80 thoughts on “I think it’s time for a reboot check-in”

1. Reading your healthy eating habits while eating a chocolate hazelnut croissant. Feel so guilty now.

2. Good on you! I’ve also cut way back on my drinking. I haven’t stopped completely, I like to have one craft beer after work, and I have a nice whisk(e)y on the weekend nights. Like you, I’ve also started eating better (I like to cook after work, it helps relax me), and I’ve started exercising. The exercise part is mainly walking, but I’ve walked every day since New Year’s Day, and am aiming for 1,000 miles this year.

   Good luck on your endeavors.

3. Don’t be too hard on yourself! You aren’t on fire, so there’s that.

4. Try a small warm snack at your early morning wake up. It helped me. A warmed up cinnamon pear or maybe just some cheese and crackers. Avoid blue screen if you can . Cup of tea and back to bed asap.

5. I read a book a few years ago that referred to what’s discussed in this article. I thought it might be helpful for you if you hadn’t read about it. It discusses that traditionally, pre-electricity, people tended to sleep for a few hours, then get up and do quiet things (take a walk, pray, talk to their spouse, etc) for a bit, and then go back to sleep – biphasic sleep patterns. The idea really helps me to stress less when I have bouts of insomnia. Anyway, here’s the article if you’re interested. I’m a public librarian, so derive no profit whatsoever from sharing this. http://www.livescience.com/12891-natural-sleep.html

   1. Thank you for this, and thank you for being a librarian!

   2. There’s also the idea that you just might simply not be a morning person. I know I do better on 6 hrs of sleep from 6am to noon than I do on 8hrs from 11pm to 7am.

      1. I have the same sleep situation you do, more ore less, and I am so not a morning person. I never have been, even when I was a baby (according to my parents). But the rest of the world works on a schedule that is not anything like the one my body wants to be on, and I struggle with trying to adapt.

   3. Thank you for the article, Robyn. I was planning on posting a reply about changing one’s attitude towards waking up in the middle of the night. Taking it as an opportunity to spend time doing something that requires quiet and introspection, rather than yet another failing (because Lord knows I do THAT enough on my own). It is nice to know there is some science behind it. I plan on hitting my sketchbook the next time is wake up in the middle of the night. Wil, perhaps rewrites or reading time?

   4. It almost sounds like your body would prefer a biphasic or polyphasic sleep cycle of some ilk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphasic_and_polyphasic_sleep

      1. I think I’m like that. I’m a morning person and a night person, but fairly worthless in the afternoon. If I didn’t have a regular 8-5 job, I’d probably stay up until around 3 am, sleep until 6 or 7, sleep again sometime between 1-5, then get back up and do it all over again.

6. I’m going through a similar regime at the moment, and I have to say, I miss my craft beer something rotten 🙁

   Have you ever considered a social media cutback as well? (Twitter in particular)

   I’m finding I get a lot more done, and feel better about myself in general if I just shift my phone out of sight or far enough away so that it keeps me from reaching for it by instinct. I don’t find myself on the same doom-laden news spirals anywhere near as much, and it’s given me a lot more clarity just being aware of how much I use this thing on autopilot alone.

   Boy is it tough to break that habit though!

7. Just wanted to post a quick thought. Those nightmares and the bad sleep could be side effects of medication you’re taking and/or some level of sleep apnea. You may have looked into both of those already and just didn’t mention them in this post, but I thought I would mention them just in case.

8. Wil, please consider writing the movie you want to star in, teaming up with a director you admire (unless you want to direct it yourself), and crowdfunding the production. That would give you a great deal of creative control over the process, I think it would be satisfying creatively and fulfilling artistically, and, I think, it would be one hell of a movie. And it would be a movie I would love to see!

9. If I were a bettin’ man, I’d put money down on you rereading this post the next time Depression Brain goes away and thinking, “Fuck, Wil, you were waaaay too hard on yourself there!” It seems like you’re doing better than you give yourself credit for, but Depression Brain is a lying asshole.

   Reading this really strikes a chord with my own struggles with writing and asking, “Am I really a writer? I mean, REALLY?”, and wondering if I have the drive and the ability and the trust in myself to try committing myself to full-time life as a writer. Most of last year was a struggle for various reasons (brain chemistry, psychological baggage, life circumstances, a massive flaming train wreck of an election and the election of a fascist fuckwit for president) and I feel like I’m only just now starting to come out of and find my way back to actually writing. (Part of that is being inspired by you and Austin Kleon’s book Share Your Work to post something online every day. And yesterday I actually scheduled myself an hour of writing time every day because while it’s fun to sit on the sofa with my cat in my lap and watch TV or a movie, like you say, there comes a time when you have to stop taking in so much inspirational material and work on your own material.)

