Uncategorized – Wandering with a purpose

Cold showers

March 15, 2020 by jonathanbridge1407, posted in Uncategorized

In the month of February I decided I would take a cold shower everyday regardless of the weather. The only time where I did not take a cold one was when I didn’t shower at all that day, so I would say it was a pretty successful challenge. And for those in the northern hemisphere you may think I’m crazy, but it’s summer for me in the southern hemisphere so I’m not completely crazy.

So why cold showers?

Well most people hate it, it’s not very pleasant and also a task in which I would really have to encourage myself but in many ways it was simple for I did not have to change my lifestyle, routine, I just never turned on the hot water tap.

There are also many health benefits in taking these cold showers. It reduces your stress levels because it imposes a small amount of stress on your body so in a way you are conditioning yourself to actually face a situation that causes tension.

Cold showers are great in the morning for it increases the state of alertness. You will need to take deeper breaths when in the cold shower decreasing the carbon dioxide in the body helping you to concentrate.

Gives you a stronger immune system. Cold showers have shown to increase the amount of white blood cells which protects you from diseases.

You can even experience weight loss with cold showers.

As always the first few days were difficult, but when I came to visit my family the beach changed from the Indian ocean to the Atlantic, and that is a stark contrast in temperature, so much so that after swimming at the beach the cold shower is actually warmer. It was just like extra conditioning for my body and adapting to the cold.

They say in a marathon one quits somewhere in the middle because at the start you have the adrenaline keeping you going and at the end you realise how close you are to finish. For me though in this challenge it was at the start and the end in which I wanted to quit. The start made me question what I was doing and what the meaning of all of this was and the end I started to lose that motivation, thinking that I’ve done enough cold showers already.

But I made it!

I would encourage you to try it out for at least a week and see the changes in your life and body. Do it for whatever reason, but have a good one for that will help you to never stop.

This challenge made me realise how important it is to push through and encourage yourself because there will be times where you will be the only who can, you may get into a situation in which you are alone and then you will need that inner-being pushing you and taking through your ordeal.

Self-Improvement

March 1, 2020 by jonathanbridge1407, posted in Uncategorized

I’m not one to say: “Apologies for such a long wait for my next post, it has been busy, ” or something like that. But it has been a while, a very long while. So apologies. Perhaps you will find out why in another post. Who knows.

Entering a new year one surely has a new year’s resolution, or at least some sort of goal that you would like to achieve.

At the start of 2019 I had long-term goals. Goals that I set out before I even knew where I was or where I would be going. And quite frankly, the 2 big goals I set out were unattainable.

I did in actual fact have smaller goals that I also set out. Some were realistic while others were not so much. In many ways I was surprised. I did fall short on some but even the ones that were real challenges were eventually completed. The one goal was actually accomplished a week before the year ended.

So assessing the previous year I acknowledged that I was in many ways too audacious and unrealistic. So instead of making such large goals as last year I have decided to do monthly self-improvement exercises, as the title suggests.

The first challenge was 31 days without a grain of sugar. The reason why I chose it is because I am rather addicted to it. It is something I feel that I can’t live without which is not a good thing in any sort of way. It is a real challenge, but attainable.

An excess of sugar can lead to many sicknesses and diseases, perhaps more than you think. Diabetes is one of them. I have nothing against the sugars you find in fruit or any natural food, but rather any added sugar.

The problem may not come right away but there is a long-term issue when it comes to sugar. It can lead to blindness, tooth loss, fatigue in mental capacity and even produce Alzheimer’s. It’s sounds harsh but that is the reality.

It’s as if we are not aware of it and I think we all have more sugar than the sufficient amount. So I challenged myself in January (and I challenge you too).

Sadly, I failed the challenge.

On the 25th day I was almost forced to take a chocolate. I refused at first but this person was someone who just doesn’t understand the word “no” and unfortunately I’m not usually the one to argue. So I left it and grabbed a piece of chocolate.

It wasn’t even that tasteful. It tasted like regret.

But the rest of the month I held out strong. Actually, no I didn’t. I felt so disappointed that I indulged in sugar. I had too much. But it was a good challenge and I learned from it.

To set a goal for yourself you need to be relentless with it. As “V” would say: “Beneath this mask is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof.” If you are passionate about a plan and you believe in it, then it will be very difficult for you to give up on it. Even if those around you don’t believe in you.

It is already the end of February so perhaps one can start the next month with a 30-day challenge. To give a few ideas such as waking up earlier than you normally do. Read a certain amount of pages in a book each day. Or how about no complaining for a whole month!

It is still good to have long-term goals, and also good to adjust them to be realistic but yet takes you out of your comfort zone. When you write down your goals your motivation to complete them increases. Some say it makes you 42% more likely to complete a goal.

