Undesirable difficulties

Q: What did your body actually need this week that you gave it — and what did it need that you skipped, on purpose or from drift?

I’ve been stressing my body a bit, in a good way but also in a bad way. I’m tackling some yard work I avoided recently because of the heat and the smoke. And laziness. It’s tough on my body because I’ve been so sedentary, but it’s ultimately beneficial to get outside, move my flabby muscles, and sweat. This is the kind of stress that builds capability.

But I’ve also fractured my sleep cycle. That’s definitely bad stress. I’ve noticed when it gets hot I want to stay up later during the cool nights. And what is there to do at night? Sit in front of the computer. When I let comfort guide my actions, I get fractured sleep and that leads to all sorts of downstream problems. It destroys capability.

In learning circles they talk about desirable difficulties. Doing the yardwork in the heat is one of those desirable difficulties. Fractured sleep is an undesirable difficulty.