July 9, 2025 • 21 mins
What do you think might be the biggest threat to your long term health? Drug resistant bacteria? A global pandemic? Bee extinction? Nuclear war? Could be. Those would be bad and make us rethink everything we thought we knew about our futures. But I think there’s something else more likely to reduce the number of years you have left in good health.
come connect with me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me directly: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
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In episode 210 of The Healthcare Collective Podcast, the host explores the biggest threats to long-term health, using the metaphor of the hero's journey. The episode delves into the dangers posed by seemingly insignificant habits—referred to as 'gnats,' 'paper cuts,' and 'kryptonite dust'—and how they can accumulate over time to cause major health issues like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The host emphasizes the importance of recognizing and eliminating these small, harmful habits to improve health and longevity. The episode also discusses the power of marginal gains, suggesting that small, consistent efforts can lead to significant positive changes over time. Practical tips are provided to help listeners identify and tackle their own small, detrimental habits, thereby enhancing their resilience and overall well-being.00:00 Introduction: The Biggest Threat to Your Long-Term Health00:42 Welcome and Personal Anecdotes01:17 The Hero's Journey and Health03:32 Facing Life's Challenges05:57 The Danger of Small Threats07:07 Compound Interest and Health09:04 Training for Resilience11:52 Identifying and Eliminating Small Threats15:35 The Power of Small Changes
Are you ready to give your cells their best chance to not have to stop living before they die by allowing them access to physiologic levels of hormones, but aren't sure how to even get started? Join the waitlist for my new beta program here and help me figure out how best to help wonderful women like you get the hormone care they deserve!
Come visit me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
come connect with me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me directly: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
Take my Udemy Course about Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
$10 off EYE BUY DIRECT: https://www.eyebuydirect.com/referral/1615995
Lume Deoderant discount: http://lumedeodorant.refr.cc/christinahackett
$10 off coupon for your first order at Built Bar. To accept, use my referral link: http://i.refs.cc/ANZLBkC9?smile_ref=eyJzbWlsZV9zb3VyY2UiOiJzbWlsZV91aSIsInNta
In episode 210 of The Healthcare Collective Podcast, the host explores the biggest threats to long-term health, using the metaphor of the hero's journey. The episode delves into the dangers posed by seemingly insignificant habits—referred to as 'gnats,' 'paper cuts,' and 'kryptonite dust'—and how they can accumulate over time to cause major health issues like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The host emphasizes the importance of recognizing and eliminating these small, harmful habits to improve health and longevity. The episode also discusses the power of marginal gains, suggesting that small, consistent efforts can lead to significant positive changes over time. Practical tips are provided to help listeners identify and tackle their own small, detrimental habits, thereby enhancing their resilience and overall well-being.00:00 Introduction: The Biggest Threat to Your Long-Term Health00:42 Welcome and Personal Anecdotes01:17 The Hero's Journey and Health03:32 Facing Life's Challenges05:57 The Danger of Small Threats07:07 Compound Interest and Health09:04 Training for Resilience11:52 Identifying and Eliminating Small Threats15:35 The Power of Small Changes
Are you ready to give your cells their best chance to not have to stop living before they die by allowing them access to physiologic levels of hormones, but aren't sure how to even get started? Join the waitlist for my new beta program here and help me figure out how best to help wonderful women like you get the hormone care they deserve!
Come visit me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you think might be the biggest threat to
your long term health? Drug resistant bacteria, a global pandemic,
b extinction, nuclear war could be Those would be bad.
It would make us rethink everything we thought we knew
about our futures. But I think there's something else more
(00:22):
likely to reduce the number of years you have left
in good health. You're listening to The Health Courage Collective Podcast,
Episode two hundred and ten, The Biggest Threat to your
long term health.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to the Health Courage Collective Podcast, the show for
women who are too busy to slog through hours of
generalized and applicable and often contradictory health information, but too
smart to ignore that a few minutes of focused attention
now can prevent years of separate in the future. I'm
your host, Christina Hackett, a pharmacist who doesn't want you
to live on prescriptions, a certified coach specifically trained to
(01:00):
maximize your potential, and a compulsive learner obsessed with preventative,
cutting edge, holistic and integrated medicine. I'm on a mission
to increase your physical and mental resilience so you can
fearlessly look forward to your next forty plus limitless years.
Your time is down. Let's go.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Hi, Li Bend and welcome to another episode. I hope
that you are having a great summer. I hate summer
so much. Well, I really just despise being hot. That's
the only thing I have against it, which is kind
of its whole essence. How have your exercise snacks been going?
Have you done any even one movement snack here or
(01:44):
there if you wouldn't otherwise have done? It is so great.
