. Having a morel practice can give you four more years of life in fact according to one study on the internet (one study doesn't make it true).
But more than that morels give you guidance a way to live and can help you find a purpose or give purpose to your life. For myself, I'm not religious but I am deeply philosophic. I believe that what we choose to give us purpose gives us purpose. Or in other words, I'm an existentialist, Buddist or Zen if you prefer but titles don't concern me. But I live by an idea, not a belief. Because people are willing to die for a belief. Not many people die over an idea.
Friends/Family/Community
We need people around us, we need a support structure. We need love, and morals, we need discussions and to debate. We need a community however big or small. We can service in solitude. But Life is so much better when you can share it with others or at the very least someone.
Having a group of people that have the same belief or morel structure can give us a community. And having people around us is very important to our well being and happiness. Because we are social creatures even us introverts need to share and listen to stories and thoughts. And pixels on a screen just won't do.
Passion/Hobby/Interests
When I say hobby or passion I'm talking about something outside your work. Something that you aren't good at, something that you don't need to master, but get joy from just doing. Something that you can escape into. Be it movies, a book, painting, writing, building models, swimming, baking, making crafts or carpentry. Whatever it is we need interests outside of our work lives. One to keep our brains functioning away from work autopilot and in doing so work doesn't become our world our identity.
I am a big believer in passions, it's something that is so much more interesting to talk about instead of answering the boring statute question "What do you do for a living?". Whenever someone asks me this, I answer will "I love doing [insert hobby here]".
Hobbies, passions and interests keep us learning new things about this world and about ourselves. They keep life interesting instead of an everyday slog.
Summery
So in order to take care of yourself to have a long happy and interesting life one must eat food that is a fresh as possible. Try to sleep at least 8 hours a day to give your body and mind a rest so you can wake up early to give yourself more personal time in the morning. Try to be as physically active as possible even though our brains are telling us otherwise. Drink some dame water every day. Find a set or morels to guide your way of life be it being in a form of an idea, philosophy or religion. And join, find or socialise with a community, friend(s) or family. And last but not least explore what triggers your interest, you never know you might make a hobby out of it. And a hobby gives your something beyond just working till you die.