   Anyway, I’m glad you decided to post another reboot update because it helps me look at my own life and think about how I’m spending my time and energy.

   And damn, I wish I weighed 158 lbs.

10. also the holidays just ended, i think you did fine considering it was december and november everyone becomes slightly fatter and lazier during that time well maybe not everyone but most. I just got home from my mom’s and there i eat so much food and i should really do a list like this because on my own i suck at eating unless i cook something on saturday and eat it the whole week. so my list would be read more, watch more movies and actually pay attention don’t get distracted by the kitty (but she’s so cute,no she really is i feel like her and eliot would be good friends, she’s a year and sooo much energy i gave her the birthday of july 30th because her personality is so leo and she was born in july). eat at least 2 meals a day, make more friends (i’ve sort of already started this, me and my neighbor started an tabletop rpg gaming group(that includes both rpg games and plain tabletop games, and actually talk to people on campus instead of staring awkwardly at them and wondering if they’re gonna use anything i say against, me well they started talking to me i just sort of stared at them for a few months.also write not to be the greatest writer ever i never will be, but more of it helps with my mental health it gets out the gunk even though its always fiction. but you know you can improve and you will on those c’s and give yourself a pat on the back for the a’s. i feel really positive today about other people’s stuff. like right now i want to go stand in the road and give random people motivational speeches (I won’t because i hate those people, and I hate myself enough most of the time)

11. Lots of change and successes which is what you were aiming for. Props!

    Your sleep stuff reminded me of something that gained popularity 10 years. Polyphasic sleep cycles. If you google it, you’ll find a ton of stuff. It’s an interesting read. If you are seriously piqued, there are a ton of people who have done it and wrote about their experiences.

    The no alcohol thing is a big deal, well done sir!

12. Don’t beat yourself up over feeling like you’re not an actor anymore…in your own post you mention that you wanted to take the year off in order to write more, so pat yourself on the back and say mission accomplished! You’ve just shifted your artistic endeavors..we can’t do it all.

    On a side note, there are some great sugar-free ‘soda’ (or soft drinks depending on how you learned the phrase) that are similar to the sugary Cokes, Dr. Peppers, etc. They have stevia which would cut the sugar, my husband switched to them and he got used the taste really quickly, they do taste slightly different but they don’t have the sugar or the calories and it’s a good healthy alternative for that quick fix. The brand he drinks is Zevia..which is like flavored carbonated water with stevia, they have all the regular flavors, e.g. cola, orange, lemon lime, etc. He dropped about 15 pounds when he dropped the regular soft drinks.

13. There is some documentary evidence that considering sleeping through the night ‘normal’ is historically recent and related to the industrial age.

    Instead of trying to force your body to a rhythm it does not want, would it be less stressful to explore other patterns? (when you don’t have morning appointments, of course) Maybe have a plan A of sleeping through the night and a plan B of reading for an hour or two before you try to go back to sleep if you wake up after your first sleep? (Which seems to have been one medieval sleep pattern)

    It would probably be best to have some short things in the queue for late night reading, not doorstop novels with the reputation of being page-turners.

14. I always find this time of year ripe for reflection and a mine field for depression. The letdown after the holidays and the short days of daylight get to me every year. I think you’re doing a great job taking care of yourself and your depression brain is being a jerk. Keep up the good work!

15. Will,

    Having a broken brain myself, I think the winter is just a struggle (of, course, I live North where it is dark and stuff). I think you are great for sharing and being honest. Work on that “I’m a writer” mantra. I have to believe you have good stories to tell, and that you’ll find ways to get your Art out there – printed, filmed, spoken on the street corner with a tin cup.

    I’m one of those people with a “real job”, and even if I sleep 10 hours I still feel like shit warmed over for an hour or two in the morning. People who don’t? I don’t understand how it’s possible. 🙂

    Dave

16. Don’t know if you’ve tried diphenhydramine (generic for Benadryl) as a sleep aid, but it is the only one that has worked for me. I tried them all (OTC & prescription), and always felt drugged the next morning. It turns out that Benadryl is also the #1 sleep aid used in hospitals because it has minimal interactions with other medications. While I try to not use it two nights in a row, I’ve had the flu for the past week and it is the only way I’m getting through the night.

