On The Edge

There is a magical point in life where we have stepped out of our comfort zone and reach the edge. For most of us who live in Western society, our day to day lives rarely if ever give us the opportunity to do this, and a lot of us choose actively to avoid stepping out of our familiar routines.

Being in the comfort zone is a psychological state in which a person feels familiar, at ease, in control and experiences low anxiety and stress. In the zone a steady level of performance is possible. This state represents a view of the world that seeks to determine and control all aspects of existence. Merely feeling in control isn’t the same as being in control of our lives and any objective look at existence would highlight the fact that at any moment life can change and it is beyond our ability to stop it. Illness, accident, death, change hover over us at all times, often it is only when we are touched by these do we feel the fleeting and fragile nature of our existence, then brush it off to continue on as if we are immortal and have all the time in the world to do the things we really want to do.

‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you’ is a Facebook meme that I see posted on peoples walls and succinctly sums up why we need to move beyond our comfort zone in order to achieve and conquer ourselves. Life can be seen as a process of creation, as something we co-create and not something that is imposed upon us as we passively go about our everyday lives.

To move into uncertainty where there are no guarantees requires cultivation of self-belief, courage and determination. Better the devil you know goes the phrase, but can we truly grow and progress when we are not challenging ourselves to see where our true potential lies?

How can we know what we are capable of achieving if we never move in to the unknown?

Our limits are only stretched once we step outside into what is known as the edge. I found it curious that this place is a psychological one as well as a physical one.

‘The edge effect is an ecological concept that describes how there is a greater diversity of life in the region where the edges two adjacent ecosystems overlap, such as land/water, or forest/grassland. At the edge of two overlapping ecosystems, you can find species from both of these ecosystems, as well as unique species that aren’t found in either ecosystem but are specially adapted to the conditions of the transition zone between the two edges.’

I was struck by the parallel in nature to our own psychology; that the edge is where the most things happen and where more things grow. Movement is the best way I have found to access this place, although the place is still unfamiliar to me so I am often scared when I am there. I keep telling myself that the more I go to the edge, the landscape will be familiar to me and the rewards I get from it far outweigh the fear of stepping outside my comfort zone.

- F

“Life begins outside the edge of your comfort zone”

— Neale Donald Walsch

You might also like :

What People Get Wrong about Furniture Free

What are the most common misconceptions about furniture free? Well these are my top three!

Experts Of the Bleedin’ Obvious

There seems to be a complete terror of peeling back the layers to examine the root causes of issues as well as an accompanying terror that, once examined, the best solution would be a simple one.
Let these experts stand up and be judged by the outcomes of their policies and not just by the amount of papers they publish.

The MOST Important Movement Skill That EVERYONE Needs To Learn - The Wall Climb

Is climbing a wall the most important movement skill of all? Yes! Maybe. In this video I'll discuss why I think the wall climb is such a useful skill to have.

I Climbed This MASSIVE Tree And Put Christmas Decorations On It

Trees are boring, so I decided to un-boring them with some clambering and a hand made Christmas tree topper.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Cold

Humans, like all creatures of this World, are regulated less by our temperament and more by our environment which constrains and keeps us in check.
This environment has changed considerably thanks, in part, to central heating.
Like the Amish, we must now be intentional with how we design our lives and recognise there is a cost to all new things, a cost that may not be known for decades.

I Lived Furniture-Free For 7 Years. Here's What I Learned

I've lived the last 7 years of my life without furniture. Is it comfortable? Is it good for you? And do people thing you are weird? Yes, but you should probably watch the video for more information.

Are Athletes REALLY The Healthiest People On Earth?

Athletes are the pinnacle of health and fitness in our modern age. Or are they?
Well...... It's Complicated

How Being Normal Makes You Unhealthy

Are you normal? Well that just might not be that good for you, lets take a look at how the normalization of the modern world is damaging our health and even our ability to understand the world around us.

Abusing Caffeine the Healthier Way

I've stopped drinking as much caffeine, except for when I drink more. I've been experimenting and wanted to share my decaffeinated experience.

Desk Ergonomics Don't Work! Here's Why

I've always had a bit of a problem with ergonomics, while some of the ideas put forward by it seem logical on the surface, the unfortunate truth is that even the people that stringently follow the principles of ergonomics end up just as ill and injured as the people that don't.

Whac-a-Mole Medicine

It’s always satisfying when you come across a term or phrase which encapsulates something in a way that's surprising and yet makes total sense. In modern times, it also helps that concepts are only as long as a Twitter post; the shorter and more succinct the better so our over-stimulated attention spans can grasp it.

One Million Hospital Admissions A Year Linked To Obesity

Where I somehow manage to link obesity with the end of the British Empire.

Knee position isn't a predictor of future ACL injuries, new study suggests

It’s important to recognise that we are far from complete in our knowledge and we know very little about the way about how the body actually works - that’s why I really like reading these studies because they run counter to ‘accepted wisdom’ and challenge our prevailing norms.

19-year-olds Are As Sedentary As 60-year-olds

Unless sedentary habits change, this generation of children could end up with hip fractures in their 40s and 50s instead of their 70s.
Falls in the 40-plus age group have increased 20% from the previous generation, so it seems likely this figure will only increase for the coming generation who’ve spent the majority of their childhood sedentary and with low bone density.

