Street Food, Inspiring others, Traditions with friends, and Weighted vests
6/4/25 HALT on Hump Day
Nobody makes good decisions when they feel Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. HALT on Hump day looks at ways I manage those things in my life. Hopefully you’ll find something that will help your life.
HUNGRY
Sixteen years ago we took a trip to Istanbul for a wedding and it changed the way we travel abroad. During the trip, we signed up for a street food tour of the city.
Our guide met us in the morning, showed us around the market where we had some olives, nuts, cheese, and bread. Then we proceeded to walk around the city eating all kinds of delicious local fair on the streets.
We learned about the city’s history, saw the sights, walked through neighborhoods we certainly didn’t have on our list when we arrived, and experienced some local daily life. He took us to get a sandwich I still think about. I think everyone in our group made it back to that sandwich shop before we flew home.
Since then, we’ve taken a food tour in every foreign city we’ve visited. The tacos in Puerto Vallarta have been a favorite. When we take the young kids with us, we make sure to ask for an extra stop for a popsicle or other treats, and they always know where to go.
If you have travel abroad on the calendar this summer, look into a food tour.
ANGRY
Sometimes we confuse being stuck with lacking the right purpose. Often the biggest endeavors people make come from a drive to serve something bigger than themselves.
It’s a key component in addiction recovery. Companies get more loyal employees when they get people to believe in the mission, and teams (sports or otherwise) perform at higher levels when they work together instead of working for individual success.
We can use this principle to back-door our way to motivation, and here’s a prompt to help spark some ideas:
What’s an aspiration you have that could benefit or inspire others?
When you strive to benefit others you often find you will work harder and achieve more yourself as a side-effect.
LONELY
After we become working age, we spend much less time with our friends than we used to. In fact, we spend less time with them than just about every other relationship we have in our lives.
Often friends drift apart because the duties of kids, family, work, and even distance. Traditions can help keep them together. Weekly exercise classes, monthly poker games, a yearly camping trip, or the like.
But you don’t need one right now to have one next week. Start one now, and use some time in your journal to brainstorm something you’d like to start. Then go pitch it to your people.
What’s a friendship habit or tradition you’d love to start?
TIRED
I’ve noticed a new trend, I tried it, and I’m in. After two shoulder surgeries, I didn’t have a ton of options to exercise. No weights. I couldn’t run (which I actually liked because running sucks). Definitely no swimming. But I could walk, so I spent about twenty or thirty minutes per day walking.
It helped me lose over 50 pounds.
The other day I walked into a friend’s house and noticed a reflective strappy thing. I asked about it, and she told me she’s been wearing a weighted vest on her walks.
Suddenly, I had a flashback to a conversation with a different friend last year. He likes to go “rucking” in the morning. He had built himself a weighted backpack and walks a couple miles in the early hours.
My wife got one a couple weeks ago, and I started wearing it while taking the dog for a walk. Ours doesn’t seem like much. It’s a 20 pound vest and doesn’t feel bulky or anything, but I do notice my heart beats faster than on my typical walk. Then, I noticed my hips felt a bit tighter later in the afternoon.
Then, we took a quick weekend trip to Santa Barbara over the weekend and I must’ve seen ten in two days.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to increase the intensity of your walk, it’s a nice solution.
Thank you for reading. If you liked something in here, send it to a friend. There’s a good chance they will smile, I’ll definitely smile, and I bet you will, too. Trifecta!