    As for drinking, I simply don’t keep alcohol at home, so it can’t become a lazy or convenient habit. However, I do drink when out with friends, but I’m always sure to stay way, way below the DUI limit (yes, the police are a great deterrent to excessive drinking).

    Actually, most of my “life control” issues exist only when shopping: I can have lots of will power during the 20 minutes I’m at Trader Joe’s, so nothing “bad” goes into my basket (except those @#$%ing dark chocolate peanut butter cups). Then, once home, I can have as much as I want of whatever I bought. (And you are so right: Cooking your own meals totally rocks.)

    Finally, consider triathlon. Running is great, but even a minor injury can take you down to zero exercise. Triathlon ensures you always have two other sports to train for!

    1. Unfortunately, Benedryl and its generic equivalents destroy me. I only take it when I’m having an allergy beatdown, because it’s the only thing that really works, and I’ll be wrecked for twelve to eighteen hours.

17. Don’t understand why you get a C for sleep when you’re doing the best you can already. Guess you’re grading on results and not on effort?

    I’m really glad your life is better. Working on it too.

18. Thinking I need to do something like this for myself as well. As I roll down the road, thundering towards 49 (in September, so still a bit of time before I get there) I am finding the need to really do some introspection. Let’s see, overweight, under exercised, overly depressed, sleep apnea for the whole sleep is a luxury not a right, and terrible nutrition (wait, isn’t that part of the overweight, which feeds into the under exercised and poor sleep… Ugh…) Yeah, I’ll look at getting something done this week. Of course, I blog for a total of audience of 1, but what the hell, ya know…

19. Random unsolicited advice – if you get bored with Blue Apron, try Home Chef – their meals honestly aren’t quite as healthy but a lot more variety. As long as you get 3 items a week, free shipping so you can mix the two as well.

    Also, on the soda note, trying to cut down myself, might I suggest Izze carbonated fruit juices or Switch carbonated fruit juices.

20. Want to re-up on the sleep apnea issue: I used think that tents gave me claustrophobia, because I used to wake up when camping all freaked out about dreams of being smothered. Turns out, I get apnea sleeping on my back (like you do on the hard ground), and that was why I freaked out.

    It’s a long shot, but the waking up with nameless dread sounds familiar to me. Of course, someone else in bed can probably tell you if you stop breathing and wake up with a gasp.

    1. I had a sleep study done, and I don’t have apnea. I guess that’s good because it’s better not to have it, but it was a bummer to find out that, no, it isn’t medication and it isn’t something like apnea that wrecks me. It’s my damn brain, and we haven’t been able to figure out what the hell to do about it.

21. Wil,
    I just wanted to say thank you for being a wonderful entertainer. Between your cinema & television entertainment, Acquisitions Inc and TableTop…you have kept me entertained through a multitude of military deployments.

22. First off, 22/28 is a B. Why? Because I said so. So you got a B. (roots around in desk for silver star…)

    Second, on the sleep thing, you may well just be a bi-modal sleeper. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783 is a good look at that but basically it’s the idea that we are naturally programmed to sleep at dark, then wake in the middle of the night for a while, then sleep.

23. Unsolicited advice: I had trouble with sleeping and my anxiety meds. First I was on Prozac which gave me such bad dreams I felt like I was haunted and didn’t want to sleep anymore. Then they put me on Cymbalta and I woke up every morning from 2-4, eventually they put me on a sleep med and it smoothed it over and it was only a few weeks. (Now I have weird withdrawal if I try to ditch it, but that’s another problem).

    I was really hating myself through the end of the holidays and spent New Years in a wallow of pity. Finally I went to my therapist and we came up with a plan. I’ve been doing really well since then. I’m using Habitica to get me motivation for the basic stuff. I’m doing better about keeping up with stuff around the house and I’m working on reading more and writing. I’m trying to ease into writing with a book of writing exercises and trying to figure out what I need for world building and reading a lot to help me shape my ideas. I’m using the new year energy as a kick in the pants to get it going. I tried to use your reboot as inspiration but I didn’t have the follow through, this time I’m all in.

24. I ran the numbers, and 22 of 28 is 78 (and a half!) percent, so that’s a very high C. Give yourself a plus, there!

    Totally with you on the sleep thing. Last summer when I was doing better, I found I did best with nine hours sleep (ugh). Nowadays, it’s good if I can get to sleep by 2 a.m., and I hate sleeping through so much daylight. Plus there’s the “our society’s hours” thing. Must. Change.