Movement snacks really do have such long term benefits. Today
you are going to talk about threads to your long
term health through the metaphor of the hero's journey. Being
a woman in her forties or fifties preparing to create
a life she wants to live in her seventies and
(02:05):
eighties is most definitely a hero's journey. It's not for
the faint of heart, Ladies. Sometimes we might feel more
heroic than others, but whether we feel triumphant or defeated,
right now, we are the hero of our own story.
If you like this hero's journey concept, I would highly
(02:26):
recommend watching the documentary Finding Joe. You can find it
for free on YouTube and other places. It features a
bunch of different teachers, including my Optimized coach Brian Johnson,
talking about the philosophy of the author Joseph Campbell. He
taught about each of us being on a hero's journey,
this fundamental path of evolving into a greater and more
(02:46):
heroic version of ourselves via obstacles and dangerous encounters along
the way, so we are each a hero in the making.
We have something important we want to accomplish before we die,
and we don't want to have to stop living before
we die. It's not going to be easy. Sometimes we
have to venture into the dark forest when we'd rather
(03:08):
stay in the sunny meadow. Sometimes we have to fight
a master swordsman, or learn to recognize a wolf in
sheep's clothing. We might need to learn the secrets of
the fire swamp so we can live there happily for
quite some time. We can come to know that there's
a popping sound preceding each flamespurt how to recognize lightning sand,
and how to defeat our own personal rous's. Do you
(03:33):
know what I'm talking about? Rodents of unusual size? Frankly,
I don't think they exist. Best movie ever. We might
even spend years developing an immunity to iyokane powder so
that we can go against a Sicilian when death is
on a line. I could quote that entire movie. So
I brought our stop now because there are so many
(03:53):
good lines. No more rhymes now I mean it. Anybody
want to paint ut? Okay? Back to our journ. We
can't grow into the hero that we're destined to become
without being in harm's way. At times there will be
darkness and fear and loneliness. When you think of these
epic classical quests, you might think of sword fighting. It
(04:16):
takes a lot of training to be strong enough and
skilled enough to be ready to go up against a
swordsman in battle. Sword fighting is incredibly dangerous. One well
placed deep laceration and your journey is over. Or you
might think of battling dragons. That's about as thriving as
it gets. They can eat you, eviscerate you, or burn
(04:37):
you with their breath. So what are the encounters that
put you in harm's way on your journey through life?
We might experience the death of a loved one, the
loss of a job, divorce, deception, financial devastation. What about
health wise? All of those things can of course affect
our health, but we can also be forced to enter
(04:59):
health battles like cancer, r chronic pain and acute illness
like pneumonia or osteomyelitis, or an injury like a skier
car accident, mental obstacles like anxiety or depression. These things
can be major and all consuming, at least for a while,
like battling a dragon, and that's okay, even if it
(05:22):
doesn't seem like it at the time. The hero's journey
is not supposed to be easy, or you wouldn't come
out the other side a hero. Right. There are obstacles
for all of us. Even Superman can be weakened or
killed by Kryptonite a big piece of that, and he
will lose all of his superpowers. It's important to train
(05:42):
for your hero's quest. You can't just wander around like
a slack jawed yokel and expect to be able to
win a duel with a six fingered man, best a
giant from the Brute Squad, or storm the castle after
being mostly dead all day. Preparation for the big battles
is important. Intentional is essential. Learn how to recognize a
(06:04):
dragon's lair, practice your muscle ups, and master your swordsmanship
train your escape from kryptonite encounters. It's an important part
of your hero's journey. But is there something more perilous
to your success than dragons and swords? I think there is.
(06:25):
If we're only focused on death by dragon bite or
sword cut, we can lose sight of the fact that
we could also be defeated by gnat bite or paper cut.
Gnats and paper cuts. Really yeah, According to Science Focus magazine,
do you know what the most dangerous animal on the
earth is and the most deadly? You might know this.
(06:48):
Would you think of a lion or a crocodile? Those
are numbers ten and seven. Maybe a snake or a
dog those are numbers three and four. The most deadly
animal on the planet is the mosquito. Seven hundred and
twenty five thousand humans die every year from mosquito bites, or,
more accurately, from the diseases that they spread. I can
(07:09):
pretty much guarantee that we've all had encounters with mosquitoes.
