The Magic of Music Lessons, Plus More 100-Day Experiment Stuff

Taking music lessons ~ Warning: This contains valuable health implications.

I have been taking guitar lessons since January. I am not new to guitar - I started playing when I was 11 years old, and have taken lessons from 2 other instructors. This time around I have been feeling particularly lame at learning my new pieces of music even though my guitar teacher Alberto Dal Pino keeps insisting that my progress is good. I told him a couple of day ago that I think my age is impacting my ability to progress. And then added, “I am probably your oldest student”. Alberto laughed, then told me about a highly educated 88-year old man who took lessons from him until the of age 92. This man had never played guitar before, but after about 3 years it brought tears to Alberto’s eyes watching him play - he played so amazingly well. Now for the kicker. When the gentleman started lessons with Alberto, he had asked if he should even do so because he had such bad arthritis in his hands. After about one year though, the arthritis had improved. But the greatest improvement the man reported was cognitive abilities. His brain had started functioning much better.

There has been a lot of research done on the benefits of learning anything new, but the above example is powerful testimony to this.

My 2nd 100-Day Health & Fitness Adventure/Experiment

So, I am on Day 19 so far, and happy about it. The emphasis of this 100-Days is to continue to see what can happen in 100 days by being very consistent (even though not perfect). Thus, I am using my 1st 100-Days “Curiosities & Possibilities that I am Excited About” list to motivate me. This list includes about 40 items like: Will my tinnitus go away? Will my brain function improve? Will my allergy, histamine, and MCAS issues improve or resolve? Will I sleep even better? Anyway, that is a smattering of the 40 that I really am curious about.

Want to try it? I am inviting you! If any of you are familiar with 75 Hard, this is not 100 Hard. It is a kinder, gentler way to improve your current level of health and fitness. I set 10 goals and/or tracking units for myself, but it doesn’t need to be 10 if that sounds like too many to you. It can be 3, or 5, or 8, etc. - whatever you want to work on and feel a bit of a challenge, yet not an overwhelming one. If you are interested in starting your own 100-Days, reach out to me and I will send you my 100-Day tracker. Free, of course.

Here are my 10 items that I track daily and how I do it:

1. Little to no alcohol - I abbreviate it AF for alcohol free and then in that tracking box I put an X for none, or the number of drinks I had.

2. H20 - An X if I drank at least 64 ounces of water.

3. Coffee - An X if I drank no more than 2 cups of coffee.

4. Dairy-Free - An X if I did not have any dairy. (I had been trying goat cheese, but want to avoid it for awhile to see if certain symptoms improve.)

5. Carnivore or Low Carb - C for carnivore, LC for Low Carb, blank if neither. (Yes, I am trying the carnivore diet again.)

6. PNS Work - Parasympathetic work like deep breathing exercises, humming, etc

7. Detox - Such as sauna, dry brushing, castor oil pack, epsom salt bath, etc. Gets an X if I do any of them.

8. Stretching - At least a few minutes gets an X.

9. Strength building - At least a few minutes devoted to muscle building get an X. Examples: Squats, push-ups, lunges, etc. (Incorporating the thought START * BUILD * CONTINUE).

10. Steps logged on my pedometer. I log 5 for 5000, 8 for 8000, etc. The box is too small to include the full number. And I round up or down depending on the number. I figure it will even out in the long run.

Here is a question from one of my readers after my last newsletter where I reported that  I finished the 1st 100-Days and some of my thoughts:

His question: You mentioned the toughest portions of your experiment, but what parts did you find that were easily incorporated in to your daily routine, and are now an automatic part of your "daily routine” ?

My answer: 

• Daily journalling about the experience with data points, plus filling in a 100-Day health & fitness tracker I created which included 10 tracking items. This was easy because It didn’t take that long and as I have said before, I love data.

• Limiting carbohydrates to less than 50 grams. I was highly motivated to due this due to a family history of diabetes and I am a prediabetic, and I haven’t eaten super high carb for years anyway.

• Limiting alcohol. Although I did go over my allotted 5 drinks for the 100 days (I had 11), there were times I thought that I may just never want to drink again. The former me liked to have 1-2 drinks most evenings. But I found after about 2 weeks of being alcohol-free that I had more energy, I felt more cheerful, I slept better, and I stopped thinking about it at 5 p.m.

My health coaching thought for you today: What is one thing that you can start implementing in your life to improve your health and/or become more fit? What is stopping you? You can even start small.

If you are reading this on my blog and want to see previous articles posted on my newsletter, join my readership by subscribing.

BTW, that photo is of me “Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona” with Glen Fry last year.

Strumming away,
~Vanessa
www.vanessamarsden.com
Instagram @wellnessadventure_RN

And… there is still nothing new on Instagram yet. 🫠