When you are tired and exhausted; change things up!
Is rest, recovery, and change is all the same thing?
A thought while researching some of my pre-socratic friends (Heraclitus):
Perhaps the best way of “resting” is by changing.
All “gym science” is pseudo-science
For some strange reason, there is this bias against going to the gym every single day. There is some pseudo-scientific “evidence” of “over-training”. But to be honest– I think these are all just silly scare tactics by trainers and workout supplement corporations in order to sell us their services or “recovery” products.
Anyways, I’ve been an avid gym-goer for the last decade+. I discovered for myself that I am happiest and the most energetic when I visit the gym at least once a day.
But for a long time I only went to the gym 3x a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), for fear of “over-training”. But one day, I thought to myself:
Fuck what the experts say; I’m just gonna do what I like, and deal with the consequences.
So for the last few months, I’ve been experimenting by going to the gym everyday– often twice a day! And I’ve been stronger, happier, and more energetic than ever!
Moral of the story:
Ignore experts, and just do what you want to do.
Do different exercises
I think this is the key:
To rest or ‘recover’, it is best to just switch things up; do different things (change).
And this is an interesting idea, because if you want to “rest” from being really tired from work or something, instead of just lying on the couch and vegging out to Netflix, perhaps it is better to just switch up your activity. To rest and recover by doing something else (active)!
For example, let us say you have a really difficult and stressful day at work. When you go home, don’t just watch a movie, and let your muscles atrophy. Instead, do something different and active to recover from all that stress. Go to the gym and do some deadlifts. Maybe call up a friend and grab some Korean BBQ with them for dinner. Maybe drive to the mall, and walk around, get some free Nespresso at the Bloomingdales store, and shoot some “mall street photography”.
If you want to stay home, do something active. Actively read a book, actively write. Actively analyze your old photos. And you can still watch films and cinema; I just encourage you to do it in an active way. Watch cinema on your laptop, and when you see compositions you like, pause the film, and screenshot it, and trace the compositions you like afterwards.
Change in photography
I think this happens to a lot of photographers:
We eventually get bored of photography.
Perhaps the best way to challenge yourself, and to keep growing and evolving is to try out a different style or genre or approach in photography.
For example, for myself, I have hit roadblocks in my photography, when I was only focused on street photography. I switched it up by:
- Trying out fashion photography
- Shooting more urban landscapes
- Switching to shooting film
- Shooting with a phone
- Shooting with a digital medium format camera (color)
- Focus on shooting portraits (#cindyproject)
- Focusing on different photography projects (Only in America, SUITS)
- Abstract photography
All photography is good photography. Don’t become a prisoner of a genre of photography. Shoot anything and everything, and to be honest– don’t worry too much about “consistency”.
Just shoot because you enjoy it!
All change is good.
Love change, embrace change and use change to propel you to higher heights!
FLY HIGHER!
ERIC
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