25. I love these reboot posts. I hope you do keep them up, because they are fun to read and very very relatable. Even if your personal milestones and goals are different from mine, to know that you are actively working on and monitoring your progress is inspiring.

    I have similar sleep issues. What I am currently trying is skipping caffeine altogether. i can’t even get away with caffeinated tea first thing in the morning anymore as it will affect my sleep pattern 14 hours later. The no-caffeine has helped. In the past year I have also discovered Jarritos, those Mexican sodas that use sugar rather than corn syrup. Odd to say, but it just “feels cleaner” and I have less sharp ups and downs I would get from a corn syrup soda like Root Beer or Ginger Ale.

    Love your work Wil. All of it, keep it coming.

26. Posting because I’ve been an intermittent insomniac for most of my life. Since different weird things work for different nervous systems, here’s a bunch of unsolicited advice (in exchange for you getting me hooked on Zombies, Run! which has been awesome), based on the three that have helped me the most in recent years:

    Total darkness. (I realize this seems stupidly obvious and you’re probably on top of it already.)
    Two apps (I don’t work for either): Buddhify, which has a set of meditations for “going to sleep” that miraculously actually work –about 70-80% of the time– and the BrainWave sleep-setting apps, which I’m not as sure about but seem to help maybe about 50% of the time and, even if I’m still awake, at least sound nice.
    The full nuclear option: Getting up at either 6:00 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. — every. single. day. It’s like torture for at least several days and a sleep-deprived insomnia-ridden brain can barely endure the idea, let alone the reality. But it’s absolutely worth trying if you haven’t before (you mentioned in a post a while back that you hadn’t, you may have done since). For me, it’s the only thing that consistently resets my sleep patterns. The freakish and otherworldly thing is that after a week or two, I actually enjoy it. Weird.

    Also worth noting that some people have long-cycle caffeine metabolism and don’t clear it from their systems as quickly as most other people. For those folks, the standard “no caffeine after 2:00 p.m.” advice doesn’t work so well.

    My apologies if this is all stuff you’ve tried over and over already. But hoped it was worth throwing into the mix, just in case.

    And finally, I’d just like to point out that 22/28 is 78.57% and hence a very solid C+, not a mere C! (I teach English, not math, but I’m still pretty sure on this one.)

27. Another thought on insomnia — I had a truly toxic case of it for about 6 months a few years ago. Fell asleep on the sofa while watching TV one evening. Woke up at 2am, took my statin pill as I stumbled toward bed and was wide awake 15 minutes later and for the rest of the night. Stopped taking the statins a few days later, and my insomnia decreased to normal levels. Apparently it is a rare but not unknown side-effect of ‘harmless’ statins.

    1. Wow, thanks for that! I take a statin at night as instructed…hadn’t read all of that friggin’ fine print lately.

28. I graduated a year ago and made some bad life choices that I’m currently correcting. As such I haven’t ‘done science’ in over a year. Whenever I feel like because I haven’t done anything scientific for over a year and thus I’m not a scientist I remember that I have science papers published with my name on them and as such I’m a scientist. Just because you haven’t done a thing in a year doesn’t mean you are not that thing.

29. Some people just sleep differently. A good part of the world is sluggish when they first get up, I don’t know how the morning people got to decide what time we should all get up. Because they were up first and made the decision before the rest of us were awake enough to argue? Also the time one sleeps best varies, whatever anyone says. With practice you may adjust it a bit, but if you are a 4AM to noon sleeper, nothing is going to make 8PM to 4AM work really well for you. Only adjust the ‘norm’ as much as you have, otherwise do your own thing.

30. I’ve been having similar issues with my dreams. I wake up filled with high stress emotions but can barely remember the specifics. I think I’m going to start keeping a notepad by my bed and try to write down one or two sentences about it every time I wake up feeling that way. I’m wondering if I’ll recognize a theme.

