Most people’s wheat allergies jack their bellies.
Mine jacks my brain.
If I unwittingly ingest wheat, twelve hours later, my life is shit. That’s how it looks through the doom-tinted glasses the wheat gives me, anyways.
I didn’t realize wheat had this “emotional black hole” affect on me until just a few years ago.
Once I made the connection and quit eating it, I experienced some dramatic changes:
I became less moody.
I became less derailed by business setbacks.
I experienced fewer “dark nights of the soul.”
In short, it transformed my life.
Through that experience, I realized just how much our physical and emotional health are connected…
…and the extent to which our overall well-being determines our ability to do great work.
As you know by now, I’ve come to think of it all as The Ground: our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional capacity to do courageous work.
If you wake up one morning and the world looks like shit, chances are you’ve simply depleted your Ground:
You haven’t slept enough, and your work reflects it.
Or you drank too many gin and tonics the night before and it’s kicking you in the ass.
Or you haven’t worked out in a week and now you have to beat the brain fog back with a stick.
I know what you’re thinking as you read this: “I’m more the ‘creative type,’ not some Fitbit wearing jock. So… not really my thing, Bryan. I just want to do great creative work.”
But that’s just it:
You don’t build up your health baselines (just) to prevent heart disease or look good naked…
…you do it because the kind of world-denting you want to do REQUIRES it.
You may not be an elite athlete in the conventional sense, but as a father, husband, and creator, you must treat your body and mind with the same reverence:
You are an engine of creation.
There are wonders the world will never know until and unless you get your shit together and find a way to pour it out of you.
So get fit.
Start meditating.
Get more fucking sleep.
Build your Ground like your legacy depends on it.
BECAUSE IT DOES.
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