On Friday 26 June 2026, I had the pleasure of speaking at the annual meeting of the Polish In-House Lawyers Association (PILA), on a panel discussing stress and mental health amongst lawyers, in the excellent company of Maria Brzozowska, Joanna Przetakiewicz and Iga Radziwiłł, moderated by Iga Iwulska.
During my presentation, I managed to say more about some of the traumatic and stressful experiences I’ve had throughout my professional career, whilst only briefly mentioning some methods for coping with stress, frustration and trauma. That is why I would now like to expand on this last point – namely, how to cope with stress.
Where does stress come from? The problem of stress and frustration in the legal profession stems from the very nature of the profession itself. It may seem obvious, but it is worth remembering that this is a profession based on conflict, on constantly questioning and, above all, on being questioned. From this perspective, it is worth taking a slightly more favourable view of the lawyer’s ego. It is often said that one must fight one’s ego, curbing the urge to shine, to please others, to dominate, and so on. But how are we supposed to cope and be effective at persuading others if we lack a foundation within ourselves? The ego is a lawyer’s natural stronghold. One must be careful not to become an egomaniac, but it is not without reason that such people achieve the greatest success. Incidentally, however, let us draw attention to a certain, rarely recognised, nobility of our profession. We must always defend our positions and be prepared for criticism of them. We must be creative; we must engage in debate. Let us compare this, for example, with the medical profession. In medicine, dissent (holding a distinct opinion of one’s own) is branded with a hot iron. How is such a profession supposed to develop if dissent is the very foundation of progress? Molière described doctors best in *The Imaginary Invalid* as far back as the 17th century, but that is a digression.
Stress and frustration also stem from the challenges of modern civilisation – particularly from communication overload linked to the digitalisation and ‘smartphonisation’ of communication (interestingly, the outbreak of gender dysphoria correlates temporally with the launch of the iPhone. Source: *Irreversible Damage* by Abigail Shrier). The immediacy and multi-channel nature of communication also contribute significantly to time conflicts and the need to reconcile irreconcilable demands in our profession, generally at the expense of our personal lives and mental health. This, in turn, further exacerbates so-called “decision fatigue”, which may also have personal roots: behavioural (the “not good enough” parenting syndrome) or genetic, linked to the dopamine pathway (the DRD2, MAO and COMT genes) which influences one’s baseline level of life satisfaction. The causes may also be biological and life-related (depression caused by childlessness), environmental (decision fatigue), or ideological (the question of life after death). A decline in well-being is also sometimes linked to the misuse of stimulants, which, whilst providing temporary relief, have a negative long-term effect, as well as generally to the vicious circle of the so-called ‘hedonistic treadmill’.
Therefore, methods for managing stress and well-being must address various areas, influencing some directly whilst addressing others only indirectly. These methods also depend on our gender. Women and men use different methods of coping with stress. During the panel discussion, I cited research showing that men live for a shorter time than women after the death of a long-term partner.
Returning to coping with stress, the approach to this can be divided into attitudes, methods and techniques.
Attitudes. From the perspective of attitude, a person should have a mission in life – a purpose that gives life meaning and extends beyond mere individual existence.
Faith. An excellent and logical approach to one’s outlook on life is faith in God, understood not so much as a ritualised religion, but as a belief in the existence of a supreme being of which we are surely a part, and which, I believe, gives life meaning. Faith can be approached intuitively, but it can also be approached logically, drawing both on the fundamental philosophical conundrum of how something can arise from nothing (a question that has been taboo for the last hundred years, but which is now resurfacing), as well as on current findings in quantum physics (which are difficult to reconcile with determinism, experimentally rule out the theory of the locality of phenomena, and link quantum indeterminism to the observer’s free will – it is worth following Martin Ciupa on LinkedIn; he writes some interesting things), theories of panpsychism, etc. In any case, these are issues that provide grounds for questioning traditional materialism, which leads to depression, nihilistic attitudes, and, on a societal level, to totalitarianism. The reader will notice that I am quite freely attributing free will to God here. I understand free will, incidentally, as an individual’s capacity for self-reprogramming. Or, as my mother once told me, one cannot justify one’s entire life with the statement ‘God, you made me this way, so that’s how I am’ – that is, with the ‘orphan’ mentality, which I’ll discuss in a moment.
