3 MINUTE MONDAY

Hi friend,

The Gastric Band Surgery of Being Busy.

After undergoing gastric band surgery, people’s risk of suicide goes up.

That’s perhaps unsurprising - gastric band surgery is a big deal and can sometimes have complications, infections and painful outcomes.

But one of the unseen reasons for the increased suicide risk is actually due to the surgery going right, not it going wrong.

Many patients used food as a way to deal with issues in their lives like emotional challenges, loneliness and anxiety.

After having their stomachs shrunk, the ability to use food as a comforting crutch has been removed, but the emotional challenges still remain.

So the coping mechanism has been taken away, forcing patients to face their issues without a release-valve.

I think there is an equivalent dynamic happening when you try to elevate your life to take your sense of self worth from things other than your work and level of busyness.

Let’s say that in the past you used busyness and chaos as a way to distract yourself from feeling unwanted emotions.

It meant you didn’t need to reflect on your decisions or sit in discomfort.

You’re moving so quickly that you never fully connect with the difficult things that are happening in your life.

Lost relationships, disconnected friends, poor decisions and accumulated negative character traits are all swept away by a manic workrate so quickly that you don’t even have time to consider them.

Eventually, you realise that chaotic busyness is not your highest calling in life, maybe you value different things now, maybe you have outgrown that phase of your life, maybe you realise that busyness for busyness’s sake is detaching you from connecting to your existence.

So what happens when this coping mechanism gets taken away? You are forced to face your issues without the highly distracting release-valve that you’re used to.

The busyness-anaesthetic you used to previously rely on has now been removed, leaving you with two choices:

1. Ignore the lesson that chaos is not fulfilment and go back down the road you just escaped from by force-feeding your way through this figurative gastric band.
2. Actually learn to handle emotional discomfort.

​

MODERN WISDOM

I do a podcast where I pretend to have a British accent. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
​

This week’s upcoming episodes:

Monday.
Naval Ravikant - 3+ hours on self-esteem, time, relationships, happiness and more with one of my favourite ever podcast guests. If you only listen to one episode I ever release, make it this one.

Thursday.
Matt Ridley - a great breakdown of Darwin’s most controversial theory - sexual selection. How does survival of the hottest compete with survival of the fittest?

Saturday.
Annaka Harris - what is consciousness? Why does it exist? How do we know anyone else has it? Why has neuroscience made no progress in explaining it to us?

​

THINGS I'VE LEARNED

1.
​Eight red flags when starting a new relationship.

1. They don’t understand how difficult they are to live with.
2. They label any criticism as “rude” or “offensive”.
3. They repeatedly apologise but don’t change their behaviour.
4. They flirt with others and dismiss your discomfort.
5. They frequently tell you you’re “imagining things”.
6. They don’t value your love as a substantial gift.
7. They are too in pain to want the best for you.
8. They deflect criticism by pointing out your imperfections.

— The School Of Life

​

2.
​Belief in astrology is correlated with intelligence.

“Tobias Edwards and colleagues conducted a study to discover which Americans are most likely to believe in astrology.

They analysed data from over 8,500 Americans and discovered that previously suggested explanations—such as spirituality, religious beliefs, or political orientation—played surprisingly minor roles in astrological belief.

The single strongest predictor of belief in astrology is intelligence, with more intelligent people being less likely to believe in it.

They also find that people with left-wing views are more likely to believe in it.

Those with fewer years of formal education showed stronger tendencies to endorse astrology’s scientific legitimacy.

Measures of religiosity and spirituality were unrelated to belief in astrology.” — PsyPost

​

3.
​Everyone is becoming a homebody.

Americans spent nearly 1.5 hours less outside their homes in 2023 than they did in 2003.

​

LIFE HACK

Tongkat Ali.

An evidence-based, natural testosterone booster.

I first heard about it from Dr Andrew Huberman and the studies behind this are really impressive.

Momentous have the only Tongkat Ali on the planet certified for olympic athletes to take.

Plus there’s a 30 day money-back guarantee in case you don’t like it.

And international shipping.

Get 35% off your first subscription.

​Try Momentous Tongkat Ali risk-free.​
​

Big love,
Chris x

Try my productivity drink Neutonic.
Share this article with your friends here.

PS
Thank you for all the support after my episode on Rogan. Really feeling the love 💜