The last 8 weeks just flew by. We had a fantastic time: spending time every day either running, strength training, yoga or cycling or any combination of these. And one Zumba class by mistake. I had no clue what I was doing but it was good fun!
Also, meeting up with friends and relaxing by the water felt so good!
And the colourful Farmer’s Market in downtown Naples:
So many things to enjoy – I wish we could stay here.
I also spent some time reading some interesting books:
– “The Blue Zones – 9 lessons for living longer from people who’ve lived longest” by Dan Buettner. The author found out that there are clusters of unique communities with a high concentration of centenarians. He describes the common elements of lifestyle, diet and social life of those communities. After reading that book, I really felt like moving to a little, close-knit village somewhere.
– “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David J. Schwartz. A book that was first published in 1959 and that everyone in the US seems to know. Although nearly 60 years old, a lot of the book still holds true. A very motivating read!
– “The Clever Gut Diet” by Dr. Michael Mosley. He explains how to feed your microbiome properly – after all, it influences our mood, immune system and appetite. It is informative and entertaining, which makes for a good read. As an aside: the book contained a worrying quote by a Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University, who calculated that every 2 hours we spend sitting down cuts our life expectancy by about half an hour. I’ve spent over half my life at a desk which means I’m due to die next year sometime. Mhm.
– “Native Son” by Richard Wright, originally published in 1940. For a beach read, this was way too violent and depressing. It is about a young black boy who grew up in the 1930’s in Chicago in extreme poverty and hopelessness. He accidentally killed a young white woman and then, as a consequence of that death, he raped and killed a black girl. This book taught me a lot about the history of the Afro-American people in the US and what it meant to be black.
– “Cancer as a Wake-up Call” by M. Laura Nasi, published in 2018. A very good friend died earlier this year of a brain tumor and she was my age. She lived a healthy life-style and I did not understand why cancer hit her of all people. This book shows that many factors are involved, even things such as healthy relationships and mind and spirit modalities. It’s definitely complex.
– “The Spartan Way” by Joe de Sena, the founder and CEO of the Spartan Race. Oh, what a powerful read!! Joe de Sena is determined to rip 100 million people off their couches and to start living instead of being passive observers of life. In this book, he introduces the 10 Spartan Core Values, which include commitment, passion, discipline and grit. There’s a Spartan race here in Florida in December 2019, I just might sign up for that.
– “Billion Dollar Whale” by the Wall Street journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope. It’s about the infamous Malaysian Jho Low who ended up stealing USD 7 billion from 1MDB, an investment fund of the Malaysian government. Jho spent it gambling and partying in Las Vegas, buying art and properties and befriending celebrities (such as Leonardo di Caprio).
– Every day, I spent 1-2 hours learning Spanish with the Duolingo program and Barron’s “Master the Basics – Spanish”. On some days, I felt like I reached a plateau and am not making any progress at all. But I’m sticking to it and hoping that somehow I’ll manage to communicate with the cheerful Hispanics here in Florida in Spanish.
So, for now, it’s “Hello Switzerland” and meeting up with all our dear friends over there.