Incidentally, belief in God should not be hindered by a critical attitude towards religious institutions, such as the Catholic Church or, in fact, all political ritual systems. Or perhaps rather, a critical attitude towards the attitudes of the staff of these organisations.
A special mission. Regardless of one’s faith in God, having a mission in life is useful. It may involve caring for animals, looking after the dying in a hospice, or providing direct aid to the poor (not to be confused with donations to charitable organisations), but it could also be some form of educational or creative activity. Admittedly, not everyone has the spirit of Mother Teresa of Calcutta within them (let’s set aside for a moment the controversies surrounding her, or regarding Gandhi). You can also devote time to self-improvement. Admittedly, this isn’t an activity for the benefit of others, but why shouldn’t we work for our own good? We can. All the self-proclaimed Buddhists will probably applaud us here, but the fact that they applaud us is no reason to give up on self-improvement.
Children. Children are the fundamental, indeed biological, mission of humankind. Childlessness after the age of forty is a common cause of depression. Therefore, if you wish to give your life meaning, it is worth thinking about having children. Of course, not everyone moves beyond Kierkegaard’s ‘aesthetic’ phase of life, carrying on having fun to the bitter end. However, having children provides the foundation for fulfilment in life. People with children are more tired than those without, but statistically report greater fulfilment. Besides, intelligent people should reproduce to slow down the slide into idiocracy. A caveat here: lawyers of both sexes consistently rank among the worst professions for a spouse.
Embrace discomfort. An important attitude that helps in life is not to cast oneself in the role of a poor orphan, but instead to expand one’s comfort zone through controlled discomfort. The mechanism of comfort through discomfort is linked to the mechanism of escaping the hedonistic treadmill. Paradoxically, the principle of ‘less is more’ applies here. If we focus on increasing our immediate comfort and pleasure, our comfort zone gradually narrows. The more we strive for comfort and pleasure, the more things cause us discomfort and unpleasantness. Please note: accepting discomfort does not mean we should not strive to minimise life’s difficulties. Discomfort by choice is better than discomfort by compulsion. “Embrace discomfort” slogan I borrowed from Joe Rogan’s T-shirt.
Appreciating our current comfort. However silly it may sound, we treat the wonderful things around us, available every day, as if they were air. For example… air. Please sit down on a bench, or at a table, or on your bed. And take a deep breath. You’ll find it’s a marvellous sensation. The true perfection of existence lies in being able to enjoy the simple fact that you’re breathing. To that, you can then add a roof over your head, food, and a cup of coffee. The fact is, to be able to enjoy such seemingly small things, you have to learn to notice the moment. And meditation helps with this. It can also help – though it may seem trivial – to remind yourself of all those people who have fewer comforts than we do. We usually forget about the part of the pyramid that lies beneath us. We only look upwards.
Techniques and methods. And here we move seamlessly on to methods for coping with stress and frustration, and all that so-called hopelessness.
Reducing decision fatigue. The method is to reduce decision fatigue. This is done by planning the next day, through routines, and by eliminating unnecessary decisions. A textbook example here is Albert Einstein, who in later life always dressed the same way; to this end, he owned several grey suits. Steve Jobs also almost always dressed the same way, particularly during new product launches – specifically in a nerdy Issey Miyake turtleneck, nerdy 501s and New Balance trainers, also nerdy (though if you can afford anything, you don’t really need to make use of it. That’s probably why Elon Musk is rumoured to live in some sort of shipping container). Mind you, on the other hand, stepping outside established decision-making patterns can support neuroplasticity 😊 But one doesn’t get in the way of the other; they’re separate paths that don’t cross.