They're annoying, but commonplace, some places more than others, and
some with more dangerous diseases transmit than others. And do
you remember what Albert Einstein supposedly said is the eighth
wonder of the world, compound interest. We know that investing
(07:31):
money in an interest yielding account will give us more
money because our money earns money, and then that money
earns money, turning into a beautiful snowball of aggregating and
compounding gains. With a ten percent interest rate, our money
will double in seven point two years. Pretty awesome. I'm
reading a book right now about the fire movement, you know,
the financial independence retire early thing. So compound interest is
(07:54):
a big deal with fire people and for everyone really,
and it can be so great, like retire when you're
twenty seven and travel the world. Kind of great if
you're on the right side of the equation. Einstein also
supposedly but maybe not really, said he who understands it
earns it, he who doesn't pays it. What's so bad
(08:15):
about being on the wrong side of compound interest? The
money you owe increases, and the increase on the money
you owe increases, aggregating and compounding into a crushing snowball
of debt. This is how a pair of jeans bought
on a credit card that you only make the minimum
payment on can end up taking like nine years to
pay off and costing you two thousand dollars or whatever.
(08:37):
Not good. We would never talk to a cashier at
the store and agree to a nine year commitment of
two thousand dollars for a pair of genes, because that's insane.
Hopefully you would never make just the minimum payment on
a credit card either, but you can see how that
scenario could play out. Right, minimum payment this month, no biggie,
and next month and the month after now is just
(08:59):
a habit. The aggregation of marginal gains. It can be awesome,
but it can also be awful. We do want to
train our bodies for resilience. If we are in optimal health,
we will be more likely to bounce back well from
inevitable health setbacks and injuries. You will recover better from
an accident or infectious disease if your n pique physical
(09:22):
wellness when it happens, it's an extra layer of protection.
The dragon's breath won't fry you. You'll just need a
reasonable amount of time to heal from your burns. We
also want to avoid big, obvious chunks of kryptonite. You
know better than to surrender your superpowers to cigarettes, recreational drugs,
or binge drinking. It pays to take evasive action from
(09:46):
these health destroying evils. But many times, what's more dangerous
than these dragons, sword cuts and kryptonite chunks are gnats,
paper cuts, and kryptonite dust. Dangerous because they're everywhere, we're
used to them. We think they're not a big deal.
They're just a part of life. But like buying your
new fanny pack collection with your credit card and then
(10:08):
only making the minimum payment, little things aggregate and compound
over time, eventually snowballing into a crushingly huge problem. Can
you bleed to death by papercut? You can if you
get many thousands of them. It's one of the things
causing the massive hemorrhage of American money being poured into
(10:29):
our sick care system. Thousands of tiny little nicks and
scrapes to our mitochondrial function, vitamin intake, hormone functioning, toxic burden, habits, perceptions,
and beliefs that add up to what we call cardiovascular
disease type two diabetes, cancer, dementia, chronic pain, and so on.
(10:53):
With a few rare exceptions like living by Chernobyl in
nineteen eighty six, these diseases are not caused by a
singular event one sword slice. It's decades of inflammatory oils,
refined grains, poor sleep, microplastics, harmful personal care products, midnight snacks,
(11:14):
and sedentariness. It's believing that one unique molecule patented by
a pharmaceutical company will fix your problem, or that your
life's circumstances make it too hard for you to be
able to redesign your habits. What are your dragon's swords
and kryptonite chunks? Is there a disease that runs in
your family that you're worried about? Are there already health
(11:35):
concerns that are starting to make an appearance in your life.
I know you can rise to the challenge and get
stronger from training and fighting those beasts, So keep up
the good work. But what about the gnats and the
paper cuts? What are yours? What's sapping your health? One
kryptonite dust particle at a time? What has the potential
(11:58):
to aggregate and compound over time to lead to a
life where you aren't able to make a difference in
the world the way that you'd like to. Could it
be exposure to blue light within an hour of bedtime?
Eating packaged food so easy these days and more harmful
than you're led to believe. Is it regularly sitting for
(12:19):
more than thirty consecutive minutes, skipping your workouts, not knowing
what workout to do, mouth breathing, worrying soda. Pierce Steel,
author of the procrastination Equation, tells us that studies have
shown that we can get another month of work out
of our year, so thirteen months of productivity in twelve months.
(12:44):
If we just turn off our email notifications, no visual alert,
no little sound, you are ten percent more efficient and
effective when you don't see or hear those during your day.
Ten percent. That's a big deal. By the extra week's
worth of work every fifty two weeks, just from not
(13:05):
allowing your attention to be diverted away for a second
year and a second there all day, every day. That's
what I'm talking about with the NATS recognizing the issue
and taking one action to completely remove the entire swarm
from your life, then watching your effectiveness slowly rise. Just
(13:27):
like having something grab your attention away for one second
seems tiny and like it couldn't possibly matter, there may
be tiny health and longevity related things in your day
that seem completely inconsequential. You might think they're NBD, as
we say, but it's completely possible that removing them could
give you extra vital years of life. Avoid paper cutting
(13:52):
yourself here and there, and you could potentially add more
years to your life, or more importantly, more life to
your final years. You can and do, whether you want
to or not, influence what common diseases of aging you
will develop in the future. What do you think your
personal kryptonite dust is your paper cuts or nap bites.