31. I hope you get a grip on your sleeping pattern, but I’d stay away from Ambien unless it becomes a last resort. My husband has the depression/anxiety thing too with a little bit of OCD thrown in for shits and giggles and was taking Ambien a several years ago. The sleep eating thing is no lie – every night around 1am he’d get up, make a huge bowl of cereal and take down to the den to eat. He’d finish it, leave the bowl on the end table (which pissed him and OCD off in the morning because he thought it was me and never said anything) and come back to bed.
    I had no idea this was happening until he slipped down the steps and split his chin open at 1am. He didn’t realize he was doing it until he’d really woken up that night, which was after I had cleaned everything up and was trying to decide if he needed to go the ER for stitches and the pain of me cleaning the gash soaked through the Ambien fog. Needless to say, he stopped taking it and learned to deal with the insomnia.

32. Would love to hear your overall/lengthier thoughts about cooking with Blue Apron regularly in case you turn that into a post. I’ve gotten their free trial before and formerly had a roommate who subscribed regularly. Personally, I’ve found that they provide more complex recipes (both flavor-wise and steps, etc.) than I would typically make on my own, and the chopping/prep time takes longer than they estimate. Does that get easier? I’m usually happy with the results overall, especially because the dishes I’ve never tried before satisfy the adventurous foodie in me.

    1. I’ve done Blue Apron for months, and no, prep/cooking time never gets shorter. Whatever they estimate, double it.

       1. Interesting. So it’s not just me?

33. This will sound completely counter productive but it works for me. A nice cup of coffee decaf or regular leaded with more than average milk about an half hour before bedtime puts me right out. Good quality hot chocolate works too but not quite as well. Maybe your sweet tooth will serve a medicinal purpose for you.

34. It’s entirely possible that your body chemistry just isn’t suitable for typical (never normal, because I hate that word and it’s implications) sleeping patterns. That’s how I am. I cannot, for periods of time extending past a week, keep to a typical schedule. My body will either keep me awake or keep me asleep to go back to what’s best for it. I’ve been on a 5am-noonish sleep schedule for over seven years now because it’s just more natural for me. I feel better at night; the world is quieter and I can focus on myself for a decent period of time. I can get up early if I have stuff to do and I still have a nice chunk of daylight to spend around other people. When I have to change it, I can; morning-midnight hours for short periods or a fluctuation of a couple hours for long periods. It’s definitely not ideal, but when I stopped fighting it and just accepted it, so much stress I was putting on myself just went away.

    I had to be put on ambien so I could sleep last year; I’d lie there awake for hours trying to sleep, eventually either just deciding to stay awake or falling asleep because of exhaustion only to wake up a couple hours later. I was extremely reluctant, but I had to do something. I was so irritable and angry all the time due to lack of sleep.

    Every month or so, I do a check and don’t take it for a night or two to see if I still need to be on it. It’s a hassle, but not sleeping makes me cranky, which in turn makes my anxiety and depression skyrocket. I’ve never had any negative effects on it, but everybody’s body chemistry’s different. I dislike the reputation meds have (ambien, anxiety, depression, etc.) and the reluctance people have due to stigma, fear of addiction, etc. steps of soapbox

    On a lighter note, I SOOO want to start baking bread. I’ve never done it and I love baking. Bread has always seemed super intimidating to me and I don’t know why. Brownies? Sure! Cake? No problem! Cookies? Bing, bang, done! Bread? Uh….how do I- what do I need? Um…how long do I knead it? What kind of flour? Yeast? OH, GOD, I’M JUST GONNA MAKE BROWNIES AGAIN.

    I wouldn’t worry too much about the eating habits, particularly bread and sweets. Best advice I’ve ever gotten and could give is this: as long as you’re not gorging yourself and making yourself sick, and as long as you’re eating healthy proportions and throughout the day instead of just at set times, eat whatever; the added stress, though seemingly minimal, of worrying about what you “can and can’t” eat is actually a lot because it’s just one of those constant things that will always be applicable. (Oh, except lots of greasy foods. Helpful hint that a lot of people don’t know: butter is actually better for you than any oils. It’s less altered and easier for your body to process. I’m hypertensive and this is something my doctors told me when I mentioned I was using butter a lot and was worried about it.)

    Anywho, sorry for rambling for so long. You’re very…idk how to phrase it without it sounding weird, so I’m just going to say it…up front and open in your posts that it’s easy to go on like I know you and we’re having a face-to-face conversation. 😀

    Robert (aka Rep)

35. I read something years ago that if one’s sleep cycle is messed up, skipping a night’s sleep to stay awake for 36 hours resets your internal clock. Not had the opportunity to try it myself. Don’t suppose the sleep study folks made such a recommendation?

36. “Well, I’ll never get a chance to do something like this, and I better figure out a way to get okay with that before it kills me.”