Be happy now. They say that to feel successful, you have to be happy now – that is, whilst you’re on the way to achieving success. Otherwise, every success will just be a box to tick before the next stage of the struggle and the next milestone. However trite it may sound, there’s a deep truth in it. Above all, it’s worth appreciating everyday life and the daily struggle to reach those milestones.
A few days ago, I suggested a progress meeting with a client. I find it difficult to maintain relationships, but even I have my moments. The client was delighted and was keen to meet up. It turned out we had no specific matter to discuss, as his cases were ongoing and, at this stage, were being handled by the German lawyers we’d found for him. However, he needed to get things off his chest. I advised him to enjoy the present situation. Admittedly, he’d been dealt a blow by life (which, incidentally, he’d subconsciously asked for himself), but that blow had given him the space for change, direction and momentum that he probably wouldn’t have forced himself to find under other circumstances. And that everything suggests that, thanks to this, he’ll soon enter a completely new orbit of achievements and possibilities. And that he should enjoy this very moment, without waiting at all for things to finally fall into place exactly as he’d like.
On my way back from the office, I thought that this was excellent advice for me too. I do often adopt this approach, but I also frequently forget to enjoy the moment, thinking instead about my clients’ and my own upcoming problems (e.g. that I’ve got a leak and need to fix the roof, or that I bumped into a rival law firm in another client’s corridor, which suggests that someone is testing the strategy I proposed for a certain project, rather than simply relying on my bloody brilliant expert opinion).
Do your thing. I’m not advocating completely ignoring workplace intrigues or naively believing in a ‘let’s all love one another’ approach at work. It’s not for nothing that they say you shouldn’t look for friends at work. I’m simply saying that if there’s something we can’t influence, it’s better to get on with our own work than to get bogged down biting our nails and speculating. There are things beyond our control, so it’s better to do what we’re supposed to do than to get bogged down in fruitless speculation (focus on the process, not on the outcome).
Incidentally, whilst it may be true that you shouldn’t go out of your way to make friends at work, it’s better to work with people who share the same values and beliefs. This creates a stable foundation and significantly improves the atmosphere at work. That’s why I hold my current team (the ‘no-drama team’) in such high regard and am delighted to be working with them.
Actions change thoughts. Another approach is to carry out actions that will lead us to change the way we think and feel, rather than trying directly to start feeling and thinking differently. Once, when I took my frustration out on my mum over some circumstances or someone’s actions – I can’t remember whether it was work-related or family-related – she said to me, ‘Maciuś [a diminutive from Maciej], you can’t feel that way’. It just made me furious, because people feel what they feel, and it would be nothing but harmful hypocrisy to convince oneself that one feels differently ‘because one shouldn’t feel that way’.
Good relationships. Interpersonal relationships have a significant impact on depression, stress and longevity. With a circle of good, supportive friends, we can relieve our stress. Apparently, there’s research to back this up. However, this process doesn’t work the same way for everyone. Women find it easier to relieve stress through interpersonal relationships. Life tends to push men towards loneliness. But it’s important to remember that building good relationships can – and perhaps should – begin with letting go of toxic ones. And, most importantly, you need to become your own best friend.
Moving on to the techniques…
Meditation. Fasting and meditation have really helped me to improve my quality of life. I started with meditation to become less of a burden to myself and others. Getting started with meditation is difficult. It supposedly requires stillness and not thinking. But still, you can’t expect to master stillness overnight, and the whole ‘not thinking’ bit is a bit of a misunderstanding. You can, after all, start with just 5 minutes of meditation, and it’s perfectly fine to fidget a bit. It’s worth starting meditation with an app. After trying out a few, including Headspace, I chose the Fitmind, in which a gentleman, in a calm voice – not as if speaking to a child, but to an adult – tells you what to do, what to contemplate, what you might think about, and how to deal with an itchy nose during meditation. Yes, meditation teaches you to ignore an itchy nose. Meditation also helps you gradually improve your self-control and reduce reactivity. The advantage of Fitmind is that the first five lessons are free. I’m sure this is still the case, although I no longer use the app. It also helped me learn yoga nidra, or the so-called ‘body scan’, which helps you relax and fall asleep (Huberman calls it NSDR – non-sleep deep rest, I believe). I’m not sure, however, whether yoga nidra has been removed from Fitmind, as it’s disappeared from my favourites. Perhaps it’s still available in the paid version. Fortunately, I’d recorded the 20-minute version in advance on my other phone.