(14:13):
What are some things that you know aren't great but
also seem like not really a big deal. Could it
be just a little taste of something here or there
that can certainly add up. Maybe staying up for just
fifteen minutes longer than you planned, No big deal till
you realize that that's seven and a half hours of
restorative sleep that you're not getting the benefits from every month.
(14:35):
Maybe it's keeping packaged food on hand just in case,
or allowing app push notifications that pull your attention away
just for a second, or start the eternal mindless scroll.
Not taking your snack out of the big container and
putting it in a little bowl or on a plate
so that when it's gone, it's gone. Not being meticulous
(14:55):
about your weightlifting form, not paying attention to how much
water you drink, not being intentional about getting some sunlight
on your eyes and skin during the day, not filtering
your water or air, eating foods made with industrial seed oils,
heating your food in plastic containers. Tiny things add up
(15:19):
whatever you've thought of. Good for you. It's awesome to
get some awareness. I'd invite you to pick just one
what feels easiest to be able to kick out of
your hero's journey, One little nap that keeps coming around
and sucking a tiny drop of your life away. What
can you do to eliminate that one nat Forget about
all the others for now, Just commit one hundred and
(15:40):
ten percent to this one tiny thing. If it's currently
a habit on autopilot, it will take some effort to
stay conscious and change your behavior. Imagine when it will
be the most challenging to avoid, and commit to doing
that anyway, Even in that difficult situation. That self mastery,
even over or something kryptonite best particle small feels so good.
(16:05):
You can still plan too and prepare for battling dragons,
but mastering the gnats gives you power and confidence. Once
you develop mastery over one tiny little thing, you start
naturally doing it with other things too. That's why it
really doesn't matter which papercut you choose to avoid. First,
start anywhere and watch the compounding of marginal gains start
(16:27):
to slowly roll forward, one nat at a time until
you've conquered more gnats than the size of a dragon.
Since I'm a total nerd, as you already know by now,
I just asked Google and it says that an average dragon,
whatever that means, would weigh about three hundred pounds. Who knows,
really an average gnat weighs one point five milligrams, So
(16:51):
if you successfully fought off ninety thousand, seven hundred gnats,
that would be the same weight as a dragon. That's
only twenty five nats a day for ten years. That's
not that many. Say you eliminate one tiny bad habit
that you used to do three times every day, that
would be ten, nine hundred and fifty times of no
(17:12):
longer doing that behavior over the course of ten years.
Amazing author Stephen Cotler talks about living four percent outside
of your comfort zone. That's the optimal amount to push
yourself beyond your current capabilities. Four percent. I love this idea,
(17:32):
and I love having a measurable amount to do something.
He says that just that little four percent every day
makes what's impossible become what's next for you. It's what's
for breakfast ant quote. I love it what seems impossible
to you. You could make it what's next for you
and have it for breakfast if you keep pushing yourself
(17:54):
by just four percent, What would a four percent longer
intermittent fast be thirty three point six minutes if you
fast for fourteen hours a day, two hundred more steps
if you usually get five thousand steps a day, two
point four more grams of protein if you usually only
get sixty grams of protein today, three point six fewer
(18:15):
minutes of TV if you usually spend ninety minutes a
day watching. We can gain huge advantages by not allowing
ourselves to be weakened by paper cuts and kryptonite dust
all day, every day. Their insidious and seemingly insignificant nature
are what makes them so dangerous. They're everywhere, and they're
(18:37):
the building walks of the common diseases of aging. But
maybe even more important than that is that making the
effort to resist the paper cuts and nat bites that
are everywhere can also be our training to avoid sword
cuts and death by dragon. We talked about The Prince's Bride,
which came out in nineteen eighty seven, So travel back
(19:00):
three years to nineteen eighty four and you'll land on
the next movie that keeps coming to my mind as
them envisioning our training avoiding being weakened by gnat bites
while also developing the skill and strength we need to
slay a dragon by the repeated swatting or wax on
(19:20):
wax off motion, or painting the fence or standing the floor,
or whatever Danielson had to learn to do. Not only
can avoiding the ravages of thousands of paper cuts be
to our advantage, but using those tiny opportunities as training
