Lieutenant Lucid
Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2022
Got a lot of work to do on myself so I figured I'd start one of these
WHERE I'M COMING FROM
I'm at a major crossroads in my life. I've spent the last 7 years recovering from some major autoimmune issues that forced me to put every aspect of my life on hold. I couldn't tolerate exercise or most foods. Socializing and dating were foregone conclusions - I was too mentally and physically fatigued to do anything beyond getting through the day. Massive brain fog robbed me of my ability to think critically. During this time I was (somehow) able to pull myself out of the corpo 9-5 trap and become a freelance sales copywriter. Recently I've made significant progress on my health but am not out of the woods yet. Aside from a couple friends across the US, I currently have no friends to speak of. Dating life is non-existent
A few years ago my mother was catfished out of all her money. This plus a head/spine injury she suffered years ago has made it very difficult for her to keep work and stay afloat financially. My brothers and I have recently started helping her out, but in addition to my healthcare expenses it's becoming a strain
My primary goal above everything else is to recover my health. It's the only thing I can think about day in and day out, and am doing everything I can to speed up the process. Aside from quality of life, it also directly impacts my ability to work on all my other goals. Before the worst of my symptoms, I used to dedicate every waking minute towards pursuing my goals. What depression and anxiety I have are directly related to how well my recovery is going. The few good days I've had have shown me that when I'm healthy, I'm able to tap into a level of confidence and a simple joy of being that makes fulfilling my goals 1,000,000x easier. I'm determined to do everything humanly possible to make that my baseline
I'm just now approaching the point in my recovery where I may be able to work on some other goals at the same time, but my health is still too unstable to say for certain. Recently I've been able to tolerate intense levels of cardio again (sustaining 80% max HR or more), but weightlifting/body exercises are still too much for my system. Hopefully I can change that in the next few months
GOALS
1. Recover health fully (or as much as possible)
2. Move out of mom's apartment
3. Develop high-ticket client base for copywriting business
4. Get ripped
5. Maximize looks
6. Do the digital nomad thing and look for somewhere to settle down
7. Build a social circle
8. Build a busy dating life
9. Build a business to turn into a source of passive income
WHAT I'M DOING ABOUT IT
Recovering Health
My entire lifestyle (if you can call it that) is currently centered around this. Since 2017 I've been working with a functional medicine doctor and religiously stuck to the diets and supplements he suggested to fix my gut issues. A year ago I was hit with a fresh grab bag of symptoms supposedly triggered by the stress of my autoimmune disorders, and have been working with a neurological chiropractor to fix them. It's become clear that both my gut and brain issues are directly linked to each other. With a few exceptions, I've been eating the same 3 "safe" foods for over a year. Recently it's taken a toll on my mental health so I've started allowing myself to have cheat days on the weekend. Not ideal, but since I'm seemingly unable to introduce new foods until I fix my brain stuff it's what keeps me sane. Fortunately, gut homeostasis has gotten strong enough that it only takes me a day to get back to normal afterwards
Twice a week I meet with my neuro chiro to fix the brainwave-related issues via neurorehab (visual motion and balance exercises) and neurofeedback (brainwave balancing).
One of my major issues is a decreased level of oxygen in my brain, which I suspect is blocking my gut health. January 2022 I tried EWOT (Exercise With Oxygen Therapy) at the suggestion of my neuro chiro, but maintaining 70%-80% max HR for 15 minutes proved to be too much for my system. I switched to HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) which didn't require exercise, and 40 sessions of that seemed to make a major difference symptom-wise... specifically exercise tolerance. I'm now able to tolerate the physical intensity needed for EWOT. As of today, I'm on session 30 of 40, but plan on doing an extra week or two just to be safe.
Once brain O2 is fixed, I'll take another breath test to gauge the state of my gut health and formulate a plan with my functional med doc based on that. I should reach this point no later than November 2022.
Develop High-Ticket Copywriting Client Base
My main obstacle here is actually finding the clients. Since early 2019 I've been getting my clients from Facebook job boards - not ideal for high-ticket since I'm competing with other copywriters. Currently I make $108k yearly from one client with an average of 1-2 hours of work per day. Last year I invested in a number of copywriting courses from some of the best names in the industry that focus on finding high ticket clients. I was about halfway through them when I was forced to stop because my symptoms got especially bad. Mental capacity has started to get better though, so I'm hoping to resume them ASAP. A friend also suggested I look into web3 founders' circles which apparently pay good money to copywriters, so I've started doing that.
My next copywriting income milestones are $250k, $500k, $750k, and eventually $1 million.
Get Ripped
This is something I'll have to dip my toe into from time to time. Right now a full workout session is too much, but it looks like I'm beginning to be able to tolerate light bodyweight exercises.
Maximize Looks
I feel like my daily skin regimen is pretty good. Hyaluronic acid, moisturizer, and eye cream 2x a day. Recently started using retinol. Exfoliate every other day with a clay mask 1x-2x a week.