It’s best to meditate in the morning, in the evening, and whenever you feel overwhelmed and stuck not knowing what to do first. I usually meditate for 12–15 minutes before going to sleep.
Don’t let yourself be defined by that. Meditation increases the gap between stimulus and response, but you can’t always say of yourself, to quote a well-known saying, that “I am an oasis of calm, a bloody, fucking, absolutely serene lotus flower on the incredibly calm surface of a fucking lake...” In moments of mild irritation – for example, when the printer driver installer freezes and you need to scan a single page – once you’ve let out your first burst of expletives, tell yourself, ‘I won’t let this define me’. This is my new emotional crutch; it’s already helped me a few times during tense moments with loved ones. It didn’t help with the printer that time, but that just means there’s room for improvement. On the other hand, I didn’t throw my current printer out of the window. I didn’t actually throw my previous one – an HP – out either, but I did smash it against the windowsill. My current Brother is too heavy for that; besides, it basically works – it’s just that the scanner update got stuck).
Fasting. Intermittent fasting, which Facebook adverts had been encouraging me to try, really helped me. In 2021, I took part in Dave Asprey’s free 14-Day Fasting Challenge (https://daveasprey.thinkific.com/courses/fasting-challenge). It starts with the advice to go to bed earlier (e.g. at 8 pm), so that by morning you’ll have a 12-hour fast. Then it builds up: after a week, a 24-hour fast, and after two weeks, a 48-hour fast. I signed up, received 14 emails in my inbox, and one Sunday I started doing it. And that’s how it’s been for the past five years: I usually don’t eat between 12:00 and 20:00. I try to shift this so-called ‘eating window’ earlier (i.e. stop eating earlier than 20:00, and possibly also start earlier than 12:00). I’ve done 48-hour and 72-hour fasts a few times, and last year I did a 96-hour fast. When you fast intermittently, a meal becomes a real treat, rather than just something you go through the motions of eating to stop your stomach rumbling. In this way, the discomfort turns into an added pleasure, because at the end there’s a reward in the form of a well-deserved meal.
The benefits of fasting. Fasting has health benefits thanks to the phenomenon of autophagy and deep autophagy during fasts lasting over 48 hours (apparently it eats away at cancer cells. And I don’t know if you’re aware that cancer cells form in all of us every day). Fasting trains and heals both body and mind. After all, those various longevity supplements – such as metformin, promoted by David Sinclair, and berberine, which even he himself has switched to – seem to mimic the effects of fasting. An additional benefit of a longer fast is it reveals your abs, which is why it’s worth doing one before the beach season.
Do everything twice as slowly. I’m not suggesting you slow down your work for clients just to double your hours. I’m suggesting you slow down basic activities such as walking, breathing, pottering about the kitchen or around the house. Even taking your time to answer various questions. Slowing down creates space for mindfulness, for noticing the moment, for experiencing existence in a more conscious rather than automatic way.
Slowing down also offers tactical advantages at work. People who give the impression of speaking thoughtfully have greater charisma, even if in reality they’re simply slow-witted. It’s infuriating when, after the first word, you know exactly what’s coming next. All the more so when you feel like that tourist in the joke about the shepherd sawing off the branch he’s sitting on. So, the shepherd is sitting on a tree branch which he’s sawing through. A tourist approaches and says, ‘Shepherd, don’t saw the branch you’re sitting on, or you’ll fall.’ The shepherd replies, ‘Get lost, lad.’ A moment later, the shepherd falls from the tree along with the branch, dusts himself off and thinks, ‘Was he some sort of prophet or what?’ Unfortunately, this only confirms the principle that it’s better to give the impression of acting thoughtfully in order to exert influence and maintain a reputation as a deep thinker.