to build our skill and strength at sword fighting makes
us even more powerful. Little drops of self mastery sprinkle
(19:45):
throughout your day. Add Up, if you can obey yourself
and resist temptations in tiny little ways, you are casting
hundreds of votes for an identity of a disciplined person,
and that is huge. How can a seemingly insignificant habit
be an opportunity for you to get even stronger? I
(20:07):
would love for you to think about what is diminishing
your power in tiny dust particle size ways, and not
only take back that power, but use it as fuel
to grow stronger in big ways too, four percent at
a time, until what's impossible becomes what's next. For you
have a dragon for breakfast just by learning to avoid
(20:31):
a nat Thank you so much for listening today and
for taking a few minutes to work on getting stronger
so that you can give more in service to the
world for many years to come. Joseph Campbell, the father
of the Hero's Journey and author of the Power of Myth, said,
the demon you can swallow gives you its power. I
(20:52):
love that. What if you got a mosquito's worth more
power over and over and over you slowly accrete a
lot of power that would allow you to swallow bigger
and bigger demons until you really could have a dragon
for breakfast. Next week we're going to talk about why
I think you should consider taking lithium. Until then, refuse
(21:16):
paper cuts, and don't be normal.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Thank you so much for tuning into the Health Courage
Collective podcast. I am truly honored that you have paid
me the enormous compliment of your time and attention. I
would be so grateful if you would share this podcast
with someone you know and subscribe so you never miss
an episode. This podcast is for entertainment and information purposes only.
Statements and views on this podcast are not medical advice.
(21:40):
This podcast, including Christina Hackett and producers, disclaim responsibility for
any possible adverse events by use of information contained hearing.
If you think you have a medical problem, consult a
licensed pocisions
What do you think might be the biggest threat to
your long term health? Drug resistant bacteria, a global pandemic,
b extinction, nuclear war could be Those would be bad.
It would make us rethink everything we thought we knew
about our futures. But I think there's something else more
(00:22):
likely to reduce the number of years you have left
in good health. You're listening to The Health Courage Collective Podcast,
Episode two hundred and ten, The Biggest Threat to your
long term health.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Welcome to the Health Courage Collective Podcast, the show for
women who are too busy to slog through hours of
generalized and applicable and often contradictory health information, but too
smart to ignore that a few minutes of focused attention
now can prevent years of separate in the future. I'm
your host, Christina Hackett, a pharmacist who doesn't want you
to live on prescriptions, a certified coach specifically trained to
(01:00):
maximize your potential, and a compulsive learner obsessed with preventative,
cutting edge, holistic and integrated medicine. I'm on a mission
to increase your physical and mental resilience so you can
fearlessly look forward to your next forty plus limitless years.
Your time is down. Let's go.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Hi, Li Bend and welcome to another episode. I hope
that you are having a great summer. I hate summer
so much. Well, I really just despise being hot. That's
the only thing I have against it, which is kind
of its whole essence. How have your exercise snacks been going?
Have you done any even one movement snack here or
(01:44):
there if you wouldn't otherwise have done? It is so great.
Movement snacks really do have such long term benefits. Today
you are going to talk about threads to your long
term health through the metaphor of the hero's journey. Being
a woman in her forties or fifties preparing to create
a life she wants to live in her seventies and
(02:05):
eighties is most definitely a hero's journey. It's not for
the faint of heart, Ladies. Sometimes we might feel more
heroic than others, but whether we feel triumphant or defeated,
right now, we are the hero of our own story.
If you like this hero's journey concept, I would highly
(02:26):
recommend watching the documentary Finding Joe. You can find it
for free on YouTube and other places. It features a
bunch of different teachers, including my Optimized coach Brian Johnson,
talking about the philosophy of the author Joseph Campbell. He
taught about each of us being on a hero's journey,
this fundamental path of evolving into a greater and more
(02:46):
heroic version of ourselves via obstacles and dangerous encounters along
the way, so we are each a hero in the making.
