Invisible Truths

Let’s talk about health, performance, wellbeing and effort.

Unlike our bank balance or weekly screen time scores, health is unquantifiable. Until it isn’t.

That emergency endodontist trip when you’re doubled over in agony feels like retribution for avoiding the six-monthly checkups. Nobody will disagree that adulting is hard, but while everyone grows up, not everybody matures.

“The man” forces a yearly MOT on the car, but nobody drags you to the dentist.

Blame Misdirection

Health and performance are inseparable. We obsess over PBs, splits and bar charts, but the deeper concept of knowing when we’re operating at capacity is tough to measure.

When we strive for more but fail to reach our expectations we punish ourselves. The hardship is a burden of our own design. We overcomplicate, overthink and too rarely understand.

“The problem isn’t the problem. The problem is the incredible amount of overthinking you’re doing about the problem.” - The Chernoffs

Modernity hates nuance. Living well is misconstrued as binary. We’re either wellness wizards or pathetic pretenders. A heavy day’s food requires atonement. The 5K was a miserly pace compared to last year. The floss stays in its packaging.

We know what we should do, but after ten minutes online we amass a list of a dozen conflicting daily changes required for success. So much effort.

In response, we freeze. Or chase miraculous silver bullets that overpromise and underdeliver. Or we bury our heads in the sand. Sometimes all three.

Then we gawk at our peers and bemoan our position in comparison, gazing longingly at their lush, green lawn before addressing the wilting state of our own.

Before sulking, we must ask how much time, effort and strategy we spend upkeeping the grass on our side.

“When it’s time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived.” - Henry David Thoreau

The journey of self-improvement never leads to completion or the removal of insecurity. It simply means we better understand the tools available to remove ourselves from inevitably sticky situations.

Because the world is going to throw shit at us. That said, adversity introduces a person to themselves. Not in a Goggins type of way, more so a la Shakespearian character development.

We hit a rut, give our heads a wobble, do all the right things, feel brilliant… and then slowly subtract the very things that got us there. Then we repeat the cycle.

That’s our story arc. No email can prevent the repetition: intense effort builds momentum, which leads to ease, which leads to slacking off, which leads to decline. The key is to recognise the cycle earlier each time.

The fundamentals of performance work across culture and time: nourish, move, hydrate, try, rest, and connect. These foundations are as immutable as any deepening wrinkle.

Friend or Faux

Age brings wisdom. Even if we were dumb as a post in our youth, we eventually realise that nobody has it all figured out. We're all winging it.

The answers to our questions aren’t hidden. Self-help books slap different shades of lipstick on the same pig. Podcasters reframe ancient truths. We already know what works. It’s just inconvenient.

Health, performance, well-being, and happiness require effort. Nothing heroic, just consistent, persistent and accumulative effort. A little more today, a little less tomorrow, but always something.

Tougher in 2025 than ever? Perhaps. After all, we’re mere individuals fighting against a layer-caked system designed to devour our attention. But the remedy–however saccharine–is intention.

Log Off. Analogue On

The ineluctable design of our devices and services is astonishing. A quick check of the bank balance transforms into us emerging 30 minutes later in a stupor, wondering what just happened and why we now know the melting point of pure silver.

And then we’re behind! We’ve wasted time. We deserve punishment. We’ve got to stay half an hour late to catch up.

In moments like this, and God knows they happen far too often, self-compassion is vital: Studies show it’s more effective for our self-worth than self-esteem.

Ultimately we overestimate our capacity for discipline. We performatively show up in front of others, and then justify our mediocrity in private. But it’s what we do when nobody’s watching that makes us great:

The strategy behind the “two posts each week.”
The morning routine that sets the day up.
The goal-setting at the end of the month.
The reflection on behaviours and dedication to do better.

The common thread throughout is intention. Of course, it’s easy to sneak a doomscroll in amongst the important work. No one else will notice but us, and our dastardly screen time data. And what does that bring us? An extra large serving of Parkinson’s Law.

You Deserve A Kit-Kat

Not every day will be balls to the wall. Nonetheless, by choosing instagratification over what we know needs to be done, we forego intention for unnecessary tension.

Even if the odds are stacked against us, we choose to distract ourselves. Our performance falters accordingly: it’s called “attention residue.” Focus, complete, continue. That’s the mantra.

Then, and only then, we give ourselves permission to take our feet off the pedals, to decompress, refuel and recover.

This is why we bang on about allostasis: the internal thermostat for performance constantly tweaking, adjusting and keeping us afloat. We need to harness it.

Just because something’s invisible doesn’t make it any less real. Health, well-being and fulfilment are all advanced with answers we already have. The beauty of age is recognising our idiosyncrasies, for better or worse, and applying that self-knowledge rigorously.

Catch yourself when you justify stupidity. Self-soothe when you fall short of the mark.

TL;DR: Water your damn grass.

Leave a comment