To be or not to be…. schlubby

So, it’s been raining in Arizona for like a week.  Rain is good for the desert, blah, blah, blah–I’m sick of it!  As some of you already know I play tennis almost everyday, sometimes twice a day.  I play singles, doubles, take lessons, compete in leagues and tournaments, and I do cardio tennis (you run for an hour and hit a few balls in-between.)  I play in 40 degrees and 120, doesn’t matter to me but they won’t let you play in the rain.  This means I’ve been sitting here on my butt in front of the TV or computer even more than normal. And that got me thinking and remembering…

Currently you may have heard that are big (loud) talks (arguments) going on in the US over health care–or lack there of.  Sitting on the couch for a week got me thinking about our industry and health care.  Now, I’m not going to spout off statistics about the uninsured, the number of people bankrupt once a serious illness hits there families, or the exorbitant monthly fee Brian & I pay (and we are only 2 healthy people) to have the privilege of insurance that doesn’t let us go to the doctor when we really need it because the self-employed get royally screwed when trying to find health care.  Nope, I’m not going to talk about any of that.  You can have your opinions and I can have mine and apparently we, as a nation, will never get it figured out. [Ok, yes I’m not going to talk about it but to say some want it to mandatory to have health insurance---seriously?--yes let’s go after the people who can’t afford their rent and food and force them to buy something else.  And have we considered the fact that the worst foods for you are the cheapest so maybe, the poorest of the poor will eat crap, get sicker, and be at higher risk but hey don’t worry their last 5 cents will go to health care so they are all set!  Ok, sorry done now.]

What I am going to talk about is the health (or lack of) while being self-employed, working crazy hours, and sitting at your computer day in and day out.  Incase you didn’t know, this is a pretty stressful industry.  You are always on a deadline, someone is always yelling at you about something and you are continually looking for the next gig so you don’t starve.  Speaking of money (a big stressor) one month your flush the next your famine.  Yeah, yeah, save your money so you can even it out good to bad months.  That hardly ever works, inevitably your printer, hard-drive, or something else goes out or you get sick and unexpectedly can’t work.

So problem #1 Stress and stress related illnesses.  Did you know that stress can cause your hair to fall out, your skin to become sallow and you can be physically sick in many ways. You can also develop ticks, blackouts, and who-knows-what else.

Problem #2 Sleep deprivation and it’s related illnesses.  Tight, tough deadlines require us to work straight through the night or to be working 12-24 hours straight (sometimes longer.)  Lack of sleep makes you cranky, and can cause physical illness as well.  Shingles, ulcers, and other fun things are caused by a combo of stress and lack of sleep.  Not to mention (no matter what the bottle says) 24 No-Doze or 5 cans of RedBull do not make a full and healthy meal.

Problem #3 Eating & Drinking and their related illnesses.  Anybody that has lived through problems 1 & 2 separately or together know that the last thing you have time for is a healthy home cooked meal.  You have time for delivery, frozen food, soda, and chips.  We’ve all been there and have all eaten crap to get us through (& ok most of it tastes pretty good which doesn’t help.)  Once you start down this path it is really hard to stop and change your habits.  Frozen meals by the way are terrible for you, even the low-fat ones.  They are made of chemicals your stomach can’t recognize and they are usually PACKED with sodium.

Problem #4  Lack of Sunshine and it’s related illnesses (do you see a pattern here?)  I don’t want to name names or call anyone out but I know LOTS of artists that get cranky when they don’t get enough sunshine.  It’s actually a scientific fact that you need Vitamin D (from the sun or a pill) or you can become seriously ill.  Also you’ve heard of people who get more depressed in the winter–it’s from lack of sunlight.  So, this one is psychological as well as physical.

Problem #5 Lack of Exercise.  When you don’t get out of your chair you don’t do anything (walking to the fridge doesn’t count.)  When you don’t do anything your body starts to break down.  This one is obviously physical your body breaks down when you don’t use it and it thinks you are hibernating.  Not kidding, that’s the theory, lack of movement, icky & irregular food intake and being sedentary for long periods of time.  Your body tries to protect itself and builds up fat and bunches of other crap you don’t need.

Problem #6 Disease & Injury. Things like diabetes, rickets, depression, carpal tunnel, restless leg syndrome, back aches, etc.  All these and more are the outcomes of our fun, easy, lucky-to-have-them jobs.

I’ve left out many I’m sure and we are not the only ones to suffer these types of problems.  Anyone in similar conditions have the same problem.  So what do we do about it?

We have to change our lives, we have to come up for fresh air.  Find some friends (not online) and hang out with them (in public, not online.)  Go play some kind of sport (not online) or participate in a local art club or venue (not online.)  You don’t have to stop drinking soda and go run a marathon but you can just go outside for awhile.  Take some time to breath and enjoy life.  Obviously, some weeks and months make that easier than others but even stimulating your brain (outside with living people, not online) is good for your mental and physical heath.  I’ll add two photos of Brian & I… one is in 2003 and one is current.  We both, about the same time, had an epiphany and sort-of changed our lifestyles.  (Ok, honestly, I had mine after he started losing weight and looking hot & I still looked schluby and I got pissed.)

Kristy, Brian & Grandma 2003

Fulldisclosure: Brian & I didn’t change our habits overnight.  We had highly stressful, highly unhealthy habits for many years.  It was always really annoying when healthy people would tell us how “easy” it was to be healthier…. just make an effort, just eat different foods (icky ones usually,) just do this or that, just go ride a bike, just, just, just.  What they don’t get is that our work-style is bad for us–not just our personal habits.  That makes is much harder to change, money talks and you keep doing what you are doing so you don’t screw up your income.

I have to say that I only play tennis because I think it’s fun and and I don’t suck at it.  I do not go to the gym–ever–it’s like torture.  My eating amounts & times have changed but not what I eat.  I don’t eat a bunch of healthy stuff that tastes gross, I just eat what I want but I don’t eat as much.  It is weird (& I never belived it when skinny people said it) that once you start doing more you are less hungry… for some reason the more you sit and eat the more you want to sit and eat… weird and not fair! Once I started moving I stopped snacking so much.  I’ve always drank diet soda so that didn’t change.  Brian had to go cold turkey on soda he used to drink a liter or two a day.

Kristy & Brian 2009

Now he only drinks diet, caffeine free Squirt so it seems more like lemonade than soda.

It is never easy to change and some times you need to be forced or pushed to make the move.  We’ve had two people, both have worked for us for years, have to take time off this past year do to health issues related in some way to the stress and bad habits of the job.

Take care of yourself.

Kristy Miller

VP, Development

Hi-Fi Design