SOCIAL DISTANCING IS WRONG!!!

Now that I have your attention, read all of this, then show me I'm wrong.  I'm listening.

We are social animals.  We need and crave social interaction.  Telling us to avoid social interaction isn't working and isn't going to work.  We should be practicing PHYSICAL distancing, not SOCIAL distancing.  Thank you Larry Sharpe for the phrase and the idea to write about this.

I was going to write a bunch about depression and social distancing, but there's no need for me to reinvent the wheel.  Here is one of the better and simple prescriptions.

Throughout the Wuhan Virus crisis (I made a rhyme; give me a dime!), I have been saying that the marketing is wrong.  The message needs to be to maintain at least a 6' distance from anyone not part of your quarantine group.  It's as simple as that.  If someone isn't part of your group (most likely just the people you live with, but maybe people you work with too, don't get closer than 6'.  That doesn't mean you have to stop working (for most people) or that you can't go anywhere.  Just don't get within range of possibly spreading the virus if one of you coughs or sneezes.  That's it!  If you aren't any closer than that and practice good hygiene, you'll be fine.  And you won't spread it to anyone else.

Here are some ways I am practicing physical distancing without being socially distant.  I had a good conversation with my neighbor yesterday, with him standing on his deck and me standing in my back yard 40 or 50 feet away.  Great social interaction without any risk because we were physically distant.  He gave me another example of physical distancing without social distancing.  He had a phone conversation with his elderly mom, got her grocery list, delivered it to her garage, and she picked it up later without her getting within 6' of him.  I even made a new friend and business connection yesterday.  The bike path I ride has a small section under construction where we have to walk our bikes for a bit.  Another guy and I were headed opposite directions, joked about staying 6' apart, complimented each other's vintage steel bikes, etc.  We talked for several minutes, from a safe distance, and I found out that his company does work that I will need done soon for my company.  He is probably going to be the one I hire, and there's a good chance he will purchase from me in the future.  Business shouldn't be stopping.

On the negative side, people are doing all kinds of things to spread the virus because of misinformation and bad "marketing".  Much of it is because of the emphasis being on the number of people gathered rather than other factors like physical distance, where people have been, etc.  For awhile we were being told that gatherings should be under 250 people.  Then 50.  Now maybe it's 10?  I don't even know.  But it's not the number that's important.  It's physical distance.  Examples I am seeing are things like a friend whose coworker was at a wedding yesterday with 20 people.  Probably from a variety of locations.  I would bet they didn't  maintain a 6' distance.  So now those 20 people are going back to their workplaces, homes, etc. with the potential of spreading it.  But my friend should be safe anyway, if she can maintain a 6' distance and practice good hygeine.  I am seeing stuff all over social media where people are gathering in small groups of less than 10 people, but not maintaining distance.  I have to admit that I was guilty of this myself last week.  But I won't be repeating that behavior.

Another thing that needs to stop for the spread to stop is the attitude that it's ok if it's "essential".  Like going out and getting food or medicine.  Just because the grocery store is open doesn't mean it's safe.  Even if they sanitize all their carts, it's still going to be difficult to stay 6' from everyone, and there's no way to tell who could be a carrier.  And no way to know if that item you picked up wasn't just coughed or sneezed on.

No one has yet convinced me that the virus itself is the big threat that we are being told.  I still think the biggest threat is the reaction to it.  People are a much bigger threat than any disease.  However, I am acting with an insurance agent mindset, where I don't expect to have high medical bills or for my house to burn down or to die at a young age, but I am protected if any of those things do happen.  I am acting as if it is a big deal, but expecting it to not be.  If I am right, I will come out of it in a better position than when it started because I am taking advantage of the situation.  If I am wrong, I will still be ok because I am protecting myself and others with PHYSICAL distancing and good hygeine.

Chaos creates opportunity for those who are looking for it and take action.  What do I mean by "taking advantage of the situation"?  No, it's not buying up all the hand sanitizer and trying to sell it at a huge profit by jacking up the prices like the guy in Tennessee.  It's differentiating oneself from the competition and meeting demands.  Like Lucky Devil Lounge in Portland, Oregon which now has their dancers delivering food and providing entertainment from a safe distance after the club was shut down.  It's smart investing.  A few weeks ago I saw an open Facebook discussion among people who were saying the stock market was going to drop, were moving their money into cash and looking for places to invest.  They were going heavy into companies providing technology for people to work from home, movie streaming, medical protection equipment, home delivery, etc.  They were actively looking for opportunity in the chaos, and took advantage.  Plenty of people are complaining about the US Senators who bailed on the markets, but those people complaining had the same opportunity, had they been paying attention.