Let movement be thy medicine and medicine thy movement. Fasting is cool, but at the moment I’m actually trying to eat more to build muscle mass, as I’m naturally skinny (contrary to my genetic profile, btw). And that’s another technique for managing stress and mental health. Physical exercise boosts endorphins. Working out at the gym, running too – though I’m not a fan of that – and so on. I reckon everything’s already been written about this. That’s why it’s worth exercising. If you don’t have the time or inclination to go to the gym, you can start with a morning warm-up and an afternoon session. You could buy something like an X3Bar (https://www.jaquishbiomedical.com/products/x3-bar) and keep it under your desk. Four basic exercises a day take about 20 minutes.
I also go for walks with the dogs in the woods. Walking is apparently the simplest and healthiest way to maintain physical and mental wellbeing. I’m in the fortunate position of having the woods just a 5-minute drive away; in fact, I could practically walk there. In the summer, I walk barefoot. And almost always in a weighted vest (apparently this builds bone density).
Ordinary walking can be turned into isometric, corrective or mindful walking if we focus on working either our calf muscles, stretching our legs as we take a stride, engaging our glutes, or improving the straightening of the leg at the knee. It does look a bit strange when I walk like this from the car park to the office, so I practise assertiveness straight away. The rule ‘do everything twice as slowly’ helps with this kind of walking.
Dogs. A dog is a therapeutic creature by its very nature. Dog owners live longer. They just have to be dewormed more often. But anti-parasitic drugs such as ivermectin, fenbendazole and mebendazole also have anti-cancer properties. I’ve taken each of them a few times as a trial, and I’m neither barking nor have I started neighing like a horse.
The advantage of having a dog – or dogs – is that the day naturally falls into a routine with them. If you don’t have a decent garden, you have to go for a walk at least twice a day. You have to give them a bowl of food once a day. The downside of dogs is that if you want to go away, you have to sort something out for them.
I recommend large dogs with light-coloured, short coats. They shed less, it’s easier to spot a tick on them, you don’t have to bend down to stroke them, and there’s a big furry bundle to cuddle up to. The downside of large dogs is that it’s harder to find someone for occasional dog-sitting who isn’t afraid of them.
No alco. Giving up alcohol significantly improves your well-being, both in terms of your baseline level of wellbeing and hormones like serotonin and dopamine, or something like that. But also in terms of reducing overall inflammation and gene expression. It’s hard to stop drinking – after all, what for, as my mate put it. But there’s a method for that too. I picked up on this method from a slightly mad biohacker – Brian Johnson. The bloke is controversial and has just been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease (he eats only plant-based meals, avoids the sun and has been taking experimental vaccines), but the ‘Evening Brian’ technique itself works brilliantly, although it does have side effects. Brian Johnson said in an interview that ‘Morning Brian’ has all sorts of brilliant ideas and loads of energy. But then ‘Evening Brian’ comes along and nibbles and drinks. So he got rid of ‘Evening Brian’ by going to bed early. And here, unfortunately, are the side effects. As Ernest Hemingway put it, a true creator must either drink or take drugs. I used to write most in the evening and at night, chaining myself to my desk with a bottle of white wine. These days, after 8 pm, I wind down: I don’t work, I stretch, I take a bath with Epsom salt or go to a sauna, I meditate, and I go to bed. It’s a brilliant solution, provided you don’t have a cassation appeal to write by today, a contract to finalise or a presentation to prepare for next morning (presentations are always for the next morning). Unfortunately, giving Evening Brian a break also limits the scope for socialising, maintaining relationships and doing business. But, as I said, you can’t have everything.
Addictions. Let’s remember, by the way, that alcohol, drugs and other stimulants – even scrolling through social media – are what are known as ‘coping mechanisms’, i.e. short-term ways of dealing with other problems. That’s why, in my view, it’s not worth tackling addictions head-on. It’s better to work around them by addressing the underlying issues they mask, or to use them in a sort of ‘aikido’ to achieve other goals. For example, an addiction to scrolling through social media can be used to deepen one’s knowledge of topics that interest us: spirituality, biohacking, scientific achievements, and so on. Here, TikTok has a significant advantage over other platforms. Instagram has also improved its algorithm. But even Facebook can teach you something about yourself by consciously providing feedback on adverts. This roundabout approach ultimately makes it easier to cope with a specific addiction.
