Tee and I have somehow segued into friend zone territory - catching up once a day on average to share the minutiae of life, moan about our respective bosses and all the other things working adults who live alone find the time to complain about. She has had a lot on her plate lately between work, illness and family visits, as I have been with work and my urgent trip down south to Sheffield to sort out the small matter of a visa. ...
From the 52 Small Changes book: An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body - General George S. Patton Last week’s change didn’t exactly go down very well - my fitbit sleep data suggests I didn’t do as well as I thought I would (averaged 6 hours 7 minutes of sleep as against 5 hours 52 minutes the week before); still shy of the 7 hour target. On a slightly more positive note, my water drinking challenge continues apace, thanks to my 600ml mug perched right next to my bed it seems. ...
From my current read, Ben Young and Dr Sam Adams’ book - The One: A Realistic Guide to Choosing Your Soul Mate. Is there chemistry? Are you sexually/ physically attracted to your partner? Is your relationship natural? Do things flow naturally or are you spending a lot more time resolving issues than demonstrating a natural fit? Would this be a good friend? If the chemistry was removed, is it someone you’d want to be with, whose company you enjoy? Can you accept his or her personality as is? Could you spend the rest of your life with the person as they are? Would you want your kids to be like him or her? Could you envision a future in which your children turn out like him or her? Oh and to pass the test, it must be ‘Yes’, 100%…
Battery of tests done and dusted - ECGs, Ultrasound, a plethora of bloods, and numerous appointments with my GP and one up at ARI with the consultant Cardiologist. The news is there’s nothing majorly wrong with yours truly’s heart - bar some borderline LVH, attributable to the elevated blood pressures I have been carrying for a while. From now on it will be a steady daily diet of blood pressure meds - calcium channel blockers in the first place and then an ACE inhibitor to try to reverse the LVH… ...
I first moot the idea of meeting up with Tee casually one Saturday evening, between getting a snapshot of her calendar for the next few months - it is chock full with work and travel - and getting tips for scaling back on my coffee drinking, after which it turns out that there are no airports in her corner of the world. That puts the downer on any inclinations to jump on a flight on my part - I famously never travel anywhere I’ll have to sit still for more than 8 hours - until she mentions she might be in London sometime over the next few weeks. It turns out I only get four days notice, and I barely have time to sort out fights and holidays, hop on a flight and appear in London. ...
From the 52 Small Changes book: Sleep is the best meditation - Dalai Lama Last week’s small change went fairly well - bar the odd day on which one coffee just didn’t sort me out. By the end of the week, I was reaching instinctively for my 600ml bottle of water to kick start my day, before anything else. The slightly harder challenge was staying off the cokes, which I did for the most part except for two days - along with a green leaf salad for Wednesday for lunch and on Friday afternoon during my monthly catch up with O. at Nandos. All told there has been noticeable improvement in the quantity of water (and green tea) I drink, which can’t be such a bad thing. ...
From the 52 Small Changes Book: Water is the driving force of nature - Leonardo Da Vinci Or as Fela once famously sang, water no get enemy. Up until a month ago, Cokes were my default drink, in all its forms - diet, regular, zero and a few non conventional forms too [mixed with all sorts of other liquids], which is why this first small chnage will need some serious getting used to. ...
I suppose there are worse ways to spend your birthday than being stuck behind a desk, being one of two members of the team available from a full complement of five, praying and hoping no emergency pops up requiring you to suit up and go offshore at short notice. Thankfully that, getting sent offshore, didn’t happen; and I had the pleasure of spending Friday away from work, catching up with myself… ...
To the Year of Living Intentionally, or dangerously… Between standing on the cusp of the 34th birthday, and getting a diagnosis of borderline LVH, I have come very close to freaking out more than a few times over the last few weeks. More so perhaps because in stumbling on an early copy of the 5 year plan - written back in the day when I was an excitable 26 year old with the dream job and the dream girl, and all the important people in my life the small matter of a six hour road trip away - just how far off target in quite a few categories I still am was made very clear. ...
As I think about the future Mrs S, the list becomes more and more condensed, shrinking to what I think are the 4+1 non-negotiables. This time I thought I’d give some thought to articulating a little bit more just what each of those non-negotiables translates to in plain English.. So here goes… A passion for God, children and a balanced Judeo-Christian worldview Christian, serve in church in some capacity whilst not actively looking to go the whole hog of becoming a missionary to Nepal (trust me I’ve met someone who wanted to do just that). :) Willing to explore the more liberal expressions of Christian theology (à la Hillsong/ other interdenominational churches rather than a typically Nigerian one). The same sense of long term direction Has a defined life plan with targets over the next 5+ years that I can contribute to; Considers the UK, US or Canada as home in the near to medium term at least; Wants to have or adopt children (2 max) Great conversation Someone interested enough in me to want to stay in touch; Is able to converse on a range of issues and topics including football, faith/ worldview etc An appreciation of the arts Reads and appreciates reading Gets CCM and can relate to quite few of the usual suspects (Hillsong, Delirious, Switchfoot, Audio Adrenaline, Third Day, Tenth Avenue North :) ) Not opposed to catching a play at the opera or a movie from time to time. A compatible genotype