Professionally, here are some opportunities I am taking advantage of.  I have been talking for years about increasing my ability to work from anywhere by updating my website, incorporating a platform for selling life insurance online without having to meet with people face to face, creating a bunch of videos, and doing much more online marketing.  And launching at least one other company.  Now is a great opportunity to do that, and I am taking advantage of it.  I also need to organize my office better (haven't taken advantage of that opportunity yet, but I will).

Personally, I am cleaning and organizing my home to be able to get more exercise here instead of at the gym.  I am dramatically expanding my garden.  Doing more reading and writing more songs.  I might even work on learning to play a new musical instrument.

This has been more of a brain dump for me than anything, but Social distancing is still wrong.  And it would also be wrong of me to have a blog post without sharing some music, so here's one from Corb Lund I've been listening to a lot in my bunker.

Self-ful, Health-ful AEP

On paper, 2014 was my least successful Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP).  The AEP, which now runs from October 15 through December 7, is akin to tax time for accountants or harvest time for farmers.  It is during this time that people on Medicare can change their prescription coverage and/or enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan.

Overall, the chaos has been great for my business.  When I went on my own in 2006, very few people knew how the new prescription drug coverage worked, only that they needed to sign up for something.  Once people found out that I understood it and could explain so that most people could understand it, they told their friends and family about me.  It wasn't unusual for me to show up at an appointment I had scheduled at the home of a couple and have a half dozen other people there too.  I very quickly went from having a handful of customers to having hundreds.  Without that chaos, I probably would have failed quickly.

Instead, my business took off. I helped a lot of people, and I've won a couple of trips and trophies for my number of sales.

But it hasn't been all sunshine and tuna and pelicans.  I've had some rough times and close calls.  The standard has been that I would run like crazy, sucking down pots of coffee to wake up in the morning, run all day from appointment to appointment, and then pound drinks when I got home in order to be able to finally go to sleep and do it again the next day.

I've been trying to back it off for several years, but 2013 made me realize I HAD to slow down during AEP.  Literally.  Right at the end of AEP two years ago I had worked myself into such an exhaustion that my brain was pretty much shut down, even though my eyes were open.  I was driving to an appointment and couldn't figure out why the guy coming the other way was turning left directly across my path.  It wasn't until after I had clipped his back quarter panel that I realized that he turned in front of me because he had the green arrow and I had a red light that I had just run right through.  My truck was damaged, but his car was much worse.  He was mad, but luckily didn't punch me.  I probably deserved it.

I did better in 2014, but still ran myself down, got sick for the 9th straight year, and took almost no time at all for myself, my family, friends, or anything else but work.  In 2015 I got it right, I think.

This year, my new sales were about 1/10 of what they have been in past years during this time, but I did a pretty good job of focusing on taking care of my existing customers, and more importantly, taking care of myself.  I got good sleep when I needed to.  I cut back some on exercise, but kept it going, and even did a "50k" race.   I didn't take complete days off, but I took some time to bow hunt during the rut, something I haven't done for the past 10 years.  I took a class.  I spent more time with my family.  I even took advantage of some beautiful weather and camped out a couple of nights when I was on the road instead of driving home tired or staying in a questionable hotel room.

Poe Hollow, Mount Ayr, Iowa

I wrote fifteen new blog posts during AEP, which is fifteen more than the prior nine years combined, and also wrote 2 new songs.  Instead of gaining 10 or 15 pounds and feeling completely wiped out at the end of AEP, I'm .2 pounds lighter and feeling great.  That's success in my book.

P.R.I.D.E. In Health

When I worked at Clarinda Academy, we had shirts that read "PRIDE" down the left side, with the words "Personal Responsibility In Determining Excellence" across.  That was our attitude.  I thought of that when I saw these billboards today on Fleur Drive.