We have something important we want to accomplish before we die,
and we don't want to have to stop living before
we die. It's not going to be easy. Sometimes we
have to venture into the dark forest when we'd rather
(03:08):
stay in the sunny meadow. Sometimes we have to fight
a master swordsman, or learn to recognize a wolf in
sheep's clothing. We might need to learn the secrets of
the fire swamp so we can live there happily for
quite some time. We can come to know that there's
a popping sound preceding each flamespurt how to recognize lightning sand,
and how to defeat our own personal rous's. Do you
(03:33):
know what I'm talking about? Rodents of unusual size? Frankly,
I don't think they exist. Best movie ever. We might
even spend years developing an immunity to iyokane powder so
that we can go against a Sicilian when death is
on a line. I could quote that entire movie. So
I brought our stop now because there are so many
(03:53):
good lines. No more rhymes now I mean it. Anybody
want to paint ut? Okay? Back to our journ. We
can't grow into the hero that we're destined to become
without being in harm's way. At times there will be
darkness and fear and loneliness. When you think of these
epic classical quests, you might think of sword fighting. It
(04:16):
takes a lot of training to be strong enough and
skilled enough to be ready to go up against a
swordsman in battle. Sword fighting is incredibly dangerous. One well
placed deep laceration and your journey is over. Or you
might think of battling dragons. That's about as thriving as
it gets. They can eat you, eviscerate you, or burn
(04:37):
you with their breath. So what are the encounters that
put you in harm's way on your journey through life?
We might experience the death of a loved one, the
loss of a job, divorce, deception, financial devastation. What about
health wise? All of those things can of course affect
our health, but we can also be forced to enter
(04:59):
health battles like cancer, r chronic pain and acute illness
like pneumonia or osteomyelitis, or an injury like a skier
car accident, mental obstacles like anxiety or depression. These things
can be major and all consuming, at least for a while,
like battling a dragon, and that's okay, even if it
(05:22):
doesn't seem like it at the time. The hero's journey
is not supposed to be easy, or you wouldn't come
out the other side a hero. Right. There are obstacles
for all of us. Even Superman can be weakened or
killed by Kryptonite a big piece of that, and he
will lose all of his superpowers. It's important to train
(05:42):
for your hero's quest. You can't just wander around like
a slack jawed yokel and expect to be able to
win a duel with a six fingered man, best a
giant from the Brute Squad, or storm the castle after
being mostly dead all day. Preparation for the big battles
is important. Intentional is essential. Learn how to recognize a
(06:04):
dragon's lair, practice your muscle ups, and master your swordsmanship
train your escape from kryptonite encounters. It's an important part
of your hero's journey. But is there something more perilous
to your success than dragons and swords? I think there is.
(06:25):
If we're only focused on death by dragon bite or
sword cut, we can lose sight of the fact that
we could also be defeated by gnat bite or paper cut.
Gnats and paper cuts. Really yeah, According to Science Focus magazine,
do you know what the most dangerous animal on the
earth is and the most deadly? You might know this.
(06:48):
Would you think of a lion or a crocodile? Those
are numbers ten and seven. Maybe a snake or a
dog those are numbers three and four. The most deadly
animal on the planet is the mosquito. Seven hundred and
twenty five thousand humans die every year from mosquito bites, or,
more accurately, from the diseases that they spread. I can
(07:09):
pretty much guarantee that we've all had encounters with mosquitoes.
They're annoying, but commonplace, some places more than others, and
some with more dangerous diseases transmit than others. And do
you remember what Albert Einstein supposedly said is the eighth
wonder of the world, compound interest. We know that investing
(07:31):
money in an interest yielding account will give us more
money because our money earns money, and then that money
earns money, turning into a beautiful snowball of aggregating and
compounding gains. With a ten percent interest rate, our money
will double in seven point two years. Pretty awesome. I'm
reading a book right now about the fire movement, you know,
the financial independence retire early thing. So compound interest is
(07:54):
a big deal with fire people and for everyone really,
and it can be so great, like retire when you're
twenty seven and travel the world. Kind of great if
you're on the right side of the equation. Einstein also
supposedly but maybe not really, said he who understands it
earns it, he who doesn't pays it. What's so bad
(08:15):
about being on the wrong side of compound interest? The
money you owe increases, and the increase on the money
you owe increases, aggregating and compounding into a crushing snowball
of debt. This is how a pair of jeans bought
on a credit card that you only make the minimum
payment on can end up taking like nine years to
pay off and costing you two thousand dollars or whatever.
(08:37):
Not good. We would never talk to a cashier at
the store and agree to a nine year commitment of
two thousand dollars for a pair of genes, because that's insane.
Hopefully you would never make just the minimum payment on
a credit card either, but you can see how that
scenario could play out. Right, minimum payment this month, no biggie,
and next month and the month after now is just
(08:59):
a habit. The aggregation of marginal gains. It can be awesome,
but it can also be awful. We do want to
train our bodies for resilience. If we are in optimal health,
we will be more likely to bounce back well from
inevitable health setbacks and injuries. You will recover better from
an accident or infectious disease if your n pique physical
(09:22):
wellness when it happens, it's an extra layer of protection.