Set goals that excite you and scare you at the same time.

Home

January 22, 2020 by jonathanbridge1407, posted in Uncategorized

I have been requested by a fellow blogger, in fact someone I feel even to say a friend, to share a post in which I show some photos of my beautiful country South Africa.

Firstly, let me say this: No, there aren’t lions that roam the streets, in fact it is rather a safe place. Yes there are wild animals, but outside the city, hence the word ‘wild’.

There was this one time where a horse crossed the road, but that was a one time thing.

So I guess I could start where I grew up. It was a suburb just outside of Cape Town. I grew up there my whole life basically. From the day I grew up to exactly the day I left I was in one home. Literally the next day my family moved, oh the irony.

I have nothing bad to say about where I grew up. Great community and lovely people, beautiful forests and things to do. There just wasn’t a beach nearby, but I guess I can be content with a 20 minute drive to the beach.

Image result for majik forest durbanville — This is Majik forest. A place that gave so much memories, many walks, bike rides, picnics and one of the places to have quiet time. And it was just a 5 minute walk to get there.

Something I enjoy to this day is hiking. It may have been ingrained in me due to my father and his father going out for a hike on a regular basis. The more daunting it is, the better. I still have a dream to climb Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world, but more daunting than that I want to climb Mount Everest. It sounds like a silly thing to do because of the high danger factor, but that is what fuels my flame. They say if something excites you and scares you at the same time you should probably do it, so that’s what I’m going to do.

Here are some of the photos one can see in the southern tip of Africa. If you ever need a tour-guide/ hiking buddy you know where to look.

Moving into adolescence I came to the lovely town called Jeffrey’s Bay, the place with arguably the best waves. And this is no understatement, you can really look this up.

I am very fortunate to have seen what I have seen thus far and to what I will see in the future. I have met some incredible people, some which I can call my friends. Just reminiscing over these experiences makes me realise how we can be so focused on what is wrong in this world, why we are treated unfairly. But then I see these beautiful places I have been to, the wonderful untouched nature in which I have placed my feet on. It is truly unique experiences that I have memories of, pictures I can take a look at every once in a while. Who knows what lies ahead? What is the future? It is rather unclear and that is why we need to make the most of our experiences. Sometimes the hardest thing to say is yes but it may change your life.

On another note, I am going to change my username to something a bit different. What I have noticed is that someone has in actual fact the same blogging name as me, just another domain. So if one has any ideas I would like to hear it. Hope these photos make it a bit easier.

Thanks for reading to this point! May it be a great year that lies ahead!

Can’t beat a sunset at the end of a post can you?

Remaining Faithful

October 12, 2019October 12, 2019 by jonathanbridge1407, posted in Uncategorized

Your faith is only as strong as your last battle you overcame.

I submit to you, oh Lord. All of my ways. Whatever comes will come. Whatever cards I have won’t matter as long as I have you. As long as you are there to help me. I can’t do this alone. Everything I have achieved to this day was due to your goodness. Your love, Your grace.

These were the words I proclaimed last night. We were gathered at church for students that had a worship evening prepared for us. Even though they can be seen as young and inexperienced the Lord spoke that night and His Spirit flowed.

Though I felt overwhelmed with countless things, feeling like a constant failure at life at who I am and what I do I realised what was most important: My relationship with God. It’s impossible to please everyone and impossible to be perfect. We are all sinful. Everyone at some point in our lives will let us down.

But not God.

Not our Father, who is perfect. Ever-present. We can only serve God or man, but not both.

No man can serve two masters: for either he. will hate the one, and love the other; or else. he will hold to the one, and despise the other, Ye cannot serve God and mammon. – Matthew 6:24

Going back to my very first statement. We all face challenges. Sometimes they become so tough they become battles. You end up going through a process that brings you either closer to God or further away. Right now I feel at breaking point but that’s where the faith comes in. Where it truly gets tested. If I succeed in maintaining belief that this too shall pass my faith will grow.

I’m not saying that we should sit back and have hope all will end well. We need to give our side as well; but we are not alone. He can guide us through it all. Give us the wisdom to go through. He is the perfect counselor.

If you have a huge task that lies before you the first thing you need to do is have hope and pray, then the answer will come. Sometimes very quickly, other times maybe not so much, but the faith that it will all work out in the end.

Blessings to all.

Breaking boundaries

September 15, 2019 by jonathanbridge1407, posted in Uncategorized

We did it!

Our first excursion that my friend and I planned went according to plan.

If you read my blog “Finding the one” written about 2 weeks ago you might remember me saying one needs to challenge oneself in order to grow. I have just done that and I am going to share just a little bit of what we did.

