I Do It Cause I Can

Great, you are here now, that means you are ready to find out the breakthrough of the century. BEHOLD! I am about to dump some wisdom on you that will blow your mind…

Do you feel it? did you feel the wisdom?

Well, of course not! I have no wisdom nor a breakthrough to hand you. And if you are in hunt of such content, you probably will never find it online.

Let’s set things straight, I am not going to tell you meditate, practice breathing, … it is not that I don’t believe in it, but these acts should be a daily routine by now. In addition, I will not be able to save you from your excuses, and you are here only because you want to be ready for your next big adventure.

I will give you 3 things I started doing during the lockdown to get me moving and ready to climb my Everest once this whole Epidemic situation is over… [& if it is not over, I am going to find me an underground cave to live in, because I can!]

the day I drank from the forbidden
fountain of eternal wisdom

1. Number 1 on my list is actually 2 things: Diet and exercise.

One just cannot go without the other, just like Bonnie and Clyde. I am monitoring my food intake. Yes, because my food ration at home might run out, and because I don’t want to put on weight just because I am filling my time with food. I mean if this is your hobby, go for it. It isn’t mine.

I even started cooking! So, I put my apron on [which I got some compliments by my wife] boiled myself two eggs the other day and they tasted just like those overpriced eggs I order from a [famous restaurant].

And when it comes to exercising, there is no excuse. Some of the best athletes in the world did not go to gyms, nor had facilities or coaches. We live in the era of information and online content; I am sure you can find some sexy free app to give you home workout.

If not, Google HIT workouts and you will find many. My favorite home workout is the T25, in addition to my one and only, the rowing machine! Mixing it with my worst of all time: stretching… I miraculously keep forgetting to stretch.

Another workout I love doing is: 100 pushups, 100 airsquats, 100 burpees, 100 lunges (mix & divide them as you please).

In addition, you can order yourself some resistance bands, a medicine ball, and any other small tool to help you shape up.

Basically, if you have 2m x 1m space, you can pretty much become an athlete, just leave your excuses outside that space.

2. Be informed, research and plan…

You have all the time in the world to do your research, find your next big adventure, hike, dive, summit… do your research, read about it, get some information and make a plan. Ok, here’s some wisdom you are lurking for: “failing to plan is planning to fail.” [a wise person once said]

Be careful being sucked into other people’s plans. Because every online search ends up on surfing social media, I removed my social media and I am now on a #SocialMediaDistancing. By doing so, my productivity increased (do I really have to tell you why!!) so did my sleep improve… I even did a new diving course (theory at least), refreshed my cave-rescue techniques, and many more to come.

Be excited! make a plan.

3. Clean your gear!

Being out there almost every weekend never gives me the time to actually sit down and give my gear some proper love. Like in the romantic sense of words. Lay down all my gear on the floor, inspect one item at a time, give it all my time to assess its health and mileage.

I will write more about gear care as this is a wide topic that needs my other creative self that is on food deprivation mode now. But here’s some tips:

• Clean/wash it
• Maintain it (oil, wax or crease it…)
• Brand it or label it (I like to color code my gear in order to avoid mixture when in groups)
• Sort it out by discipline (camping, skiing, climbing, caving, diving…)
• Store it away from the monsters (monsters include, your kids, jealous wife, hungry dog, humidity, sun exposure…)

Remember, this is FUN!