Were I (God forbid!) the president or a candidate for that office, I'd be more than a little irritated if someone asked me what I planned to do about it.  My response would be something like this:  "Let me get this straight.  I'm responsible for making sure planes don't get brought down by terrorists.  I need to decide whether or not to launch a nuclear attack and possibly destroy the entire earth.  I have to make sure we get along with hundreds of other countries, balance a multi-trillion dollar budget, stimulate the economy, and get political parties that hate each other to work together, but it's ALSO my job to make sure your kid has something other than Pepsi and and candy corn for breakfast, that you exercise on a regular basis and your mom quits chewing Skoal?  Really?  REALLY???"

I did look at the website http://www.fightchronicdisease.org/iowa and saw that they at least say that they are for prevention, and some of their partners are organizations I support. However,  their policy platform  "proposes the following public policy recommendations to help our nation’s leaders – including the 2016 presidential candidates – address the growing epidemic of chronic disease and highlight commonsense reforms that will help the nation address this challenge".  We don't need "public policy", we need P.R.I.D.E.!  Don't ask what presidential candidates can do for you; ask what you can do for yourself.  Exercise.  Stop stuffing your face with carbohydrates.  Stop using tobacco.

The vast majority of chronic disease, especially Type 2 diabetes, is caused by bad decisions, not bad luck.   We don't need more government studies to find out what causes them or more funding for more expensive treatments for the symptoms.  We need grow up, to take responsibility for ourselves, and to stop acting like victims.  It's simple.  Not easy, but simple.  Bring back an insurance billboard.

Onederful! (Day 15)

It only took me a little over six years to write this. On July 25, 2009 I made a vow to myself that I wouldn't drink until my weight was below 200 pounds.  That vow was inspired by this photo.

My wife Lisa took that of me struggling to drag myself and all my extra weight up Snake Alley at the end of  the one day RAGBRAI I rode that year.  I was never skinny, but for several years in the late 1980's and early 1990's I had participated in Snake Alley Criterium, a bike race that required us (my lowly Category 4) to ride up this 12 times.  I never (yet) finished that race, but it was always because of crashes, not because I was unable to climb it 12 times.  It disgusted me that I had let myself get that out of shape.  Partly because I was miserable from drinking all day, and partly because I knew that I tend to overeat whenever I drink, I figured not drinking would be the way to drop the weight.  At the time I weighed just under 250, which was down a bit from my high point (not sure of exact number, but was in the 260-270 range).  I figured it would take me three to six months to get below 200.  No big deal to stay sober that long.

"Fast" forward to October of 2011.  I had been without alcohol for more than two years.  I had dropped the first 10 pounds easily.  I had to work harder for the next 10, but had been hanging around the 210-220 range for awhile.  I often sabotaged my weight loss efforts, I think because I was really liking not drinking.  I set myself a target of being below 200 and drinking with my college friends at homecoming the 3rd weekend of October.  I got down to 212 the week before homecoming and then attacked it like it was a wrestling weigh-in for the last few days.  I finally got to 199 after a couple of days without food and spending a couple of hours in Eric Brush's sauna.  Mission accomplished!

But not really.  In the past four years I've gotten healthier and stronger.  I've made at least one hundred new friends who lead active, healthy lifestyles.  I've started bike racing again, riding faster than I did in my 20's.  I don't drink like I used to.  My diet is much healthier.  I've completed a few triathlons.  I even completed a marathon.

This guy is never coming back.

However, I wanted and needed to make it a permanent change.  Really, my weight should be somewhere around 180, but since I got below 200 for a few minutes in 2011, my weight was usually somewhere around 205-210.  Until now.

I'm not sure why, but for a long time I've done weekly weigh-ins on Tuesday mornings.  Maybe it was because it was a Tuesday when I started using this phone app that has been a huge part of my weight loss.  I used to always weigh when I first woke up in the morning or after a workout, so I was usually dehydrated, but now I weigh after a big glass of water and usually some coffee with lots of cream and whey powder, so I know it's my "real" weight.  Here's what I weighed at this week.

I'm never going to see anything but a one for the first number on the scale.  Partly because I'm holding myself accountable by declaring it publicly.  Partly because of the incredible support I have from my family and friends, especially "The Grind and Grit" group.  But mostly because of my own commitment to keep it "Onederful".