Now this first excursion the two of us had was not in any way daunting nor for one second did we get anxious. It was rather just to get the ball rolling so to speak.

The first idea we had was to go hiking at a mountain called Lady Slipper. Sounds scary right? Probably not. The thing that made it interesting was that we were planning to do it at night. That plan then become challenging for multiple reasons so we decided to make it a simpler hike.

There is a place close to where my friend stays that is situated at the very top of our town and it had a water tower so the view would most likely be breathtaking.

We decide to go for it just before sunrise. It was a very pleasant evening with the occasional breeze.

We didn’t know if it was safe to go. We weren’t even sure how to get there and of course we didn’t know if we were allowed to go. But who cares…

Long story short we made it to the tower and we got to see the sun set leaving a beautiful array of colours over the horizon.

We did actually see a few people drive past us but strangely enough we were unnoticed. I know now we probably shouldn’t go in the person’;s property but for a view like this I’ll be willing to do it again.

Is money ruling your life?

September 4, 2019 by jonathanbridge1407, posted in Uncategorized

That is honestly quite a difficult question. And I guess in some ways if you have money or at least want it then to a certain extent it is ruling your life.

The question arose a while back but I wanted to think about it myself for a while and maybe get some facts together and make a good blog post. Unfortunately I haven’t really made an effort so I guess while making this post I’ll do some investigation.

I was talking to a colleague of mine while we were working together that day and we started to talk a little bit about giving and how exactly you “should give” (Guess I can make a post about that too). He eventually stated that right now money doesn’t rule his life even though he is not a multimillionaire, in fact, he was not so well off. But he is making it.

Now whether or not that is actually true doesn’t matter. But I could honestly not say the same without a wavering doubt. I don’t even have major expenses, no sicknesses, no one that relies on my monthly income; yet I still worry about where my money goes.

And as someone who believes that God can make miracles happen I still hold onto the little that I have and have misplaced faith that He can’t give me so much more.

One thing that I can say is that money is not ruling my life, but there is not a day that goes by that I do not think about it. What has helped me though to not freak about where my money goes is budgeting. I make my own income and expenses list and over the months I have altered it to my desires. It does help when you go shopping or eat at a restaurant because then you know more or less what you can afford. Budgeting has also helped me to spend it wisely and I am now able to invest, save money for future adventures and even have some left over to store in case something goes wrong.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” – Matthew 6:21. It is impossible to serve God and mammon, meaning material wealth associated with greedy pursuit. Some believe one can have both, the money on earth and God in heaven but that is not the case. Do not exhaust yourself going for the wrong things because in the end it will not be worth the time and effort.

Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like. –Will Rogers

Finding “The One”

September 1, 2019 by jonathanbridge1407, posted in Uncategorized

Being in love with someone means that you feel your life is complete. Whatever could happen in the future whether it is positive or negative will not affect your joy you find in that person. When you find ‘the one’ you feel complete. You feel the desire to always make them happy and if you could do something that would bring them joy you would do it.

But what if you haven’t found the one yet? What if you just haven’t met that person yet?

There was a time where I thought I found ‘the one’. She is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and she had certain qualities that you don’t normally find in people. The most incredible thing about her was that she was such an inspiring person. And that was what drew me to her.

She wasn’t ‘the one’ though.

There was nothing wrong with her I just eventually discovered that she was not the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.

So I’m back at square one. 7 billion people approximately in this world. Let’s say 3.5 is woman. So I can cross of 1 name. Great progress!

So what’s the next step? How can I find her?

After months of trying to figure it out I came to a conclusion that will probably not satisfy you but I feel content at this point of time.

There are tons of people that I could be with but I want the perfect match. You can make any marriage work but why struggle now to make it work in 5 years or rather wait for the perfect one and deal with the things that will affect the relationship before you go into the relationship and for her to do the same?

There is also something else I would like to address. Something that I have recently discovered. Rather tiring yourself out looking for someone that inspires you, why not become the inspirational person you would like to meet?

To do that you evidently need to start doing crazy things. Things that excite you but also freak you out. Things that you will never forget. It doesn’t need to be something you aren’t ready for yet but something that will scare you at least on some level. Then one day that thing you thought you never could will be something you will laugh at because it is such an easy feat.

So start daring yourself. Do crazy things. If you’ve got bad memory then just do unforgettable things.

What crazy things have you done and what are the things you are planning to do?

I am also not a hypocrite so I will also be doing things that entice me and of course bring those stories to light.

They say you are the product of the people you spend your time with. I’m sure it will be the same with the person you love. So once you become an inspiration to others you may find ‘the one’.