Sauna. Sauna is also excellent for stress and has an antidepressant effect. After 25 minutes in the sauna, you generally stop worrying about your problems. Sauna also has a detoxifying effect and acts as a hormetic stressor.
Supplements. There are also supplements for stress, improving sleep and a whole host of other things. Dave Asprey takes around 120, Brian Johnson a similar amount, and Ray Kurzweil 160. I take quite a few myself, though I’m not entirely sure if they work. But my bloodwork results are excellent. Supplements are a rabbit hole that initially causes complete confusion. The confusion lingers for a while, but you do get used to it. I’ll just mention here that saffron is apparently an antidepressant. I haven’t tested this myself, because although I did buy some, I keep forgetting to use it. As far as I can recall, I add it to my bulletproof coffee. With supplements, as with other things (herbs, devices), the principle of redundancy works well. I buy almost everything that social media throws my way. However, I don’t necessarily use it. It just sits there until I remember it again, or social media reminds me. A negative aspect of supplements is the presence of fillers and contaminants.
Devices. You can use PEMF gadgets (Omnipemf), electrical devices (Pulsetto), infrasound devices, and red and infrared light emitters. I’ve got some; I used them for a while to combat insomnia during a period of transition. Now I either forget about them or can’t be bothered. But they did have an effect – either a real one, or at least a motivational placebo effect. They’re within sight (the principle of minimising blockers) and maybe I’ll start using them again one day.
Tanzen, tanzen. Good techno parties are also a great way to de-stress. However, the balance of pros and cons may ultimately turn out to be negative, as it’s mainly a night-time activity and the crowd isn’t necessarily as health-conscious as I am. And once you’ve got children, you won’t get a lie-in in the morning. For these and other reasons, the last time I went to a party was at Mayday Polska in 2019. I had a blast back then. It’s worth mentioning that for a few years in the early 2000s I was a co-organiser of that event, and for a while its spokesman.
A good night’s sleep is essential. Sleep is foundational to our well-being. That’s why it’s worth completely darkening your bedroom and sleeping in a cooled room. It’s a good idea to wind down and, instead of scrolling through social media in the evening, read a book, do some stretching, go to a sauna or have an Epsom salt bath. Don’t eat for three hours before bedtime. Don’t drink coffee after 4 pm, or even earlier. Don’t drink alcohol in the evening, as it impairs the quality of your sleep. Go to bed as early as possible, as deep sleep occurs in the first half of the night. ChatGPT claims that this doesn’t mean you have to go to bed early, but that you should go to bed at a regular time. My Oura Ring suggested otherwise.
Sometimes I sleep wearing Bose Quiet Comfort noise-cancelling headphones. I either leave them switched off or plug in the headphone cable so that Bluetooth doesn’t work. I often do it in the morning. When birds wake me with their singing, it’s lovely, but when they do it at 4.30 am, it’s not so lovely. That’s when I put on my headphones, sliding them down over my left ear because I sleep on my left side (Matt Walker says that sleeping on your back is the worst position), and I’ve also put on a silk eye mask beforehand… and I wake up at 7.00 am – which is 45 minutes to an hour later than ideal, but I’ve had a good night’s sleep.
I usually take my mobile phone out of the bedroom. I always put it in aeroplane mode and switch off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi completely. The Wi-Fi router at home has a timer set to switch off between 11 pm and 6 am.
And to make sure I breathe through my nose, I tape my mouth shut with 3M Micropore tape overnight.
A good night’s sleep starts in the morning. However, a good evening and a good night’s sleep start in the morning. Giving up breakfast has opened up a huge morning window for me to relax and be active. Thanks to this, I’ve started learning Spanish on Duolingo in the mornings. In two years I’d mastered Spanish to a working standard; in four, I was quite good at it. Now I’m learning Chinese. Having more time in the morning has also allowed me to do a morning warm-up, pop out for a walk with the dogs, and soak up the morning sunlight.