The Rise Of Safetyism

A deep dive into safetyism, its origins and what it means to live in a highly unnatural ‘safety-first’ culture.

Is Head-Loading a Forgotten Natural Movement Skill?

Head-loading is impossible to perform correctly without achieving an ideal head and neck alignment. Alongside the development of the relevant stabilising muscles that develop, so too does a particular gait pattern which is a third more efficient than our normal walking gait.
Ideal posture is the position from which the musculoskeletal system functions most efficiently and there is a direct relationship between chronic poor posture and chronic pain.

It’s All Just Ones and Zeros

I was reading a friend’s blog post recently where he recounted a passage from a book which really stuck with me. If you don’t have good health to begin with then all you’re left with are a bunch of zeros.

Wellness Banking

Wellness banking the newest idea to encourage people to spend responsibly all the while improving their physical health. To benefit from wellness banking you must share more personal data with your bank than ever before and allow it to track your movement, exercise routine and diet; the more you’re willing to share, the more rewards you’ll receive.

‘The healthier you get, the more we’re able to offer you. It’s a virtuous circle that’s good for you, good for us, and good for society.’

Join Me Online At The 2021 Embody Your Natural Masculine Summit

Tend your inner fire this March by joining Billy at this free online summit.
You’ll learn about natural movement and how to embody your natural masculine (if you don’t do this already).
I cannot guarantee you will leave the summit a better person, but you might.

We’re All Sea Squirts Now

Modern life has come to resemble that of the adult sea squirt; thinking is prioritised, movement is downgraded and human experience can be experienced entirely though a screen. In this year-long experiment of inactivity and inertia (cheerily marketed as ‘lockdown’), will we pay the price for neglecting a fundamental part of our nature?

Will Labelling Foods With The Amount Of Physical Activity Needed To Burn Off Calories Work?

The Royal Society for Public Health has called for the introduction of ‘activity equivalent’ calorie labelling and have suggested packaging containing information on how much physical activity it takes to burn off the calories. Many of the public health interventions are focused on the individual taking full responsibility for their health, however it must be noted that the environment around us has a huge impact on the decisions we make.

Healthwashing

Healthwashing harnesses dubious claims such as ‘natural’ or ‘clean’ and turns them into extremely powerful marketing terms, selling you a lifestyle or a vision of who you could be if you bought their products. The words chosen are deliberately misleading and even meaningless, used because they are unregulated - it’s worth remembering that the front of a product’s packaging is pure marketing only.

Are You As Fit As You Could Be For Your Age? Find Out By Taking 4 Fitness Tests

Never have we had so much data and information about our health. Our wearable devices tell us all kinds of information about ourselves we could only dream of knowing in the pre-smartphone stone age. We measure our heart rate and track our steps - but does any of this information translate to changing our behaviour?

Why Are More People Are Falling Over Earlier In Life?

Falls aren’t something that ‘just happen’ because you’re getting older and they’re not ‘inevitable’; they are preventable. With the fall rate in the 40-plus age group up by as much as 20% on the previous generation, researchers speculate it could be due to our increasingly sedentary lifestyles making us less steady on our feet and poor nutrition throughout our life.

Mens sana in corpore sano | A Healthy Mind In A Healthy Body

Can we stay as sharp as a pin mentally if we never go outside, move around and keep our body in good shape? Likewise, if we focus entirely on what we look like, to the detriment of cultivating our mind, are we in balance? Movement is a key factor to maintain both the mind and body in a healthy state.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know | The 4 States of Competence

There are various stages of learning we go through in order to acquire new skills - we all start at the very beginning and over time, develop the skills and techniques needed. This model is a guide through the learning process, highlighting why obstacles exist and what the best ways to overcome challenges are each stage of the way.

Normal and Pathological Gait | What’s The Difference?

Walking involves smooth advancement of the body through space with the least mechanical and physiological energy expenditure. If any part of the system is compromised then the body will rely on increasing energy costs to manage this.

Why It’s Hard To Go Against The Grain

I am delusional and gripped by mass hysteria.
This is a sentence no-one is likely to think about themselves; madness resides in others and not ourselves. As humans we have a terrifying capacity to justify ourselves and dig in deeper when our beliefs are questioned.
What are the factors behind this that compel us to follow others and are there consequences to our health if we stand out from the crowd?

Is it time to classify ageing as a disease?

We have grown to expect medicalised solutions to ageing be they through pills, surgery or new scientific breakthroughs which promise to confer health, longevity or even eliminate death altogether. Aubrey de Grey, cofounder of the SENS Research Foundation, proclaims the first human being to live to the age of 1,000 has already been born. If ageing is seen as a disease, it reframes it into a treatable condition, facilitating therapeutic interventions and preventative strategies.

Physical Activity & Exercise: Same Same, But Different

We’ve come to use ‘exercise’ and ‘physical activity’ interchangeably but they aren't the same thing and, if you read the small print whenever the Government or the NHS is imploring you to get fit, rarely do they mention exercise alone; they often say you need more physical activity. This distinction is really important to grasp; the guidelines aren’t prescribing exercise; they’re saying you need to move your body more.