Slow Down And Cut Yourself Some Slack

Hey everyone,

Another dose of weekly Mindful Guerilla is here. A bit shorter than usual, I’m curious to see how this length resonates with you all.

It takes only 3.5 minutes to read it.

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Let me tell you 3 short stories.

1) I have a good friend who is training for a race.

He runs half marathons, and lately, he’s been pumped enough to increase his pace and beat his personal best times during his training.

Every training was about going faster.

But then, for the past 2-3 training, he started having pain in his knees and thighs.

He realized that he had to go back to slower training and build his pace up slowly & steadily.

2) Another good friend has been dating a girl lately. After 2-3 dates, he didn’t feel that excitement that usually makes dates great.

But he still kept going. He really wants to find love and a partner he can commit to. Sometimes even desperately.

However, in the past weeks, he realized that those dates were making him more empty than filling his mind and soul with great energy.

He realized that he needed to take a step back from dating.

3) And then there’s me.

During the first weeks of this year, after getting through some sicknesses, I knew I had to spend days on a “higher rpm” to get things done: work, training for my upcoming Spartan & Ironman races, writing, chores, etc.

I knew that I had to dedicate my weekends to various tasks to ensure that everything I wanted (& needed) to do was done.

Until this weekend, when I couldn’t progress with many of my planned tasks, I went into the next week with some frustration about the unticked to-do list.

But then - thanks to some great people around me & my self-reflection as well - I realized that I have to slow down a bit to avoid some frustration, alongside some physical symptoms of stress.

We tend to be impatient in life. We want to achieve things faster as we are so used to instant gratification.

In the digital world, most things we get boost our dopamine immediately - it’s what instant gratification gives us.

That’s why we constantly reach for our phone to scroll on social media, swipe on dating apps or see what notifications we got so we can fill our brain with constantly new impulses.

But the most valuable things take time to achieve - a well-trained body, finding a long-lasting and valuable partner, or a greater audience with our writing.

And as we stick to our impatience and try to rush the progress, we tend to fall into our own trap.

The more we rush toward something, the farther we can get from it.

Pushing too hard too early in training can lead to an injury that will eventually force you to miss your race.

Going desperate to find love will create an unattractive vibe around you.

Trying too hard to finish tasks and stressing about them too much will drain your energy, and thus, you will have less energy to accomplish things.

Something, the only thing you have to do is to give yourself some slack.

The paradox is that the more we rush in life, we rush to one common destination: death.

So sometimes, it’s more than needed to slow down and give ourselves some time to rest, recharge mentally and physically, and be able to deepen the time we are in.

Everyone has their way of slowing down and recharging the batteries. Some of these pastimes that I enjoy are:

• Watching some documentaries or infotainment videos

• Reading

• Going to a thermal bath

• Taking a bath at home

• Video editing (yes, you read it well. On Saturday, I spend 7.5 hours editing a film in the grandest flow stage I have been in a long time)

• Being with my friends

• Going on a ride with my car

• Cooking

• Eating a good meal

• Listening to music & even dancing to it

• Playing Xbox

Quite simple but joyful activities.

Take a few minutes and jot down everything that makes you recharge your batteries.

The next time you feel down, exhausted, or a bit burned out, just look at the list and pick something you genuinely enjoy.

We all deserve it. Nothing is more important than our physical and mental well-being.

Remember: life is a marathon, not a sprint.

Máté - The Mindful Guerilla

PS: if you feel down, check out this self-care game called You Feel Like Shit, which guides you through questions to help you practice self-care.

💡 My Weekly Recommendations 💡

Stuff I Recommend You This Week

• Morgan Housel’s latest piece, Everything You Can’t Have, is something we all should read to avoid the vicious circle of constant material desires.

• Jack Raines’ Tuesday issue opens our eyes to the importance of timeless stuff, like great friendships.

• If you want to get smarter every day in various fields of interest, sign up to Refind and let the algorithm send you 5 valuable links every day, curated from 10k+ sources.

Newsletters I Read Every Week

• Overthoughts by Akta - Lately, Akta’s newsletter has been my go-to weekly source of notions on how to feel less overwhelmed in the world of constant noise, social pressures, and overthinking. The perfect complement to my newsletter.

• Young Money - Jack writes inspirational & insightful posts on finance, career, and life. I learned a lot from his work, which also motivated me to start my own newsletter. 10/10 recommended!

• Snail Mail by Slow Growth - a weekly newsletter delivered every Monday by Matt D'Avella's team with great motivational content on productivity. It's not the usual productivity bullshit that you find everywhere else.

• International Intrigue - A valuable newsletter on diplomacy & geopolitics delivered every weekday. Rather read this than all those shitty clickbait articles on mainstream media.

• Exec Sum - A daily newsletter on the major stories from the financial world. It's fun, entertaining, and informative. Better than those finance outlets with shitloads of ads.

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