When I have the money for it I plan to do something about my eye bags and weak chin. I'm looking into alternatives to a hair transplant as I'm sketched out by the possible side effects from finasteride/dutesteride, but I may end up going for it if I can find reasonable evidence there's not much of a risk for myself. Much as I miss my hair, the last thing I want is to develop another severe health condition
I also plan to get a better sense of style, though it's not as pertinent while I'm unable to socialize/date
At the moment everything else is on the back burner until my health improves. I'm making it a point to be careful I don't use my condition as an excuse to slack, but trial and error has shown I'm only capable of so much when I'm symptomatic
WHERE I'M COMING FROM
I'm at a major crossroads in my life. I've spent the last 7 years recovering from some major autoimmune issues that forced me to put every aspect of my life on hold. I couldn't tolerate exercise or most foods. Socializing and dating were foregone conclusions - I was too mentally and physically fatigued to do anything beyond getting through the day. Massive brain fog robbed me of my ability to think critically. During this time I was (somehow) able to pull myself out of the corpo 9-5 trap and become a freelance sales copywriter. Recently I've made significant progress on my health but am not out of the woods yet. Aside from a couple friends across the US, I currently have no friends to speak of. Dating life is non-existent
A few years ago my mother was catfished out of all her money. This plus a head/spine injury she suffered years ago has made it very difficult for her to keep work and stay afloat financially. My brothers and I have recently started helping her out, but in addition to my healthcare expenses it's becoming a strain
My primary goal above everything else is to recover my health. It's the only thing I can think about day in and day out, and am doing everything I can to speed up the process. Aside from quality of life, it also directly impacts my ability to work on all my other goals. Before the worst of my symptoms, I used to dedicate every waking minute towards pursuing my goals. What depression and anxiety I have are directly related to how well my recovery is going. The few good days I've had have shown me that when I'm healthy, I'm able to tap into a level of confidence and a simple joy of being that makes fulfilling my goals 1,000,000x easier. I'm determined to do everything humanly possible to make that my baseline
I'm just now approaching the point in my recovery where I may be able to work on some other goals at the same time, but my health is still too unstable to say for certain. Recently I've been able to tolerate intense levels of cardio again (sustaining 80% max HR or more), but weightlifting/body exercises are still too much for my system. Hopefully I can change that in the next few months
GOALS
1. Recover health fully (or as much as possible)
2. Move out of mom's apartment
3. Develop high-ticket client base for copywriting business
4. Get ripped
5. Maximize looks
6. Do the digital nomad thing and look for somewhere to settle down
7. Build a social circle
8. Build a busy dating life
9. Build a business to turn into a source of passive income
WHAT I'M DOING ABOUT IT
Recovering Health
My entire lifestyle (if you can call it that) is currently centered around this. Since 2017 I've been working with a functional medicine doctor and religiously stuck to the diets and supplements he suggested to fix my gut issues. A year ago I was hit with a fresh grab bag of symptoms supposedly triggered by the stress of my autoimmune disorders, and have been working with a neurological chiropractor to fix them. It's become clear that both my gut and brain issues are directly linked to each other. With a few exceptions, I've been eating the same 3 "safe" foods for over a year. Recently it's taken a toll on my mental health so I've started allowing myself to have cheat days on the weekend. Not ideal, but since I'm seemingly unable to introduce new foods until I fix my brain stuff it's what keeps me sane. Fortunately, gut homeostasis has gotten strong enough that it only takes me a day to get back to normal afterwards
Twice a week I meet with my neuro chiro to fix the brainwave-related issues via neurorehab (visual motion and balance exercises) and neurofeedback (brainwave balancing).
One of my major issues is a decreased level of oxygen in my brain, which I suspect is blocking my gut health. January 2022 I tried EWOT (Exercise With Oxygen Therapy) at the suggestion of my neuro chiro, but maintaining 70%-80% max HR for 15 minutes proved to be too much for my system. I switched to HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) which didn't require exercise, and 40 sessions of that seemed to make a major difference symptom-wise... specifically exercise tolerance. I'm now able to tolerate the physical intensity needed for EWOT. As of today, I'm on session 30 of 40, but plan on doing an extra week or two just to be safe.
Once brain O2 is fixed, I'll take another breath test to gauge the state of my gut health and formulate a plan with my functional med doc based on that. I should reach this point no later than November 2022.
Develop High-Ticket Copywriting Client Base
My main obstacle here is actually finding the clients. Since early 2019 I've been getting my clients from Facebook job boards - not ideal for high-ticket since I'm competing with other copywriters. Currently I make $108k yearly from one client with an average of 1-2 hours of work per day. Last year I invested in a number of copywriting courses from some of the best names in the industry that focus on finding high ticket clients. I was about halfway through them when I was forced to stop because my symptoms got especially bad. Mental capacity has started to get better though, so I'm hoping to resume them ASAP. A friend also suggested I look into web3 founders' circles which apparently pay good money to copywriters, so I've started doing that.
My next copywriting income milestones are $250k, $500k, $750k, and eventually $1 million.
Get Ripped
This is something I'll have to dip my toe into from time to time. Right now a full workout session is too much, but it looks like I'm beginning to be able to tolerate light bodyweight exercises.
Maximize Looks
I feel like my daily skin regimen is pretty good. Hyaluronic acid, moisturizer, and eye cream 2x a day. Recently started using retinol. Exfoliate every other day with a clay mask 1x-2x a week.
When I have the money for it I plan to do something about my eye bags and weak chin. I'm looking into alternatives to a hair transplant as I'm sketched out by the possible side effects from finasteride/dutesteride, but I may end up going for it if I can find reasonable evidence there's not much of a risk for myself. Much as I miss my hair, the last thing I want is to develop another severe health condition
I also plan to get a better sense of style, though it's not as pertinent while I'm unable to socialize/date
At the moment everything else is on the back burner until my health improves. I'm making it a point to be careful I don't use my condition as an excuse to slack, but trial and error has shown I'm only capable of so much when I'm symptomatic