The dragon's breath won't fry you. You'll just need a
reasonable amount of time to heal from your burns. We
also want to avoid big, obvious chunks of kryptonite. You
know better than to surrender your superpowers to cigarettes, recreational drugs,
or binge drinking. It pays to take evasive action from
(09:46):
these health destroying evils. But many times, what's more dangerous
than these dragons, sword cuts and kryptonite chunks are gnats,
paper cuts, and kryptonite dust. Dangerous because they're everywhere, we're
used to them. We think they're not a big deal.
They're just a part of life. But like buying your
new fanny pack collection with your credit card and then
(10:08):
only making the minimum payment, little things aggregate and compound
over time, eventually snowballing into a crushingly huge problem. Can
you bleed to death by papercut? You can if you
get many thousands of them. It's one of the things
causing the massive hemorrhage of American money being poured into
(10:29):
our sick care system. Thousands of tiny little nicks and
scrapes to our mitochondrial function, vitamin intake, hormone functioning, toxic burden, habits, perceptions,
and beliefs that add up to what we call cardiovascular
disease type two diabetes, cancer, dementia, chronic pain, and so on.
(10:53):
With a few rare exceptions like living by Chernobyl in
nineteen eighty six, these diseases are not caused by a
singular event one sword slice. It's decades of inflammatory oils,
refined grains, poor sleep, microplastics, harmful personal care products, midnight snacks,
(11:14):
and sedentariness. It's believing that one unique molecule patented by
a pharmaceutical company will fix your problem, or that your
life's circumstances make it too hard for you to be
able to redesign your habits. What are your dragon's swords
and kryptonite chunks? Is there a disease that runs in
your family that you're worried about? Are there already health
(11:35):
concerns that are starting to make an appearance in your life.
I know you can rise to the challenge and get
stronger from training and fighting those beasts, So keep up
the good work. But what about the gnats and the
paper cuts? What are yours? What's sapping your health? One
kryptonite dust particle at a time? What has the potential
(11:58):
to aggregate and compound over time to lead to a
life where you aren't able to make a difference in
the world the way that you'd like to. Could it
be exposure to blue light within an hour of bedtime?
Eating packaged food so easy these days and more harmful
than you're led to believe. Is it regularly sitting for
(12:19):
more than thirty consecutive minutes, skipping your workouts, not knowing
what workout to do, mouth breathing, worrying soda. Pierce Steel,
author of the procrastination Equation, tells us that studies have
shown that we can get another month of work out
of our year, so thirteen months of productivity in twelve months.
(12:44):
If we just turn off our email notifications, no visual alert,
no little sound, you are ten percent more efficient and
effective when you don't see or hear those during your day.
Ten percent. That's a big deal. By the extra week's
worth of work every fifty two weeks, just from not
(13:05):
allowing your attention to be diverted away for a second
year and a second there all day, every day. That's
what I'm talking about with the NATS recognizing the issue
and taking one action to completely remove the entire swarm
from your life, then watching your effectiveness slowly rise. Just
(13:27):
like having something grab your attention away for one second
seems tiny and like it couldn't possibly matter, there may
be tiny health and longevity related things in your day
that seem completely inconsequential. You might think they're NBD, as
we say, but it's completely possible that removing them could
give you extra vital years of life. Avoid paper cutting
(13:52):
yourself here and there, and you could potentially add more
years to your life, or more importantly, more life to
your final years. You can and do, whether you want
to or not, influence what common diseases of aging you
will develop in the future. What do you think your
personal kryptonite dust is your paper cuts or nap bites.
(14:13):
What are some things that you know aren't great but
also seem like not really a big deal. Could it
be just a little taste of something here or there
that can certainly add up. Maybe staying up for just
fifteen minutes longer than you planned, No big deal till
you realize that that's seven and a half hours of
restorative sleep that you're not getting the benefits from every month.
(14:35):
Maybe it's keeping packaged food on hand just in case,
or allowing app push notifications that pull your attention away
just for a second, or start the eternal mindless scroll.
Not taking your snack out of the big container and
putting it in a little bowl or on a plate
so that when it's gone, it's gone. Not being meticulous
(14:55):
about your weightlifting form, not paying attention to how much
water you drink, not being intentional about getting some sunlight
on your eyes and skin during the day, not filtering
your water or air, eating foods made with industrial seed oils,
heating your food in plastic containers. Tiny things add up
(15:19):
whatever you've thought of. Good for you. It's awesome to
get some awareness. I'd invite you to pick just one
what feels easiest to be able to kick out of
your hero's journey, One little nap that keeps coming around
and sucking a tiny drop of your life away. What
can you do to eliminate that one nat Forget about
all the others for now, Just commit one hundred and
(15:40):
ten percent to this one tiny thing. If it's currently
a habit on autopilot, it will take some effort to
stay conscious and change your behavior. Imagine when it will
be the most challenging to avoid, and commit to doing
that anyway, Even in that difficult situation. That self mastery,
even over or something kryptonite best particle small feels so good.
