Better Connections, Sleep, and Diet

INTRO

Loneliness might be the word of the day in this issue. However, it’s ironic that you’re not alone if you feel that way.

As you’ll soon find out, we’re going to use that to our advantage. If everyone is feeling lonely, then everyone else is also looking for connections. We’ll use that to our advantage.

For the pathways presented this week, we’re going to finish out dieting challenges and work on gaining new connections that will tackle those lonely feelings.

In this issue:

• Building Meaningful Connections

• Relaxing Bedtime Routine

• Implementing Diet Changes

NEWS FOR MILLENNIALS

• Pay off your mortgage early. Or should you?

• Millennials are getting shifty about their housing preferences and moving the market into suburban areas.

• Still hopeful about the environment and recycling? You’re not alone and neither are younger generations.

• Warning: this is still bummer news. Are wages going up? Are interest rates going down? Let us know what you think.

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How Do I Create Meaningful Connections?

Week 1 of : Reflect and Intend

Loneliness is something that we all face from time to time. However, for some, it’s something they face most days.

Throughout the entire world, loneliness is something that is plaguing a lot of people.

1 in 4 adults experience it on a regular basis.

For people 18-24, the number can get up to 60%.

We can look at this in two ways: it’s terrifying, or it’s an opportunity.

Let’s look at the opportunity. If there are a lot of people feeling lonely, and you’re feeling lonely, there’s an opportunity to make connections and help them and yourself out.

Here are the steps we’ll take over the next several weeks:

1. Reflect and Intend

2. Focus on Listening

3. Initiate and Engage

4. Be Present and Authentic

5. Show Appreciation

6. Consistent Effort

Connections can be made through platforms like X, Facebook, or even your favorite video game.

Are those “connections” the ones that bring meaning to your life? Or what about the 3-5 people that you actually spend your time with?

You decide.

Psychology Today describes it as a relationship where both parties are getting something beneficial. It’s a place where either person can go to be vulnerable, share common interests, and talk through their own values.

What actually makes a connection meaningful has to do with how the connection makes you feel. Is it someone who you can talk with for hours? Do they tell incredible stories?

However, hardly anyone is going to need a definition of what a meaningful relationship is. We can it feel when we have one.

If you want to build these sorts of relationships over the next week, focus on two things: identifying your values and assessing your current connections.

Why?

If you can identify the values you look for in a meaningful connection and assess the current connections you have, you can start to identify the pathway to either building on the connections you already have or put a plan together on how to find the connections that you want.

Identify Your Values.

Ask yourself this question: what qualities do you value in friendships?

Reflect back to friends you had as a child. What made the day so fun?

What about as you got older? What were the qualities of the people that you looked up to? Why did you get along so well? Did you talk about what they had learned in their life? Was it someone you just didn’t stop laughing with when you were around?

Personally, I have faced loneliness in the past, especially when I moved to a new city and didn’t know anyone. It is miserable and sometimes it can feel like there’s no escape.

It’s easy to get burned, have people take advantage of you, and spend time with someone who makes you feel uncomfortable.

And then when those things happen, you’re left scarred and wanting to hide away rather than try again.

It hurts.

Assessing your own values can help to minimize the risk of getting burned like that.

Assess Your Current Connections

After you’ve evaluated what sort of things make a meaningful relationship for you, spend time reviewing the people in your own circle.

Family. The people you talk to on a regular basis. Coworkers. People you talk with when you go and get your favorite coffee.

Just connections.

Think about those people and if they’ve ever said anything that makes you believe they might have interests just like yours.

Who brings you more energy? Who leaves you feeling drained?

For the ones that are bringing energy already, keep them in mind.

This is not about judging, this is about understanding where to focus your energy.

Set Intentions: 

Here’s the last part: decide where you’re going to put your energy. Or with who?

Imagine if Goku were able to do this with friendships.

Don’t hate me if that metaphor is wrong. I’ve watched Dragon Ball Z but I am in no way an expert. Is that energy he’s harnessing?

Okay, back to this.

With setting an intention, you’re able to start reducing the scope of where you want to focus your energy.

This will help in identifying where or how you’ll meet these people.

So, over the next week:

1. Decide which values you wish your connections have

2. Identify which connections you currently have that you want to focus your energy on

3. Set Intentions on which of those friendships you want to make more valuable

Next week, we’ll start to work on how to improve those relationships and make them more meaningful for the both of you.

How to Better Manage Stress for Better Sleep

Week 5 of 6: Creating a Relaxing Bedtime Routine

A well-designed bedtime routine serves as a powerful signal to tell your hyped-up stressed out body that it’s time to sleep (dammit)!

Research from the Sleep Foundation suggests that implementing a consistent pre-sleep ritual can lead to a 40% improvement in sleep quality.

If that doesn’t wake you up, I’m not sure what will.

Try this for the next week:

Consistent Sleep Schedule. Doesn’t it suck when your parents are right about everything all the time? You probably had a sleep routine with your parents. It may have been less about your sleep and more about their sanity, but now it’s time to wake that consistency from the dead and implement it back into your life.

But what about all the shows on Netflix and Hulu? What about having drinks with friends?

If your sleep is being affected by your stress levels, it may be time to ask yourself where your priorities lie.

Sleep can literally add years to your life. How about UP TO 20 YEARS?!

I have been doing 10-6a.

Calming Activities. The body needs time to calm down. In a hectic life, it may seem like this isn’t possible.

Have you had one of these goals in the recent past? Read a book. Stretch. Meditate more.

Good.

An hour or at least a half hour before you actually hit the bed, turn off the screens and read a book, stretch, or meditate.

These activities serve as a buffer between the stresses you have and release tension that allow you to rest.

Why not knock out all your goals at once?

Since we’re already on the issue, the morning routine that always seemed to work was to get a drink of water, go to the bathroom, brush teeth, read a book for a half hour and then lights out.

What’s crazy is that if we’re really thinking back that far (it seems like forever) those routines were almost perfect.

Make it work for you.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for personalized guidance on sleep-related issues.

How Do I Lose Weight in a Kaizen Way?

Week 5 of 5: Implement Changes

Over the last several weeks, there have been a handful of ways to lose weight and get back on that dieting train that probably derailed two weeks after 2025 started, right?

It’s okay.

We’ve gone over how to remove triggers, ways to improve nutrition, and simple steps that you can take in order to lose weight.

Last week, you would have reflected over the challenges that created fail points in the diet.

Failures and slip-ups happen. Changing anything we do regularly is hard. It takes months of correction to make it work.

And with Hansei, it’s important to reflect on what went wrong, and what to implement that will help those failures to not happen again.

This week, take the mistakes and fail points you identified in last week’s issue.

What can be implemented to make sure those aren’t failure points again? What are you willing to do in order to make sure that sticks?

An example would be snacking.

To some, it may sound awful. For others, it might not be possible (for instance a deathly peanut allergy) but celery sticks with a light bit of peanut butter helps.

It gives your mouth something to do. It’s filling, and there aren’t a lot of things in these two ingredients that are toxic.

Machines that make peanut butter from a local grocery store versus Jif helps remove a lot of the chemicals as well.

Take what you learned over the last few weeks, implement solutions on the points that can be improved so they don’t end up mistakes again, and keep going.

Congrats on making it this far.

Disclaimer: This information should not be taken as medical advice. Before making any significant lifestyle changes, consult with a qualified professional.