    Accepting new realities as we get older is hard. But in a way, it’s liberating. I’m (currently) a former runner – I say “currently” because I do want to get back into it at some point, but my stupid foot needs to heal. I ran 4 marathons and 2 ultramarathons last year. But even then, I was frustrated because I felt slow. I was pretty fast and ran some really good races in 2013 and 2014, and I felt like I couldn’t recapture that glory in 2015 and 2016, due to several factors, but let’s just put the blame where it mostly belongs – I gained weight. I do not have a runner’s body, so weight gain is not a good thing. One of the marathons I ran last year had a “Clydesdale” division, and you can bet my fat ass I got in on that.

    So I’ve accepted that maybe – MAYBE – I will never be as fast as I was in 2013. I may not see another sub 23 minute 5k, another sub 50 minute 10k, or even another sub 2 hour half marathon. Beating Oprah in the marathon (4:28)? Maybe. I got close once. Accepting this has allowed me to focus on the “funness” (ha!) of running rather than the competitive aspect (although I only ever competed against myself… and Oprah). Ultramarathons, believe it or not, have been a huge part of that. Ultramarathoners are a great community, and respect is given to the fast and slow (but the fast… holy crap).

    Other realities I’ve had to accept and move on from have to do with my love life, and there’s no need to go into detail. Still, once I accepted them – very liberating.

    I think the best thing I can do is do the things that make me happy and keep my stress at the ridiculously low level I’m used to, probably to my detriment, but it makes my friends who have kids jealous. What makes me happy? Not being a fat slob. So I work on that. Another thing that makes me happy – eating lots of food. Well, crap. The only way I can have both is if I exercise a lot. But I found running, and that makes me happy if I let it make me happy. So that’s cool. While I’m waiting for my foot to heal, so I can start running again, I joined a gym. The people are nice. I wonder if I’ll ever think of it as fun. But I’ve gone every day since I joined. Every day. I refuse to let the fat slob take over (The Oatmeal calls it the Blerch, and that’s about right).

    Getting old does kind of suck though.

37. So I skimmed the comments and didn’t see anyone else ask about this but I apologize if my skimming missed it…

    “the highest quality chocolate I can find and afford”

    What chocolates, outside of the Cadbury Milk chocolate you mentioned, are you enjoying? I, too, am eating healthier and exercising more and all of the things you’re doing but, like you, I am not going to deprive myself of fun things but I want to at least be eating healthy fun things. Or, you know, as healthy as a fun thing can be. Which is fortunate since my preference is dark chocolate.

    So, I say all of that to ask if you have any recommendations on the good, high quality chocolates that are available.

38. (it feels really stupid to say “as an actor” because I don’t think I’ve worked on-camera as an actor in close to a year, so I don’t feel like one).

    Longtime lurker here. I also suffer from depression and grok what you were trying to say here, but my initial reaction was…”wow, that’s a backhand slight of voice artists as not being actors”. Which I know you’ve been doing a lot of recently, plus being big in the “Performance matters” movement related to the VA strike due to the shitty video game contracts.

    I just found that interesting, maybe unintentional, or might just be shorthand because unpacking everything surrounding your on-camera work vs. voice work didn’t fit into the scope of this post. But…wanted to mention it. I know how difficult it is sometimes to see the trees for the forest when Depression Brain is in the driver’s seat. (Going through that right now myself.)

    All the best, for reals! <3

39. “Maybe it’s the cold and dark of winter.” <- I have to ask, because I’m genuinely curious. How cold and dark does it really get in California? I understand that in the northern parts it can get pretty cold but in Southern California, not so much? Just wondering. Because I manage to get out regularly and I deal with ice and snow and cold temperatures all the time, since I live in Northern Ontario. I’m not trying to take away from your post or resolve, I’m just really curious when people in warmer climates quote winter as being a challenge – is it also bad for people who don’t get snow, is what I’m wondering.

    Hopefully you don’t take offense to my question!

    1. I grew up on the East Coast with the long, grey winters and had no idea how much that impacted my mood until I moved to Arizona. The first few years I was here winter wasn’t bad. But with all things our bodies and minds adjust to the new normal. And I’m finding this winter to be impacting my mood. Maybe not yet to the extent it did in Virginia but it’s there. Driving to work in the dark, not having the light for long after work, etc. It all impacts my mood and energy level and I have to push myself a bit harder to stick to the healthy routines.