(16:05):
You can still plan too and prepare for battling dragons,
but mastering the gnats gives you power and confidence. Once
you develop mastery over one tiny little thing, you start
naturally doing it with other things too. That's why it
really doesn't matter which papercut you choose to avoid. First,
start anywhere and watch the compounding of marginal gains start
(16:27):
to slowly roll forward, one nat at a time until
you've conquered more gnats than the size of a dragon.
Since I'm a total nerd, as you already know by now,
I just asked Google and it says that an average dragon,
whatever that means, would weigh about three hundred pounds. Who knows,
really an average gnat weighs one point five milligrams, So
(16:51):
if you successfully fought off ninety thousand, seven hundred gnats,
that would be the same weight as a dragon. That's
only twenty five nats a day for ten years. That's
not that many. Say you eliminate one tiny bad habit
that you used to do three times every day, that
would be ten, nine hundred and fifty times of no
(17:12):
longer doing that behavior over the course of ten years.
Amazing author Stephen Cotler talks about living four percent outside
of your comfort zone. That's the optimal amount to push
yourself beyond your current capabilities. Four percent. I love this idea,
(17:32):
and I love having a measurable amount to do something.
He says that just that little four percent every day
makes what's impossible become what's next for you. It's what's
for breakfast ant quote. I love it what seems impossible
to you. You could make it what's next for you
and have it for breakfast if you keep pushing yourself
(17:54):
by just four percent, What would a four percent longer
intermittent fast be thirty three point six minutes if you
fast for fourteen hours a day, two hundred more steps
if you usually get five thousand steps a day, two
point four more grams of protein if you usually only
get sixty grams of protein today, three point six fewer
(18:15):
minutes of TV if you usually spend ninety minutes a
day watching. We can gain huge advantages by not allowing
ourselves to be weakened by paper cuts and kryptonite dust
all day, every day. Their insidious and seemingly insignificant nature
are what makes them so dangerous. They're everywhere, and they're
(18:37):
the building walks of the common diseases of aging. But
maybe even more important than that is that making the
effort to resist the paper cuts and nat bites that
are everywhere can also be our training to avoid sword
cuts and death by dragon. We talked about The Prince's Bride,
which came out in nineteen eighty seven, So travel back
(19:00):
three years to nineteen eighty four and you'll land on
the next movie that keeps coming to my mind as
them envisioning our training avoiding being weakened by gnat bites
while also developing the skill and strength we need to
slay a dragon by the repeated swatting or wax on
(19:20):
wax off motion, or painting the fence or standing the floor,
or whatever Danielson had to learn to do. Not only
can avoiding the ravages of thousands of paper cuts be
to our advantage, but using those tiny opportunities as training
to build our skill and strength at sword fighting makes
us even more powerful. Little drops of self mastery sprinkle
(19:45):
throughout your day. Add Up, if you can obey yourself
and resist temptations in tiny little ways, you are casting
hundreds of votes for an identity of a disciplined person,
and that is huge. How can a seemingly insignificant habit
be an opportunity for you to get even stronger? I
(20:07):
would love for you to think about what is diminishing
your power in tiny dust particle size ways, and not
only take back that power, but use it as fuel
to grow stronger in big ways too, four percent at
a time, until what's impossible becomes what's next. For you
have a dragon for breakfast just by learning to avoid
(20:31):
a nat Thank you so much for listening today and
for taking a few minutes to work on getting stronger
so that you can give more in service to the
world for many years to come. Joseph Campbell, the father
of the Hero's Journey and author of the Power of Myth, said,
the demon you can swallow gives you its power. I
(20:52):
love that. What if you got a mosquito's worth more
power over and over and over you slowly accrete a
lot of power that would allow you to swallow bigger
and bigger demons until you really could have a dragon
for breakfast. Next week we're going to talk about why
I think you should consider taking lithium. Until then, refuse
(21:16):
paper cuts, and don't be normal.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Thank you so much for tuning into the Health Courage
Collective podcast. I am truly honored that you have paid
me the enormous compliment of your time and attention. I
would be so grateful if you would share this podcast
with someone you know and subscribe so you never miss
an episode. This podcast is for entertainment and information purposes only.
Statements and views on this podcast are not medical advice.
(21:40):
This podcast, including Christina Hackett and producers, disclaim responsibility for
any possible adverse events by use of information contained hearing.
If you think you have a medical problem, consult a
licensed pocisions
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