This means that in the evening, I can’t wait for the morning to come.
How to start the day? For several years now, I’ve been starting my day in the same way. I roll onto my stomach, push the duvet aside and do a two-minute plank in bed. I started with 30 seconds. The plank gets my circulation going, and then I can get up. I take a pinch of rock salt and wash it down with sparkling water from a glass bottle. Next, I do a few push-ups (between 10 and 50, depending on my morning energy levels and the time of year), some squats, perhaps some dynamic stretching, and I jump on the trampoline for a bit to get my lymph flowing. I go to the kitchen and drink a shot of organic olive oil, organic lemon juice and organic cayenne pepper. The trick is not to stir it; it settles into layers by itself. This shot gives me such a boost that I could do without coffee. But after another 20–30 minutes, I have a coffee (organic, of course, from a manual espresso machine where only the cold-water reservoir is plastic), because it’s a bit of a ritual, and I drink it with MCT oil, organic butter and NMN (whisked together with an electric coffee frother). Before that, I drink another glass of water with a mix of other powders such as NAC, glycine, glutamine, L-carnitine, resveratrol, taurine and whatever else I can get my hands on.
Ideally, I’d go for a walk with the dogs in the morning, but I manage to do that less often than I would like to.
A cold shower. A cold shower is also a good way to get endorphins and extend your comfort zone. However, I subscribe to the school of thought that cold immediately after waking up can cause a heart attack. So I have a cold shower once I’ve really got going, about two hours after getting up, for example after a walk with the dogs. Note, though, that cold baths and cold showers after exercise slow down muscle recovery. That’s why you exercise after cryotherapy, not before. As for how to get used to taking a cold shower – I’ve got my own technique for that too: first, I rub myself with water starting from face, then legs, hands, torso, back, and only then step under the full jet. That’s exactly what Wim Hof does. But I started by switching back and forth between a hot and a cold shower.
Breathwork. Daily breathing exercises also help to relieve stress. It’s just that it’s not actually that easy to do. For a while, I practised Wim Hof’s breathing technique. Sometimes box breathing. But I didn’t make it a permanent habit. But I sometimes practise this breathing whilst waiting for someone to finish speaking.
Diet. A proper diet is also key to improving one’s mental and physical wellbeing. It’s healthier to cook for yourself using organic ingredients, whilst controlling the whole process, than to eat in a restaurant (what oils do they fry with, where do they source their food from), let alone buy ready-made junk food. Cooking like this is a logistical and educational challenge, but I know from my own experience that it can be done, having learnt to do it after turning 50. Cooking – and especially learning to cook later in life – has documented anti-dementia benefits. It supports neuroplasticity. Just like brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand.
Summary. There are probably many more such approaches, methods and techniques for improving well-being and relieving stress. However, it’s worth starting with the simplest ones, and it’s worth starting with any of them at all. On this journey, it’s not the destination that counts, but every step along the way. Once we’ve taken the first step, we can then take the next one. And before long, we may find that this path not only directly improves our wellbeing, but also becomes a way of life that is satisfying in its own right.
Self-forgiveness. Perhaps the most important thing of all, we should be kind to ourselves. Chase Hughes even says, ‘Be delusionally self-forgiving’. Let Today’s Maciej not repeat the mistakes of Ilion Tichy from ‘The Fourteenth Journey’, as described by Stanisław Lem in *The Star Diaries*. Let Today’s Maciej treat Yesterday’s Maciej with understanding rather than reproach. Indeed, Today’s Maciej should look after Tomorrow’s Maciej. But Tomorrow’s Today Maciej should not hold a grudge against Today’s Yesterday Maciej for what went wrong. He should give him a hug and a pat on the back. After all, Tomorrow’s Today Maciej is the Day After Tomorrow’s Yesterday Maciej. You understand what I’m talking about, don’t you?