       1. That’s a good point. Honestly, I’ve never been to the west coast ever, so I don’t know how much the seasons affect things out there – for instance, I just assume that it doesn’t get so dark out west as it does here.

          At any rate, you can definitely tell the days are getting longer now. I drive at least an hour both ways to get to work, and it’s no longer super dark by the time I head home. 🙂

       2. Re-typing my comment because it looked like it suffered a major error from mobile. I’ve never been to the west coast – ever – so kind of just assume that things like the darkness of winter aren’t as bad out there as it is to the East. I think what you’re saying makes complete sense, as far as ‘adjusting to the norm’ goes.

          On the positive side of everything, the days are getting noticeably longer! I drive an hour both ways to work and back, and it’s no longer super dark by the time I leave the office 🙂

          1. The days definitely get shorter but the biggest difference is that the sky isn’t just that drab grey for long periods of time, it’s sunny and blue usually. And since the temp doesn’t get that low (but we do get cold here, desert climate is tricky that way) we’re able to be way more active during the winter. But working in an office, I miss out on the sunshine during the day so my brain doesn’t get the good sunshiney effects that it does the rest of the year. 🙂

             But, yes! the days are getting noticeably longer and I have found myself able to restart some of my healthy and good routines. Yay!

40. What if it’s time to revise some of the coursework for these goals?

    *Read more (Reddit does not count as reading): I think could be updated to include non-book items. While magazines could easy be added in, it’d then be appropriate to up the number of things read to reflect the nature of what’s being read and counting. I mean how many collections of short stories are out there in magazines? Wouldn’t those be just as valuable towards inspiring you in some way just as a solid book would?

    *Write more: I don’t get to see the puke drafts or the novel or novella, but since you’ve started writing more here, longer form writing, not just quick dips, I think it’s given you a chance to express yourself in a different creative way. I mean, that’s part of the goal right? This is a story, yours in fact. It might not be the most award winning ever, but it’s a story and one many seem to enjoy reading.

    *Eat better food: If Blue Apron isn’t quite where it’s at, see what’s local and available. Try to up the quality/quantity ratio and explore other options. You seem to live in a metropolis with options, give em a shot. If they suck worse, keep looking. I think you’ll be rewarded long term. As for the excess homemade bread (not sure there is such a thing) are there locals who you can share with? Neighbors, friends, family? I know I’d do some horrible things for a constant supply of fresh homemade bread. This option could allow you to keep baking and find a good place for the results without it all going in you.

    *Exercise more: Maybe it isn’t all about running? I don’t run because it’s never been my thing for long distance and I hurt too many things doing it. What if that’s the case for you too? Exercise is a crazy diverse arena of goods to play in. Even if running is a thing you do enjoy, I suspect you can find more exercise you do like (that doesn’t call itself exercise) that has some running it but something else. Maybe get a fitness tracker app (similar to FitBit, et al) and use that to check your daily movement and see if there are areas there you can enhance to get some exercise without calling it that. My wife has an actual tracker and just knowing the numbers has forced her to move more. It’s exercise without exercising. Might help varying it help to alleviate boredom too.

    Of course this is all just an idea for consideration. I hope you do well and continue with it all.

41. Hi, Wil –

    Have you tried replacing soda with seltzer water? Like no sugar, no artificial sweetener seltzer water like LaCroix? I am a recovered soda addict and it helped tremendously a few years back when I gave up soda. I’ve been drinking it a lot more lately because it also helps with beer cravings (that’s on my reboot list, too). As for the sugar cravings, I’ve got almost nothing. I discovered that Equal Exchange Chocolates, a pricy dark chocolate I found at Whole Foods, has about half as much sugar as other chocolate and is somehow far tastier. If I had more of a sweet tooth, there is no way of buy it, but usually two or three squares does the trick for me.

    Anyway, you may not have given yourself straight A’s, but sounds like you’ve been doing great overall. Well done!

42. I never believed in this before, but I remember reading about how the color of your bedroom, as well as the smell of the room, can affect how well you sleep. I had, and still have, issues getting to sleep, and remaining asleep, and elected to try repainting, and also to purchase some nice smelling lavender potpourri. I really didn’t think it would work because I am an everything skeptic, but for me, it actually helped. I don’t think it is the be-all or end-all, but it might be worth a shot – it being relatively inexpensive (potpourri), and it makes for a rather romantic bedroom setting too.

43. I watched Neal Brennan’s new Netflix special last night and thought of you. He spends some time being brutally honest about his depression. I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet.

44. I don’t think I’ve ever commented on your blog before, though I’ve been reading it for more than a year now. I just wanted to let you know that you’re doing GREAT! OUTSTANDING! AMAZINGLY! Even if it doesn’t feel it this moment. Just cutting out drinking is a step many people can’t succeed at!

    I suspect winter is the cause of the hit to your exercising (I know it is to mine).

    There’s a saying that helps me a lot (it’s from a commercial, if you can believe that). “Two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward.” Even if you have gone one step back (and I’d call it more of a half-step at most), you still have more than one step forward to your credit!

    Anyway, thanks for posting this, even though I bet it was hard for you to do. It helped me a lot to see that I’m not the only one who sometimes fails at diet/exercise/life changes.

    Good luck and be good to yourself. 🙂

45. I am sure plenty of random ladies think your attractive at times.. because…GASP … U … R! (BTW great job on bettering yourself! You do whats best for you and its an inspiration to many!)

46. You have inspired me! I began my own reboot, though a bit more slowly than you – I’m only adding one new thing a month! But this month has been reading. I’m a children’s librarian, and as such, I read a ton of children’s literature! It’s awesome for my job, but the books just don’t feed me the way adult literature does. So to help motivate me, I joined a few reading challenges that will hopefully gently encourage me to read more. I’ve already devoured Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and I’m really looking forward to the next book on my list!

    Thank you for sharing your reboot to the world!

    1. Funny, I’m an adult services public librarian, but all of the library systems in my metro area are doing our annual challenge of reading juvenile and young adult books, so I’m not reading any adult fiction right now. Although I tend to read a lot of YA anyway. 🙂

47. A word on chocolate here – being British, I take it that “real Cadbury Milk Chocolate” refers to what comes from these shores rather than the Herschey’s variant of the same name, so clearly you’re a man of discerning tastes! Certainly if you eschew the Herschey’s ‘baby sick’ chocolate, which is just weird to British taste buds. 🙂

    Cadbury chocolate has its fans – I’m quite partial to their Wispa and Twirl bars – but if you like our chocolate then I recommend the following if you can source them:

    Galaxy – a sort of slightly upmarket Cadbury equivalent, they’re the number 2 seller in the UK behind Cadbury. Sold as ‘Dove’ in some parts of the world, I believe
    Green & Black’s – makers of organic chocolate slabs of many varied flavours
    Hotel Chocolat – very expensive boutique brand, but utterly gorgeous chocolate. My wife and I buy each other their Tiddly Pots (little pots of tiny chocolate drops) for our Christmas stockings. 🙂

    1. I have seen Green & Black’s in stores here in the US. I had no idea they were a UK brand. Thanks for leaving this list!

48. I was just thinking about your reboot, as I decided to do start a little reboot of my own this month. I was inspired by the way you broke down the different aspects of your life that you wanted to improve, so I picked some goals of my own. I like ‘grading’ because after all these years, apparently getting good grades is still a motivating factor for me. I too included ‘better sleep’ on my list, then realized, as it sounds like you did, that even if you do everything right, your brain can still have a little party at 3AM and there’s nothing you can do about it. But in case it’s helpful to you, I’ve seen some benefit from supplementing with glycine and magnesium. Something to look into, anyway. Thanks for the inspiration. I’m hopeful this reboot will have some positive impact on my life, and help keep the brain ferrets at bay. Good luck making your grades in the coming months!

49. Look, don’t worry about not getting any on-camera time. You need to focus on your Shellfishcore Hip Hop career. It will help with your writing goal and quite frankly, it’s what the people want. 🙂

50. Having HUGE ice cream cravings is VERY common among AA attendees after getting sober, per my really awesome, late father-in-law (20+ years sober, and a wonderful sponsor to so many). It’s not the addiction component — it’s the biology (again, his theory). Your body is trying to make up for all those calories, etc.

    Also — sometimes with writing, the brain has to work on a project at the subconscious level, which is what usually is happening when you don’t want to tackle something like — oh, say, a rewrite you’re avoiding (I am NOT going to look at the short story in the drawer and become depressed, I am not going to….maybe I’ll believe it one day myself?).

    All in all, you’ve done better than you think.

    For my future reboot? I’m on the on-ramp for a lot of things (preparing, organizing to tackle stuff). I like to reboot at the beginning of February as a mental game I play on myself. It’s the shortest month of the year — why not set myself up for success.

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